Newsmaker | Threatening comedians to anti-minority speeches, now Bhojshala row: Who is BJP MLA T Raja Singh?

The Goshamal MLA, who has been booked in cases of alleged hate speech in the past, has created a stir by saying that a "magnificent temple" will be built at the disputed site.

Telangana BJP MLA T Raja. (Photo Credit: X/@TigerRajaSingh)

Booked several times in the past for delivering inflammatory speeches, Telangana BJP MLA T Raja has made anti-minority comments while speaking about a row around the disputed Bhojshala temple-cum-Kamal Maula mosque complex in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district.

At a Chandra Shekhar Azad Jayanti event in Dhar on Wednesday, Raja said a “magnificent temple is going to be built in your Madhya Pradesh” and “we will win the Bhojshala case in the High Court very soon”. Raja also accused the Muslim community of “love jihad” and alleged that “open conversions are happening” in Madhya Pradesh and cow slaughter was rampant.

The MLA of Goshamal constituency in Hyderabad is no stranger to controversy. Known among his supporters as “Tiger Raja” and “Hindu Hriday Samrat”, 47-year-old Singh has frequently faced action over comments about Muslims. Earlier this month, comedian Daniel Fernandes cancelled his Hyderabad show after a threat of violence from Singh.

In February, the Mumbai Police investigated Singh for allegedly making communal remarks at a rally organised at Mira Road in the city to commemorate the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji. The police had initially denied Singh permission for the rally at Mira Road, where communal violence had occurred in January. However, the Bombay High Court later allowed it on the ground that he would not indulge in hate speech. Singh provided a written undertaking to the police agreeing to the condition.

In August 2022, Singh was suspended from the BJP and jailed after his remarks on Prophet Muhammad triggered protests across Hyderabad. He returned to the party ahead of the Telangana Assembly polls last year and retained Goshamahal for the third straight time.

Cases against the MLA

Singh started his political journey in 2009 as a municipal councillor in Hyderabad. He was a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) member in undivided Andhra Pradesh before quitting to join the BJP amid the Narendra Modi wave in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

According to his 2023 poll affidavit, the BJP MLA has 85 active cases against him and has been convicted in two. He faces 36 charges of promoting enmity between different groups, 29 charges of deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, 17 charges of intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, 13 charges of criminal intimidation, 12 charges of provocation with intent to cause rioting, eight charges related to statements conducing to public mischief, four charges of defiling places of worship.

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In 2017, the Hyderabad Police booked Singh for referring to the Old City as “mini Pakistan” and saying he was training a private army in the use of arms. Later that year, amid communal tensions in West Bengal, he called on Hindus to respond to communal violence the “same way Hindus did in Gujarat” during the 2002 riots to “prevent Bengal from turning into Bangladesh”.

In 2018, the Hyderabad Police registered a case against him for allegedly demanding a ban on the “green book”, a reference to the Quran, and alleging that it was the “cause of terrorism” in India.

In September 2020, Facebook banned the BJP MLA for calling for Rohingya Muslims and undocumented immigrants to be shot if they did not willingly leave the country.

Also Read | Litany of cases against T Raja Singh: BJP’s rabble-rouser MLA known for anti-minority rhetoric

Singh’s arrest in August 2022 came after he was arrested following his remarks against Prophet Muhammad that triggered protests across Hyderabad. Singh made the comments in a video shared on social media in response to comedian Munawar Faruqui’s show in the city. While he initially secured bail, the police invoked the Preventive Detention Act citing 104 FIRs against the MLA. He was in jail for 76 days until the Telangana High Court quashed his detention on the condition that he would not organise any processions, speak to the media, or make inflammatory speeches.

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The MLA’s comments had come at a delicate time for the BJP. Two months earlier, the BJP had suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled a leader in Delhi, Naveen Kumar Jindal, for their remarks on the Prophet. The BJP show-caused Singh and subsequently suspended him. But with Singh threatening to contest the Telangana Assembly polls as an Independent if the BJP did not give him a ticket, the party’s central disciplinary committee revoked his suspension after “due consideration of his explanation” ahead of polls.

In January 2023, the Hyderabad Police issued a fresh show-cause notice to Singh over a speech at a Hindu Janakrosh Morcha event in Mumbai for violating the terms of his release from jail. In February, the police registered a case against him for an alleged hate speech in Maharashtra’s Latur at an event to celebrate the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji. He was booked again in March for an alleged hate speech against the Muslim community in Maharashtra’s Shrirampur town.