Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday vowed to rename the communally-volatile Bhainsa town in Nirmal district as “Maisa” (Mahisha) “soon after the BJP comes to power in the Assembly elections next year in the state.”
The pledge came at a time of growing demand within the BJP to rename capital city Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar.
Bandi was addressing a BJP rally on the outskirts of Bhainsa town, before commencing his fifth phase of Praja Sangrama Yatra in the state. “Our government in Telangana will adopt Bhainsa and develop it on all fronts. All the cases foisted against the victims of violence incidents in the past would be lifted and they would be given permanent jobs,” Bandi said while “appreciating the fighting spirit Hindu Vahini brothers.”
Bhainsa has a considerable number of Muslims in its population. The town near the Maharashtra border in north Telangana has a long history of communal violence. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims broke out in January 2020 and March 2021 too, following which curfew was clamped in the town for a few days.
The BJP has been accusing the ruling TRS of targeting the Hindu youth in the town “fighting for dharma,” in order to appease the minority section, and political ally AIMIM.
The BJP rally was originally planned on Monday but the Telangana police detained Bandi on Sunday night while denying permission for the meeting and yatra, citing the area's communal sensitivity.
The meeting was held after Telangana High Court's approval with riders that the location should avoid Bhainsa town and that none of the leaders or party workers should raise any slogans or hurt religious sentiments of other communities.
While stating that BJP would honour the courts and the law, Sanjay wondered whether Bhainsa was “in Pakistan or Bangladesh or Afghanistan that one should take visa to visit.”
“When All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leaders who spread communal hatred can travel anywhere in the state, unscrupulous elements like Munwar Farooqui, who denigrates our Hindu gods, can conduct shows anywhere in the country, why the BJP leaders, who strive to protect the country and Hindu dharma, are not being allowed (by the state government) to conduct meetings. What kind of discrimination is this? Which country are we in?” Bandi questioned during his speech.
Bandi said that BJP hoisted the saffron flag in Hyderabad old city. “Now, we have come to Bhainsa, where the AIMIM announced that only green flags would be hoisted.”
“The TRS is in power today. But tomorrow, it will be our government. We have got the burnt down houses (of the riots victims) reconstructed and the Preventive Detention Act cases removed,” the Karimnagar MP pointed out.
Union minister Kishan Reddy was among the senior BJP leaders who attended the public meeting.
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