By Vikram Mukka / The Wire
Hyderabad: Perched atop a hillock in Hyderabad’s Dhoolpet is a 52-feet Hanuman statue overlooking the Goshamahal assembly constituency represented by controversial and now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator T. Raja Singh. An ingenious mix of visible Hindu religiosity with an emotional element that he is the lone representative of the Lodha community in Telangana has helped Singh to have a political trajectory much like the oversized Hindu religious symbols he has championed. From a small-time businessman with a criminal record to a corporator to a two-term legislator, he has had a meteoric rise in politics – or, to become what his supporters and admirers call a ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’.
His recent comments against Prophet Muhammed, which resulted in a huge controversy and his landing in jail, are often the kind of statements and controversies that he has used to capture the public imagination – for good or bad. But, for his constituents and admirers in Goshamahal in the Old City of Hyderabad, he has brought the attention and the spotlight of the national media to Goshamahal.
“Nobody knew Raja Singh or Goshamahal a couple of days back. He is now a national hero and Hindu Ka Sher. The whole of the national media discussed Raja Singh and through him the issues faced by the Hindus for five full days. We, in Goshamahal, are proud of our legislator. He has taken the name of Goshamahal to the national level. He is Telangana’s Yogi [Adityanath],” says Amar Singh, proprietor of a small-time cable business in Dhoolpet and an avowed supporter of Singh.
A long-time member of Hindu Yuva Vahini, a right-wing outfit, Singh (45) in his youth was active among Hindutva organisations. During that time, he cultivated relationships with a number of local political leaders across the political spectrum. It was particularly his rapport with the then Goshamahal MLA Mukesh Goud of the Congress that helped him to learn the ropes of politics. In fact, for a brief period, he was part of the Congress party’s activities too given his proximity to Goud.
However, his foray into electoral politics began with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2009 when he was offered a ticket in the Hyderabad civic body polls from the Mangalhat division (which falls under the Goshamahal Assembly segment). He won with a handsome majority. Although he has been ideologically inclined towards the BJP, he has always had an uneasy relationship with the local leadership, which continues to this day. In fact, since his 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 and more so for cow protection.
However, his tenure as a corporator (2009-14) from Mangalhat, at a time when Goud was Goshamahal MLA, helped him to cement his position and navigate the political landscape in the Old City of Hyderabad where All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) holds sway. Ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections, he joined the BJP on the insistence of Mettu Vaikuntam of the saffron party, who served as Goshmahal division corporator during 2009-14. He also secured a BJP ticket for the Goshamahal assembly constituency to contest against Goud himself from Congress, who had initially helped Singh’s foray into politics.
The 2014 assembly elections took place simultaneously with the General Elections that year in the backdrop of the successful culmination of the Telangana statehood movement. At the time, the Congress was in a dismal state nationally in the face of the BJP’s successful campaign headed by the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
Despite being a strong contender, the incumbent MLA, Goud, lost to Singh. While Singh had secured 92,757 votes, Goud could manage to poll only 45,964 votes. Singh was one among five victorious BJP MLAs from over 100 seats his party had contested in the 119-member Telangana legislative assembly. He was, and is, still the only non-AIMIM MLA in the seven assembly constituencies that fall under the Hyderabad parliament constituency, represented by Asaduddin Owaisi.
Goshamahal: A distinct demography
Unlike other assembly segments in Hyderabad, Goshmahal has a distinct demographic reality. The neighbourhoods of Dhoolpet, Afzal Gunj, Sultan Bazaar, and Moazzam Jahi Market, among others under its limits have a sizeable migrant population, drawn from north of India and Gujarat, besides members of the Muslim community.
Among the migrant populace of Goshamahal, the Lodha community to which Singh belongs is in preponderance. In fact, the carving out of Goshamahal from the erstwhile Maharaj Ganj assembly constituency in 2008 during a delimitation exercise – at around the same time when Singh entered politics – proved to his advantage, as his Lodha community became the dominant community in the segment.
While development remains elusive to the residents of Goshamahal, making it one of the most backward areas of Hyderabad city, Singh has been able to consolidate his position politically by winning a successive term in the 2018 assembly elections. He defeated TRS’ Prem Singh Rathore by a wide margin and pushed his one-time mentor Goud to the third position.
This story was originally published in thewire.in . Read the full story here