Hyderabad: Perched atop a hillock in Hyderabad’s Dhoolpet is a 52-feet Hanuman statue overlooking the Goshamahal assembly constituency represented by controversial and now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator T. Raja Singh. An ingenious mix of visible Hindu religiosity with an emotional element that he is the lone representative of the Lodha community in Telangana has helped Singh to have a political trajectory much like the oversized Hindu religious symbols he has championed. From a small-time businessman with a criminal record to a corporator to a two-term legislator, he has had a meteoric rise in politics – or, to become what his supporters and admirers call a ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’.
His recent comments against Prophet Muhammed, which resulted in a huge controversy and his landing in jail, are often the kind of statements and controversies that he has used to capture the public imagination – for good or bad. But, for his constituents and admirers in Goshamahal in the Old City of Hyderabad, he has brought the attention and the spotlight of the national media to Goshamahal.
A 52-feet Hanuman statute at Akashpuri Temple in Hyderabad’s Dhoolpet. Photo: Vikram Mukka.
“Nobody knew Raja Singh or Goshamahal a couple of days back. He is now a national hero and Hindu Ka Sher. The whole of the national media discussed Raja Singh and through him the issues faced by the Hindus for five full days. We, in Goshamahal, are proud of our legislator. He has taken the name of Goshamahal to the national level. He is Telangana’s Yogi [Adityanath],” says Amar Singh, proprietor of a small-time cable business in Dhoolpet and an avowed supporter of Singh.
A long-time member of Hindu Yuva Vahini, a right-wing outfit, Singh (45) in his youth was active among Hindutva organisations. During that time, he cultivated relationships with a number of local political leaders across the political spectrum. It was particularly his rapport with the then Goshamahal MLA Mukesh Goud of the Congress that helped him to learn the ropes of politics. In fact, for a brief period, he was part of the Congress party’s activities too given his proximity to Goud.
However, his foray into electoral politics began with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2009 when he was offered a ticket in the Hyderabad civic body polls from the Mangalhat division (which falls under the Goshamahal Assembly segment). He won with a handsome majority. Although he has been ideologically inclined towards the BJP, he has always had an uneasy relationship with the local leadership, which continues to this day. In fact, since his joining the BJP in 2014, he has left the party thrice on the grounds that the BJP has not been doing enough for the Hindus and more so for cow protection.
Also read: Telangana: BJP Suspends MLA Raja Singh, Arrested for Alleged Derogatory Remarks on Prophet
However, his tenure as a corporator (2009-14) from Mangalhat, at a time when Goud was Goshamahal MLA, helped him to cement his position and navigate the political landscape in the Old City of Hyderabad where All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) holds sway. Ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections, he joined the BJP on the insistence of Mettu Vaikuntam of the saffron party, who served as Goshmahal division corporator during 2009-14. He also secured a BJP ticket for the Goshamahal assembly constituency to contest against Goud himself from Congress, who had initially helped Singh’s foray into politics.
The 2014 assembly elections took place simultaneously with the General Elections that year in the backdrop of the successful culmination of the Telangana statehood movement. At the time, the Congress was in a dismal state nationally in the face of the BJP’s successful campaign headed by the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
Despite being a strong contender, the incumbent MLA, Goud, lost to Singh. While Singh had secured 92,757 votes, Goud could manage to poll only 45,964 votes. Singh was one among five victorious BJP MLAs from over 100 seats his party had contested in the 119-member Telangana legislative assembly. He was, and is, still the only non-AIMIM MLA in the seven assembly constituencies that fall under the Hyderabad parliament constituency, represented by Asaduddin Owaisi.
Goshamahal: A distinct demography
Unlike other assembly segments in Hyderabad, Goshmahal has a distinct demographic reality. The neighbourhoods of Dhoolpet, Afzal Gunj, Sultan Bazaar, and Moazzam Jahi Market, among others under its limits have a sizeable migrant population, drawn from north of India and Gujarat, besides members of the Muslim community.
Among the migrant populace of Goshamahal, the Lodha community to which Singh belongs is in preponderance. In fact, the carving out of Goshamahal from the erstwhile Maharaj Ganj assembly constituency in 2008 during a delimitation exercise – at around the same time when Singh entered politics – proved to his advantage, as his Lodha community became the dominant community in the segment.
While development remains elusive to the residents of Goshamahal, making it one of the most backward areas of Hyderabad city, Singh has been able to consolidate his position politically by winning a successive term in the 2018 assembly elections. He defeated TRS’ Prem Singh Rathore by a wide margin and pushed his one-time mentor Goud to the third position.
Also read: UP Polls: ‘Vote for Yogi or Face Bulldozers,’ Says Telangana BJP Leader
He was the only BJP candidate who won in the 2018 elections and his political stock has since gone up by several notches. He naturally became the party’s floor leader in the Telangana assembly, which was once held by senior leaders like G. Kishan Reddy (now, a Union minister) and K. Laxman (now, a Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh).
Despite the fact that the BJP now has three legislators in the Assembly in form of Etala Rajendar and Raghunandan Rao – who are relatively better placed in state politics and have had a longer political career than Singh, he continued to remain the floor leader of the BJP in the assembly until he was suspended from the party in the wake of the Prophet remarks.
Although Singh has promised his constituents of development, every time he sought votes, Goshamahal still continues to be plagued by the lack of basic amenities, including roads, drinking water and sanitation.
According to locals with whom The Wire spoke, the pressing concern in the constituency is the lack of alternative livelihood options for scores of people who had relied upon gudumba (illicit liquor) until the TRS government banned it in 2016. Not only had the sale of gudumba resulted in several deaths it had also led to a development of an ecosystem that survived on illegal money and criminals, which had its tentacles spread into politics.
Such was its influence that Dhoolpet and its adjoining areas had earned the dubious honour of being the underbelly of Hyderabad – infamous for gudumba and drug peddling. The notoriety and stigma continue to affect several areas around Dhoolpet. Several youngsters from the area claim that employers were having second thoughts about hiring people from Dhoolpet. To tide over this stigma, many youngsters do not prefer mentioning Dhoolpet in their job applications.
On the other hand, Goshamahal, and particularly Dhoolpet, is home to about 8,000 to 10,000 idol makers. Depending upon the season, they make Ganesh or Durga Mata idols, which they supply across two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and several other states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, among others. They also earn a livelihood by making crackers during Diwali, manja (string) during Sankranti, and colours during Holi. Most of these seasonal businesses are unregulated, as market demand alone determines the earnings of artisans and other migrant workers from northern states, who are hired to handle the high volume of work during peak seasons.
An idol maker at Dhoolpet in Hyderabad. Photo: Vikram Mukka.
Given that the rehabilitation package announced by the state government to those who were involved in the outlawed gudumba business did not provide promised benefits of alternative livelihood options, including loans and other government welfare schemes, many are left high and dry financially.
Uncertainty also looms large on the idol-making business which provides livelihood opportunities to thousands of locals. Year after year, the state government comes up with regulations to discourage the making of idols using Plaster of Paris (PoP). Even this year, associations representing idol makers had to move the high court for the ban on the use of PoP in idol-making to be lifted. The state government, following guidelines of the Union environment ministry, had issued strict regulations against the use of PoP.
“We were hopeful of good business this year during Ganesh Chaturthi, as the last two years really affected our business due to COVID-19. But the regulations on the use of PoP further added to our woes. We had represented the matter to every possible leader, including our MLA, but nothing worked. We had to knock on the doors of the high court finally. They had already put a ban on the kaala dhanda (black business of Gudumba) and now they are not letting us earn a livelihood from safedh dhanda (white business, referring to the colour of PoP). Where shall we go now to feed our families?” laments Narsingh, one of the idol makers in Dhoolpet.
Rabble-rousing over developmental work
TRS local workers and leaders told The Wire that development and livelihood issues never figured in the politics of Singh. He has used Hindu festivals and religious events to mobilise and consolidate his supporter base. At his insistence, large crowds take out rallies during Hanuman Jayanthi and Ganesh Chathurthi in his constituency, from the Akashpuri Hanuman Temple where the 52-feet Hanuman statue is located. His supporters claim that the temple – which was once nothing but a rock where deities were placed – is currently a proper concrete structure only due to the funds Singh had spent on his own.
He has 103 first information reports (FIRs) registered against him, mostly related to hate speeches, violation of curfew orders and disruption of law and order. In September 2020, Facebook banned him stating that it was being done “for violating our policy prohibiting those that promote or engage in violence and hate from having a presence on our platform”.
Also read: Facebook Bans BJP’s T. Raja Singh Over Hate Speech Violations
Developmental issues have thus taken a backseat in his politics. When asked about the lack of developmental work in his constituency, Singh often said that the TRS government was stalling progress in Goshamahal out of spite to defame him by stopping the flow of funds.
Former TRS corporator Parameshwari Singh Lodha said, “With such statements, he [Singh] accepted that he cannot deliver development to the constituency. He is hiding his failures by blaming the TRS government. He has been associated with this constituency for the last 15 years, both as a corporator and as an MLA, but development never mattered to him. His concern has always been to misguide voters by ratcheting up religious and other emotional issues.”
She says Singh has always found ways to throw spanners in the development works which the TRS government wanted to undertake. “For instance, the government wanted to acquire land to widen the Purnapool to Boiguda Kaman arterial road. The government offered Rs 90,000 per sq yd in form of compensation for those whose houses would be affected due to the road widening.
The government’s compensation package is double or if not more than double compared to the market price. But, Raja Singh wrote to the chief city planner asking Rs 9 lakh per sq yd as compensation in Dhoolpet. Even lands in Central Delhi do not have such a rate. His unrealistic and unviable demands are often the reason for the lack of development in Goshamahal.”
According to locals, the presence of about 13 to 14 beef shops in the vicinity of Singh’s residence in Dhoolpet exposes his “hypocrisy” in relation to his claim of being the “protector” of cows. They say he could have acted upon those slaughterhouses, but he never did.
“He is just being hypocritical. His self-styled label of cow protector and his animosity towards Muslims are purely political in nature to misguide people in the name of religion. There are hardly any cows left in the gaushalas he claims to have been taking care of. He receives so much money in donations for them, but we only see cows starving there without anything to eat,” alleges Parameshwari Singh.
While several development issues remain in the constituency, members of the Lodha Kshatriya Sadar Panchayat – a local caste grouping which commands influence over the community – say they back Singh, for he is the lone representative of the community in the state.
“People even have negative things to say about [Narendra] Modi. Does that mean he is not delivering? It is the same here in Goshamahal. Raja Singh will definitely win if there is an election today. We will ensure that he will. The samaj (community) is fully behind Raja Singh,” says Virender Singh, acting president of the grouping.
According to Amar Singh, Raja Singh’s win in the upcoming elections is imminent despite the fact that he did not deliver. “He may not have delivered in the last two terms. But that is ghar ka maamla (it is a matter within the community). We will settle it amongst us. He has stood against those who humiliated our Hindu gods and goddesses.”
Kamtaprasad Tiwari, the priest of Akashpuri temple, says Singh is the protector of the Hindu religion and the only champion of the Hindu cause in Telangana. He says Singh is being unjustly condemned only because he is exposing the “other side”, referring to the Muslim community.
Questioning Singh’s arrest and the TRS government granting permission to Munawar Faruqui’s show in Hyderabad, Tiwari says, “Chief minister KCR was good at one point. But, due to his association with the other side [AIMIM], the dharm has left his soul. It is never about the teeka.”
Singh is currently in jail under the Preventive Detention Act days after he secured bail in the Prophet remarks case, which triggered protests across the city. Not many see his provocative and hateful comments as unwarranted. Slogans of ‘Jail kaa taala khole gaa, sher bahar nikhlega (The jail’s lock will be open and the Tiger will be out)’ which his supporters raised during recent Ganesh Chaturthi festivities and posters demanding his release which dot the winding lanes of Goshamahal stand as a testament to the large support he still commands in the constituency.
