BJP MLA Raja Singh represents the Goshamahal assembly constituency from atop a 52-foot-tall Hanuman monument in Hyderabad. Singh has been able to have a political trajectory that resembles the obscene Hindu religious symbols he has supported thanks to a clever blending of his outwardly manifested Hindu religiosity and the emotional element that he is the sole representative of the Lodha minority in Telangana.
Goshamahal in the Old City of Hyderabad has been brought into the national media’s spotlight by Raja Singh. His remarks against the Prophet Muhammad, which sparked a significant uproar and landed him in jail, are typical of the words and issues he has utilised to catch the public’s attention.
He has been ideologically inclined towards the BJP, but has always had an uneasy relationship with the local leadership. Since joining the BJP in 2014, he has left the party thrice on the grounds that the BJP has not been doing enough for the Hindus. Given his connection to Goud, he actually participated in party activities for the Congress party for a limited period.However, he entered electoral politics in 2009 with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), when he was given a ticket to run from the Mangalhat division in the Hyderabad city body elections (which falls under the Goshamahal Assembly segment). His relationship with the then-Congress MLA for Goshamahal, Mukesh Goud, in particular, assisted him in learning the ins and outs of politics.
Although Goud was the Goshamahal MLA during his term as a corporator from Mangalhat (2009–2014), he was able to solidify his position and negotiate the political environment in Hyderabad’s Old City, where the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) rules. He joined the BJP in advance of the 2014 Telangana Assembly elections at the urging of Mettu Vaikuntam of the saffron party, who held the office of Goshmahal division corporator from 2009 to 2014.
Goud, the current MLA, was a strong contender but lost to Singh. Goud only managed to garner 45,964 votes, compared to Singh’s 92,757 total. From the more than 100 seats that the BJP had run for in the 119-member Telangana legislative assembly, Singh was one of the five successful candidates. In the seven assembly districts that make up Asaduddin Owasisi’s Hyderabad parliamentary district, he was and still is the only non-AIMIM MLA.
Goshamahal has a large Muslim population, as well as a sizable migrant population from Gujarat and the north of India. Singh’s Lodha group became the dominant community in the area after it was cut out of the former Maharaj Ganj assembly seat in 2008. Along with Muslim residents, the neighbourhoods within its boundaries of Dhoolpet, Afzal Gunj, Sultan Bazaar, Afzal Gunj, and Moazzam Jahi Market have a sizable migrant population from Gujarat and the north of India.Singh is a member of the Lodha group, which makes up the majority of the migrant population of Goshamahal.
This story was originally published in hydnews.net . Read the full story here