Hyderabad: Tension heightened at Royal Colony, Balapur Road, and its surroundings on Saturday afternoon, January 23, when a bike rally carrying saffron flags raised Jai Shri Ram slogans.
The Ganesh Seva, the youth wing of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Committee, organised Dharma Raksha Sabha” (save religion congregation) at Ganesh Chowk in Hyderabad’s Balapur, demanding identification and action against illegal immigrants, including Bangladesh nationals and Rohingya Muslims.
The program was attended by several leaders of the right-wing organisations.
Since the call of Dharma Raksha Sabha a few days ago, unease has been simmering in Muslim-dominated localities around Balapur. Plainclothes policemen, Commissioner’s Task Force, Civil Police and City Armed Reserve have been deployed to identify troublemakers and gather information about any plans to carry out communal unrest.
Police patrolling was increased in Hafez Babanagar, Chandrayangutta, Keshavgiri, Barkas and Kanchanbagh.
Last week, the organisation announced its public rally and called upon the Hindu community to raise their voice against “love jihad,” “economic jihad,” “drug jihad,” “food jihad” and “land jihad,” the conspiracy theories by far-right-wing groups that have time and again been debunked.
The Congress government, however, objected to this and moved the High Court. Now, in a new statement, the Hindutva organisation called the court’s ruling a “victory for righteousness” and stated the rally would be spearheaded under the “Jago Bhagyanagar – Chalo Balapur” slogan.
“Bhagyanagar” refers to Hyderabad, which right-wing groups want the name changed to, alleging that it was the original name of the city. Historians, however, say this isn’t true.
