Hyderabad: Calling it selective outrage, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin on Wednesday, February 18, attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the state government’s Ramzan order, which allows Muslim employees to leave at 4 p.m. for the holy month.
Calling it a “classic case of hypocrisy and communal opportunism”, Syed Nizamuddin pointed out that the BJP, which is part of the ruling alliance in Andhra Pradesh with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), had no objections when a similar order was issued there. “Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments have permitted their Muslim employees to leave office at 4 p.m. during the month of Ramzan,” he said.
Addressing a press conference, the Congress leader said, “In Andhra Pradesh, they sit quietly in the ruling alliance while the same Ramzan leave order is issued. But in Telangana, they scream ‘appeasement.’ Why is BJP MLA Raja Singh silent there? Why isn’t BJP’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya attacking the Andhra government?”
Ramzan: BJP MLA Raja Singh attacks Telangana govt for reducing work hours
Nizamuddin also said the Ramzan leave order has been in place for nearly five decades in both Telangana and undivided Andhra Pradesh. “Since the 1980s, two orders are issued every Ramzan – one allowing Muslim employees to leave at 4 p.m., another permitting shops to remain open late. Even during Chandrababu Naidu’s rule, the practice continued. Was the BJP in a coma all these years?” he asked.
‘Why no permission for Ayyappa devotees?’ BJP MP Bandi Sanjay
Former Telangana BJP president and Union minister Bandi Sanjay on the same day also attacked the ruling Congress saying over the issue saying, “Are the Congress party leaders actually Hindus? Is it Hindu blood that flows in them? Hindus in Telangana have become beggars.”
He questioned why the Congress government is not giving permission to Ayyappa devotees in ‘mala’ and Shiva mala in a similar way.
