Telangana polls: As BJP intensifies Hindutva pitch, Congress, BRS race to woo Muslim vote

Hyderabad: Even as Union Home Minister Amit Shah set the party's tone in the state with his 'Modern Razakars' talk raising the saffron party's 'Hindutva Pitch', there appears to be an intense race between Congress and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to get the chunk of the Muslim votes in the November 30 polls.

Whether it's Amit Shah or Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wherever they go, as part of campaigning, they raise the issue of ruling BRS steering in the hands of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in an attempt to polarise Hindu votes.

In this scenario, Muslims, constituting around 12.7 per cent of the approximate population of 4.1 crore in Telangana, are crucial for other players in the poll fray.

They hold sway in at least 40 of the 119 Assembly segments, especially in Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Mahabubnagar and Secunderabad districts.

Though there is no formal alliance between BRS and AIMIM, both have a friendly understanding which Congress feels will take away the traditional minorities' votes from the grand old party, which is a repeat of 2018.

With secular credentials and having a friendly understanding with the Muslim party AIMIM, the BRS was successful in getting the 'Muslim vote' at the loss of Congress in the 2018 polls.

Now, it is keenly watched to see which way the votes of the Muslims swing in the ensuing polls to the Telangana Assembly.

With a nationwide narrative unleashed by Congress that the AIMIM was indirectly helping the BJP by splitting the Muslim votes, both AIMIM and BRS learnt to have chalked out a joint strategy to keep their Muslim flock together.

Sources in the BRS had also told DH, that AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and BRS working president, Industries Minister, K T Rama Rao, had held a meeting to discuss the strategy.

In a coincidence of sorts in a gap of a few days, both KTR and Owaisi had raked up the RSS credentials of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief A Revanth Reddy.

A few days ago KTR challenged Reddy to make a public statement denying that he has never worked for the RSS and that he does not harbour animosity towards Muslims.

In another meeting in the old city, Owaisi said that the TPCC president was speaking the language of RSS and the writings of its leaders like Golwalkar and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, who have repeatedly claimed in their literature that Muslims did not belong to India and came from elsewhere.

He claimed that Revanth Reddy, as a youth, initially joined the ABVP before transitioning to the RSS and BJP, and collaborated with BJP's Kishan Reddy in 1999 against MIM in the Karwan constituency.

“Congress this time has been trying its best to win back the Muslim votes it lost in the past few years. Leaving the traditional seven seats of the old city to AIMIM it is keenly watched if this time Congress gets the majority of Muslim votes in the other segments or not. It's all about how Muslims look at which party can safeguard their interests,” political analyst and Telangana journalists study forum convenor, Bodanapally Venugopal Reddy told DH.

Hyderabad District Congress Committee (DCC) President Sameer Waliullah on the other hand has accused the AIMIM of exploiting the poor people of the old city of Hyderabad for decades by inciting religious feelings and diverting attention from their failures.

Waliullah contended that AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi is recycling old strategies to confront the Congress party.

He described Asaduddin Owaisi, the 'crorepati leader' elected by Hyderabad's poor people, as a covert ally of the BJP. He alleged that Owaisi challenged Rahul Gandhi to contest the Lok Sabha election from Hyderabad to appease Prime Minister Narendra Modi.