Hyderabad: The Akhand Bharat Sangarsh Samiti (ABSS), a city-based organisation, conducted a public meeting at Quli Qutb Shah Stadium in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Sunday evening. The event was attended by several local and state-level leaders of the party, including BJP state chief K. Laxman, MLC N. Ramchander Rao and party leaders Raghunandan Rao and Tulla Veerender Goud.
For nearly two hours before the event, a cultural programme was organised by the ABSS. It featured songs, dance performances and sloganeering by various groups. Some of these groups included children, many of whom looked to be under 10 years in age. Many of the audience too had children, with the Tricolour in their hand.
Everyone shouted slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. One of the rallies, while making its way into the stadium, also shouted “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro salon ko (shoot those traitors of the country)”.
On stage, a group of young men shouted the slogans “JNU, Jamia ka kabar khodenge (we’ll dig the graves of JNU and Jamia)”. The same group, in one of their slogans, compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jambavan, the mythical bear from Ramayan, in the fight against Ravana (protesters against CAA); Home minister Amit Shah was compared to Rama’s servant Hanuman. The leader of this group asked why anti-CAA protesters were asking for “azadi (freedom)”. Sarcastically, he said, “We will give you azadi. Thok ke denge, peet ke denge, cheer ke denge azaadi (we will hit you, tear you apart to give you your freedom).”
Dr Laxman, in his address, said it was unfortunate that the TRS government had decided to oppose CAA. “It is to the credit of the Modi government that people like Owaisi are singing the National Anthem and the National Flag is being flown at Darussalam (MIM headquarters),” he said.
Attacking the TRS-MIM alliance, Dr Laxman said, “Recently, Owaisi met with the CM for over three hours. This CM doesn’t even meet his ministers and MLAs for three minutes. We need to understand that TRS is allowing the MIM spew venom on society.”
Many local level leaders also spoke at the event. One of the organisers, Ale Bhaskar, convenor of the ABSS, said, “When I saw Owaisi tear up the CAA Bill in Parliament, I thought we should organise a meeting in his own constituency to tear him up.” He said all anti-CAA protests staged in the city so far were by “anti-Hindu forces”. “This meeting is an answer to the tukde-tukde gang,” he said.
