Telangana Director General of Police Mahender Reddy on Thursday said the police have decided to monitor the speeches made by political leaders for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, days after Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tejasvi Surya made several communal remarks during his high-decibel campaign, NDTV reported.
Reddy told the channel that the police had received inputs about certain “communal elements” who are are trying to create trouble. He said that legal action will be taken against any politician who is found to be making provocative statements.
“We are examining the speeches carefully,” he added. “Action will be taken per law against those trying to create disturbances. If the speeches are found to be instigating trouble, case will be registered.”
Reddy added that police personnel from all over Telangana will be commissioned to monitor the political speeches and other content circulated during campaign, including on social media platforms.
Elections are being held for 150 civic constituencies or wards of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. As many as 1,122 candidates are in the fray. The polling will be held on December 1 and results will be announced on December 4.
In his speeches, BJP’s Surya, the Bangalore South MP, has made several controversial remarks while taking on the state’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
On November 23, Surya had accused Owaisi of speaking Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s language of “rabid Islamism, separatism, and extremism”, and claimed that every vote for the Muslim leader was a vote against India and “everything India stands for”.
Surya had accused Owaisi and his brother of “allowing only Rohingya Muslims, not development”, in Hyderabad. “[It is] laughable that Akbaruddin and Asaduddin are speaking the language of development,” he had said.
The BJP leader had also mocked Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for promising to make Hyderabad like Istanbul, saying he actually wants to make “Hyderabad of Pakistan” as he had an alliance with the AIMIM .
The AIMIM chief had retorted, saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s intention was to create hatred. Owaisi referred to the elections as a “fight between Hyderabad and Bhagyanagar”, in a reference to a tweet by Surya, where he addressed the people of Hyderabad as those of Bhagyanagar, kicking up a political row.
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