SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad
All major political parties like the BRS and the Congress have started appeasing Hindus in view of the forthcoming Telangana Assembly elections.
The BJP always plays the Hindutva card during elections. Jai Shri Ram and Jai Hanuman have become permanent slogans for the BJP during elections to fire up Hindus.
The BJP is now a strong force in Telangana. So the BRS and the Congress have decided to counter the BJP with the same slogans. All these days both these parties had tried to appease Muslims. Muslims never vote for the BJP and it depends completely on Hindu votes.
While the BRS has decided to hit the BJP with Jai Hanuman the Congress wants to hit the BJP with the Jai Shri Ram slogan to give the impression that Hindus are not the BJP’s vote bank.
BRS President Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao during his recent visit to Kondagattu announced a Rs 1,000 crore grant to renovate the Hanuman temple.
TPCC President Revanth Reddy announced the building of 100 Ram Temples, that is, one each in every Assembly constituency. BRS leaders celebrated Chatrapati Shivaji Jayanthi on a big scale for the first time to counter the BJP.
It may be recalled that BRS MLC Kavitha had announced at the Kondagattu Hanuman Temple that they will counter the BJP’s Jai Shri Ram with Jai Hanuman. After this, the BJP started celebrating Hanuman Jayanthi on a large scale every year.
KCR announced that the state government will spend Rs 1000 crore and renovate the Kondagattu Hanuman Temple. BRS MLC Kavitha reportedly played a key role in allotting the huge amount to renovate the Hanuman Temple.
In coming days BRS cadres are likely to launch an extensive campaign regarding this to counter the BJP’s Hindutva.
Meanwhile, the Congress is also following the same line. Four days ago TPCC President Revanth Reddy announced that if his party comes to power it will actively consider a proposal to build 100 Ram Temples, that is, one each in all Assembly constituencies at a cost of Rs 10 crore for each temple.
TPCC President Revanth Reddy made the public statement while addressing a Congress rally in Bhadrachalam during his Hath se Hath Jodo Yatra.
During the last two Assembly elections after the formation of the Telangana state, the Telangana sentiment played a key role in the BRS victory. After renaming the TRS as BRS and its re-launch as a national party the Telangana sentiment may not work.
It is clear now that in the next Assembly elections, all major political parties will paly the religion card. The BRS is trying to use the Jai Hanuman slogan and the Congress is trying to garb the Jai Shri Ram slogan of the BJP to counter its religion card.
