Elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have always seen fierce political battles. However, the BJP has ratcheted up the competition this time to a level hitherto unseen. Sensing an opportunity to establish itself as a major player in a state where it has had only a nominal presence until recently, the party has assembled a battery of heavyweight campaigners — Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief J P Nadda are among those scheduled to campaign in the city before polling on December 1. With Bhupender Yadav, who played a role in strategising for the Bihar assembly election, in charge of the GHMC campaign, the BJP offensive has acquired a new edge.
The BJP has proposed an ambitious welfare agenda for GHMC, where the TRS is on the backfoot after the recent floods. Along with the welfarism, it is also raising the pitch on polarising issues — Hyderabad has a 30 per cent Muslim population and is the home turf of Asaduddin Owaisi and his party, the AIMIM. BJP leaders such as Tejaswi Surya have accused the TRS and AIMIM of sheltering Bangladeshis while Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani has claimed that thousands of Rohingya were illegally residing in the city. The party has also started a campaign to celebrate September 17, the day the Indian Army concluded its operations against the Nizam’s forces, as Hyderabad Liberation Day instead of remembering it as Telangana Merger Day. Hyderabad has come a long way since Operation Polo in 1948 and emerged as a software and education hub. It would be unfortunate if the competing visions for the cosmopolitan city’s future end up harking back to old fault lines and contested histories.
