More than a month-and-a-half after being suspended from the Bharatiya Janata Party for making alleged blasphemous comments against Prophet Mohammad, party MLA from Hyderabad T Raja Singh on Monday assured that he would not do anything that brings disrespect to the party.
In his reply to the show-cause notice issued by BJP central disciplinary committee secretary Om Pathak while suspending him from the party, Singh said he would work within the ideology and principles of the party.
Singh, who represents Goshamahal assembly constituency, was first arrested on August 23 by Hyderabad police for making alleged derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammad, but was granted bail on the same evening. He was suspended from the party and stripped of the BJP legislature party leader post on the same day.
However, the MLA was arrested again on August 25 under the preventive detention act and has since been lodged in Cherlapalli central prison.
Replying to the show-cause notice issued by the party, Singh said during his eight years as an MLA, he had never violated the party discipline and participated in every programme of the party. He said he had only been questioning the communal politics of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi, whose Hyderabad parliamentary constituency includes Goshamahal assembly segment.
Singh alleged that the Telangana government had been foisting false cases against him at the behest of the AIMIM because he had been demanding a fair deal for all communities and regions in the welfare and developmental activities.
{{/usCountry}}Singh alleged that the Telangana government had been foisting false cases against him at the behest of the AIMIM because he had been demanding a fair deal for all communities and regions in the welfare and developmental activities.
{{/usCountry}}“Whenever I criticise the AIMIM for its communal politics, they are creating an impression that I have been criticizing Muslims. Since the word ‘Muslim’ is part of the AIMIM, they are alleging that I am criticizing the entire Muslim community. But I have never criticized the Muslim community nor have I made any made personal comments against them,” he said.
Against this backdrop, Singh said, he had registered his protest when stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui planned to hold a comedy show in Hyderabad. As there were allegations that he was provoking communal tensions by making vulgar comments against Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
He said despite his protests, the TRS government had allowed the programme only to please the AIMIM. “Soon after the show, I made a video to make people understand how Munawar Faruqui does his show. In my video, I only imitated him based on the information provided on google,” he said.
Stating that he had neither belittled any religion nor criticised the gods of any religion in the video, Singh said the state government, as directed by the AIMIM, filed a false case against him intentionally and detained in jail by invoking the PD Act.
“Hence, I believe that I have not violated Rule XXV, 10 (a) of BJP’s constitution as mentioned in the disciplinary notice. Hence, I request you to consider revoking the suspension,” the MLA said.