Telangana police have slapped criminal cases against AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh for his remarks that they were running fake websites to trap innocent Muslim youth from Hyderabad into ISIS terror outfit. Singh made these comments on his Twitter handle this week and reiterated them when challenged by the Telangana police and the ministers.
Singh, who has been relieved as the Congress’ in-charge in Goa and Karnataka, is facing strong discontentment from sections of the Telangana Congress for the way he has been running the party affairs. The Congress leaders are of the view that his comments against the police would in no way benefit the party in terms of wooing Muslims in Telangana.
Singh’s contention was that the reason why the Telangana police was aware of the activities of the ISIS suspects is that it itself traps them into the crime world through a fake website. Telangana police had tipped off its counterparts in Madhya Pradesh, resulting in the arrest of the accused in the train blast in Shajapur district. In Uttar Pradesh, feedback by Telangana police led to the encounter Saifullah, an ISIS supect in Kanpur two months ago.
Singh questioned how did the Telangana cops come to learn about the movements of the ISIS suspects in various parts of the country. He said that at a meeting of anti-terror squads in the country recently, the strategy adopted by Telangana police was questioned by some of the seniors. He wanted to know whether Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had cleared his police methods which were unethical.
Based on a complaint lodged by TRS MLA from Jubilee Hills Maganti Gopinath and his five other followers—Dinesh Chowdary, Sanjeeva, Salim Ahmed, Zaheer Ahmed and Basavaraj—the Jubilee Hills police have registered cases against Singh under IPC Section 505, 1a, 1b and 1(2) for making provocative comments to foment trouble and breach peace and harmony.
Though the police have received complaints against Digvijaya Singh from several police stations in the state, they have decided to register a case against him at one police station—Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad—for legal convenience.
Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma condemned Digvijaya Singh’s allegation that the cops were doing a conspiracy against the Muslim youths. In a statement issued in Hyderabad within hours of Singh’s comments, Sharma asked the Congress leader to prove his charges or apologise.
TRS Minister K.T. Rama Rao came down heavily against Digvijaya Singh for making “irresponsible” and “malicious” comments against the Telangana government and the police and demanded that he should prove his charges. As Singh maintained his stand and refused to apologise, the TRS government decided to book cases and proceed against him legally.
If proved, the IPC Section 505 case can attract a maximum punishment up to six years and a fine, though there is an exemption in the law that the accused can take shelter under the clause that he had enough reasonable ground to make such comments, senior officials in the Telangana Law department told The Sunday Guardian on Saturday.
The case may drag on for some time and Digvijaya appeared to be ready to face the trial, but his comments are likely to trigger a storm in the Telangana Congress which is struggling to stage a political come back since the 2014 elections. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy refused to comment on Singh’s statement when asked by this reporter.
Other Congress seniors are not ready to go easy on Singh as they fear that his frequent controversial comments might damage the party’s prospects in the coming elections. “We are planning to request AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to look into his comments,” said a Congress MLC who preferred not to be quoted.
The disgruntled leaders are planning to seek shifting of Digviaya Singh out of Telangana.
Their grouse is that Digvijaya’s earlier comments on Indian Army hitting Kashmiris and Chhattisgarh CM backing Maoists, too, could put the party in poor picture. Singh wanted to win back the support of Muslims of Hyderabad through these comments, but it is unlikely. Even Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT), major Muslim parties in Hyderabad, haven’t welcomed Singh comments.
MIM merely demanded an investigation into Singh’s comments, while MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan asked Digvijaya Singh whether the previous Congress regimes too used fake websites to lure innocent Muslim youth into terror trap. “Muslims of Hyderabad are not ready to go by Digvijaya’s allegation as TRS government is fully committed to our welfare,” said TRS MLC Mohammad Saleem.
Telangana Home Minister and senior TRS leader Naini Narsimha Reddy blamed Digvijaya Singh for the failure of pre-election alliance between Congress and TRS in 2014. “He (Singh) is in the habit of making baseless and wild allegations on various issues. It was because of him and another AICC leader Jairam Ramesh, we couldn’t form an alliance in 2014,” said the Home Minister.