Hyderabad: Uttar Pradesh chief minister and senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Yogi Adityanath, has left a raging controversy in Telangana, after his rabble-rousing speeches during various election rallies in the state.
Apart from promising that on coming to power in the state the BJP will rename Hyderabad as ‘Bhagyanagar’, Adityanath also said the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, will be forced to flee the state like the Nizam of Hyderabad.
The statement evoked a swift response from Owaisi, who said nobody could force him to leave the country.
Addressing BJP’s election meeting at Viqarabad near Hyderabad, Adityanath said, “If BJP comes to power, I assure you, Owaisi will have to flee from Telangana the same way Nizam was forced to flee from Hyderabad.”
He was referring to the merger of Hyderabad state into the Indian union in 1948, following intervention by the Indian army.
However, many on social media reminded the Uttar Pradesh CM that, after the merger, the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan did not flee the state but was made the ‘Raj Pramukh’ or governor of the state and was buried in the city.
But Adityanath also gave credit of the merger to the first deputy prime minister of India, Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
He said if Patel had not shown the guts, removing Nizam would have been difficult.
In his speech in Goshamahal Adityanath said the BJP was the only party which was willing to change the name of Hyderabad to Bhagyanagar.
He also said that only a BJP government could put an end to the use of Hyderabad for terror activities.
“Muslim appeasement led every terror attack link to Hyderabad”, he said.
“All terror attacks have some links to Hyderabad,” he said.
He urged the people of Telangana to play their role in establishing Ram Rajya in India by the BJP.
“If you want Hyderabad to be named Bhagyanagar then vote for BJP”, he told the gathering.
Sharply reacting to the incendiary comments of UP Chief Minister, Asaduddin Owaisi charged him with spreading hatred in Telangana.
“Yogi should know Huzoor Nizam did not flee anywhere. He made many sacrifices for this country and at the time of Indo-China war donated thousands of tonnes of gold to India”, Asad Owaisi told election meetings in Nampally constituency in Hyderabad.
“Yogi is weak in the history and he is talking of sending us out. If he does not know the history let him learn it from somebody. Nobody can chase us out from this country”, he said.
In his typical Hyderabadi style Owaisi said, “Yeh Hindustan mere baap ka mulk hai, koi nhain nikal sakta mujhe. Jab Pitaji ka mulk hai to beta kahan niklega” (This India is my father’s country, nobody can expel me from here).
