On June 25, outside Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Bhavan, the State Party Headquarters at Nampally in Hyderabad, BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh commissioned the ‘Kalvakuntla Countdown’, to apparently show how time is running out for the first Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ruling family. Integrated on a bulletin board, the clock also has a sloganHail Dora, Selavu Dora (‘Sovereign enough, goodbye sovereign’). Similar digital clocks are to be put into operation in all BJP offices across the state as the party raises the tone for a no-holds-barred campaign ahead of assembly elections scheduled by the end of November 2023 That’s why, when it started ticking, the clock showed 529 days – the approximate number of days left in the TRS government’s current term. The party has also set up a website, selavudora.com, with photos of Chief Minister Kalavakuntala Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) and a link asking people to support the campaign.

“People were eagerly waiting to say goodbye and the countdown will remind everyone that the rule of the family of Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) will pass away and the BJP government will be formed in Telangana,” said Chugh, who is the BJP in charge of the state. . “The state is in the hands of a family and the people are waiting to break it,” he asserted, saying that family rule was the greatest enemy of democracy. He challenged KCR to appear for an open discussion on the achievements of his government and the contribution of the Union government over the past eight years. “Our Telangana Chief Bandi Sanjay will come with all the facts and figures and you will choose the time and place,” he said.

Since Sanjay took office as State Party Chairman in March 2020 – after becoming an MP in 2019 – and began traveling widely across towns and villages in Telangana, he has signaled that the BJP will do its utmost in an attempt to dislodge the TRS which came to power during the reorganization of former Andhra Pradesh in June 2014. For its part, the TRS has tried to counter criticism against it with vehemence, hoping to neutralize any anti-incumbency, or at least overcome it, and win the Legislative Assembly polls for the third consecutive time.

Now, amid apprehension that the KCR may call an earlier election, the BJP, other than commissioning the clocks, is to hold its two-day national executive committee meeting of the party on July 2-3 in Hyderabad. to show why Telangana matters to the BJP. All top BJP leaders are expected to attend the meeting.

However, a crucial part of the BJP’s campaign – the demand for “mosques built on temples” – could eventually meet a roadblock in Telangana.

On May 25, while taking part in a ‘Hindu Ekta Yatra’ (procession for Hindu unity) in Karimnagar as part of Hanuman Jayanti celebrations, Sanjay called for mosques across the state to be dug up because they were built on Hindu temples. “I challenge (Hyderabad MP Asaduddin) Owaisi and all other lay people. Let’s dig up mosques in Telangana and see. If we dig it up and see there are dead bodies, then you Muslims and secular people can take it, but if there is a Shiva linga then you hand it over to us,” he said.

Sanjay also said that a new movie, titled Razakar filesinspired by The Kashmir Files, will be designed to depict the brutal atrocities committed by the Razakars on the people of Telangana during the Nizam’s tyrannical rule. “It will serve as a ‘revelation’ for pseudo-secularists who engage in minority appeasement politics,” he remarked.

Whatever else the BJP might do, the prospects of digging up mosques to search for temple ruins have dimmed considerably, with the Archaelogical Survey of India stating: “None of the monuments/sites under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India, Hyderabad Circle in Telangana State has no evidence of the construction of ancient mosques on Hindu religious sites.ASI’s statement was in response to a question from a Hyderabad-based RTI activist, Robin Zaccheus, who asked for evidence “regarding ancient mosques” that were allegedly built on Hindu religious sites or temples.

Undaunted, some BJP members plan to focus more on the Bhagyalakshmi temple under the southeastern minaret of Hyderabad’s famous Charminar. National party leaders as well as delegates attending National Executive Committee meetings are required to visit the temple. In fact, taking over as head of the BJP state unit, Sanjay kicked off his first tour at the Praja Sangrama Yatra after offering prayers to the deity Bhagyalakshmi. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is expected to visit the shrine and perform rituals there, according to party leaders.

Analysts point out that this will have an impact. “Sanjay’s leadership has given new impetus and helped the party win more supporters and endorse the Hindutva agenda,” said Donthagani Veerababu from the Department of Political Science at Hyderabad University. “The previous BJP leadership in the state has been limited to criticizing welfare schemes believing that the Hindutva campaign will not work.” He believes that the negative impact of anti-incumbency, the discontent of unemployed youths and the credibility of the Modi government are other influential factors in favor of the BJP.

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