In back-to-back blows to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA T Raja Singh on Tuesday, 23 August, the legislator was arrested by Hyderabad Police, and later suspended from the party for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
(Photo: The Quint)

By ADITYA MENON / The Quint

Suspended BJP MLA from Telangana, T Raja Singh, was arrested by the Hyderabad Police and charged under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act. The arrest may be seen as an attempt to ease tensions in Hyderabad, which had seen protests following Raja Singh’s release on bail regarding his utterances against Prophet Muhammad.

In a video targeted at comedian Munawar Faruqui, Raja Singh had made derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad and also ‘made a joke’ about Muslim women being raped in Gujarat in 2002.

The case against Raja Singh has put the Telangana BJP in a bind. It comes at a time when it is trying to emerge as the main challenger to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state and is pulling out all stops to win an upcoming bypoll in Munugode in Nalgonda district.

The state unit stands divided on whether to support Raja Singh or to remain silent on the issue. Having already suspended Raja Singh, the party is now facing allegations of “not standing by him” from a section of Hindutva supporters.

A lot of this is to do with Raja Singh’s social background as well as his curious position within the BJP.

The BJP suspended Raja Singh soon after his video went viral.

Since the party had suspended Nupur Sharma for similar remarks against Prophet Muhammad, Raja Singh’s suspension was an extension of the same principle and could be seen as an attempt to avoid the international embarrassment it had faced in the former’s case.

In addition, the party had already begun facing flak due to Raja Singh’s comments joking about rape of Muslim women in 2002.

However, the difference between Sharma and Raja Singh was that the latter is an MLA and not just a spokesperson.

Several Hindutva activists – both online as well as on the ground in Hyderabad – are accusing the BJP of throwing Raja Singh under the bus.

“We have always fought for Hindutva in Hyderabad even in days there was no support and we will continue to. Raja Singh is a hero for us. But they (BJP) have suspended him due to vote bank politics. It is demoralising for us,” Subhash Chander, a sympathiser of Raja Singh in Hyderabad, told The Quint.

Another supporter, Prasad, said, ‘This is not the first time. BJP left Nupur Sharma and its own workers in West Bengal to fend for themselves. Then in Karnataka too. They are concerned only about power.”

This story was originally published in thequint.com . Read the full story here