BJP MLA Raja Singh Booked for Provocative Speech, Songs During Ram Navami Event

A case was registered in two police stations against BJP MLA in Telangana T Raja Singh on Tuesday, 12 April.

A case was registered in two police stations against BJP leader and MLA in Telangana T Raja Singh on Tuesday, 12 April.

(Photo: The News Minute)

A case was registered in two police stations against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and MLA in Telangana T Raja Singh on Tuesday, 12 April.

While the Shahinayathgunj police booked him over an allegedly provocative speech during a Ram Navami procession in Hyderabad, the Sultan Bazar police charged him and Bhagyanagar Sriram Navami Utsava Samiti president Bhagwanth Rao for allegedly violating conditions laid down in the police permission for the event.

Singh Gave Provocative Speech, Sung Songs to Create Communal Divide: Police

“Raja Singh was accused of giving a speech and singing songs which are provocative in nature, and to create hatred and enmity between different religious communities,” a senior police official told PTI, adding that the police on its own took note of the matter and registered the case.

The BJP leader was booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity among people on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 504 (intentionally insults, and thereby gives provocation to any person, intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him to break the public peace), and 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Shahinayathgunj police station, the official said.

Meanwhile, another case was registered against Raja Singh and some organisers of the procession for allegedly violating the conditions of the police permission given for the rally on Sunday, police said.

“There was no permission for the DJ and he had one at the event. He also exceeded and violated the permitted time for the event,” investigation officer J Srikanth Reddy from the Sultan Bazar police station told TNM.

What Had Happened?

The main procession from Sitarambagh was led by Raja Singh and saw hundreds gather sporting saffron caps and scarves.

Huge speakers were set up to play high-decibel music and lyrics of the songs sung by Raja Singh had lines stating that the saffron flag would "soon be placed on every pillar in the country".

The lyrics also said that "enemies of Hinduism would be made to cry tears of blood", before stating that "those who don’t chant Lord Ram’s name would be soon driven out of India".

Raja Singh, the MLA from Goshamahal in the city, has been repeatedly accused of making communal statements and speeches. As per his affidavit filed with the Election Commission of India in December 2018, he has 43 criminal cases pending against him, most of them related to spreading enmity on religious grounds.

(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)