BJP opposes state ban on setting up of Ganesh pandals in Telangana

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 21

The Telangana Government’s decision to ban putting up of Ganesh pandals in view of COVID-19 has not gone down well with the BJP, which has termed the move as “anti-Hindu”.

Telangana has registered 99,391 cases of COVID-19 with 737 deaths. Out of these, there are 21,687 active cases, and the numbers are rising.

A recent study has indicated that there could be as many as two lakh asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers in the city of Hyderabad alone.

Responding to the ban, BJP Telangana unit president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay said, “The TRS government, which distributed biryanis and kaju pista during Ramzan is imposing strict rules, depriving devotees from offering pulihora prasadam during Navratri. There is nothing more shameless than this.”

The BJP leader accused the state government of making attempts to divide Hindus by eyeing the minority vote in the upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections.

BJP’s Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind also hit out at the government for banning public celebrations on ‘Vinayaka Chavithi’.

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi on the other hand rubbished the BJP charge saying that the party is trying to create communal unrest in the state.

TRS spokesperson Manne Krishank said, “BJP state president is speaking like a street leader. He should rise up to a level of state president of a national party and an MP. He should at least know what other states, where BJP is in power, are doing.”

Krishank said, “There were restrictions for Ramzan, there are restrictions for Muharram, such statements from Bandi Sanjay and Arvind appear as a desperate attempt to break public harmony in Telangana for political gains.”