Controversy's Child: Who is BJP's T Raja Singh, arrested for making remarks against Prophet Muhammad?

Controversial Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad. He was also suspended from the BJP and has been asked to respond to a show cause notice for his statements within 10 days.

According to NDTV, the police said that a case was registered under sections of the law relating to insulting religious beliefs.

Who is T Raja Singh?

T Raja Singh started his political career in 2009 as a Telugu Desam Party municipal councillor from Mangalhat, and later moved on to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2014 general elections. He is currently the saffron party’s whip in Telangana, as per a report by India Today, and is a two-time MLA from the Goshamal constituency in the state assembly.

This is not the first time that the BJP leader has found himself mired in controversy. In 2015, Raja Singh attacked a police constable after he was stopped from playing loud music at 2 am in the morning at a wedding ceremony. A case was registered against him based on a video that showed Raja Singh abusing and shoving the cop.

Making controversial communal remarks is also not new to Raja Singh, the Goshamal MLA in 2015 threatened a “Dadri-like incident” in response to a planned beef festival at Osmania University in Hyderabad.

Issuing threats to the festival organisers, Singh said, "We warn them against a Dadri-like incident in Telangana. We can both give our lives and take life for the sake of protecting the cow".

As per his 2018 election affidavit, Raja Singh declared to have 43 police cases against him on varying offences, including delivering “hate speech”, rioting, defiling a place of worship and attempt to murder, as per a TOI report.

According to India Today, Facebook had labelled Raja Singh as a “dangerous individual” and banned him from all its platforms for hate speech in September 2020.

Facebook’s ban came after the BJP leader made posts saying Rohingya Muslim refugees should be shot, called Muslims traitors and threatened to raze mosques, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Earlier this year, in April, Raja Singh was booked by Hyderabad Police for disturbing public peace and tranquility by making provocative communal speeches during a Ram Navami shobha yatra.

What has he done now?

Last week, Raja Singh had threatened to stop stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui's show in Hyderabad and said he would burn down the set at the venue. He was placed under house arrest for the threat.

Singh later defended his statements saying it was a “comedy video” and he had no mention of the Prophet. Hyderabad police registered an FIR against him after massive protests erupted at several locations in the city on Monday night.

The incident has angered political leaders as AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at the BJP.

"Has it become their official policy that they aren't satisfied with Nupur Sharma and they are making other MLAs say things? People are angry. People have tears in their eyes. Why are they saying things like this about Prophet Muhammad? Our demand is that the BJP should stop doing all this. People can see how much you hate the Prophet," Owaisi said.

The BJP has suspended Singh and asked him to respond to the show cause notice within 10 days.

"You have expressed views contrary to the Party's position on various matters, which is in clear violation of Rule XXV 10 (a) of the constitution of the Bharatiya Janata Party. I have been directed to convey to you that pending further inquiry, you are suspended from the party and from your responsibilities/assignments if any, with immediate effect," the letter undersigned by Om Pathak, who is secretary of the party's central disciplinary committee, said.

With inputs from agencies

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