TRS urges SEC to take action against Bandi Sanjay for hate speech

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Friday urged the State Election Commission (TSEC) to initiate immediate criminal action against Sanjay including his arrest, bar him from campaigning in the GHMC area and restrain him from making hate speeches.

In a formal complaint submitted to the State Election Commission here, TRS General Secretary and MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy and General Secretary Soma Bharat Kumar brought to the notice of the commission the comments of the State BJP chief terming Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao as “Desha Drohi” (anti-national) and anti-Hindu.

“We bring to your notice the deliberate violation of the Model Code of Conduct by Bandi Sanjay Kumar during the election campaign. His utterances are not only indecent and criminal, but they also constitute serious offences under the provisions of the Representation of People’s Act, Indian Penal Code and the GHMC Act 1955,” the letter said. 

TRS said the BJP chief had made extremely disagreeable, communal, anti-Constitutional, hate statements inciting communal hatred that were in clear violation of several provisions of the law and the model code of conduct.

Stating that Sanjay Kumar had made some serious insinuations against Chandrashekhar Rao, the TRS said that describing Chandrashekhar as anti-national and anti-Hindu was intentionally done to demean and defame the party president in the eyes of the public and with the specific purpose of generating electoral gains in the ensuing GHMC elections. 

“The statements were intentional and deliberate, and thus, they constitute serious criminal offences which entail swift and immediate action from TSEC’s end,” the letter said.

Attaching the video of Sanjay’s press meet as evidence, the TRS said that Sanjay Kumar took the names of people who have no connection with the voters of the GHMC area. The letter quoted Sanjay as saying: “TRS and MIM candidates are coming to you asking for votes as inheritors of Osama Bin laden, Afzal Guru, Yakub Memon, Aurangzeb, Babar and



Akbar.” This, the TRS said, was against the code of conduct. “The same was repeated in social media and television channels. This is nothing but seeking votes on grounds of religion which is listed as a corrupt practice under section 123 (3) of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951,” the TRS noted in its complaint.

The TRS said the other very objectionable insinuating and offending statement was “Desha bhaktulaku desha drohulaku jarugutunna yudham” (The election is a war between nationalists and anti-nationals). The TRS said the party chief is a great patriot in his own right and second to none who fought valiantly and achieved Statehood for Telangana. 

“He is the most respectable person in the State and terming him as an anti-national can’t be tolerated. Similarly, he is a pious Hindu and always has righteous faith and trust in his religion, which preaches tolerance from time immemorial,” TRS said.

“Our President is always bound by his dharma and is ordained by the Constitution in protecting the subjects of the State irrespective of their religion and caste equally. “Calling him an anti-Hindu is a sinister design deliberately invented by Sanjay Kumar for electoral gains and has to be treated seriously as an offence to divide the peaceful society and encouraging animosity between the communities,” the TRS said.

The TRS said the party was “extremely afraid” that such statements of Sanjay Kumar may create enmity among communities which may lead to violence and may affect national security, which is an offence under IPC 153 A. “In fact, the statements of Sanjay Kumar also violates provisions 1 and 3 under General Conduct (Chapter 1) of the Model Code of Conduct which says that no party or candidate shall indulge in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tensions between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic and there shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes,” the TRS observed.