Hyderabad: Tense situation prevailed but Eid-ul-Adha remained peaceful in Telangana’s Medak where communal clashes took place Saturday in which 21 people, including district and town BJP presidents, were arrested.
The arrests came after an altercation between Hindu and Muslim groups turned violent over an alleged attempt to slaughter cows for Eid-ul-Adha. Several people from both sides were injured in the clashes.
The arrested included BJP Medak district president Gaddam Srinivas, Medak town president Nayani Prasad and also eight Muslims, according to the police.
A Medak district police officer told ThePrint that the incident disturbed societal harmony in the town “with no communal troubles for at-least two decades now.”
Medak has been a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) stronghold since the party’s inception to achieve Telangana statehood. But the parliamentary seat, which remained with the party since 2004, was wrested by the BJP in the recent general elections.
Former minister and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao took to social media platform ‘X’, accusing the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government of failing in maintaining law and order.
“Telangana was peaceful sans any communal violence for the last 9.5 years with KCR Garu at the helm of affairs. And now in the Congress government, neither is there any Law nor any Order. Truly shameful that even a peaceful town Medak which never had any communal activity in the past has now become a mess (sic),” KTR posted Sunday in response to a post of Amjed Ullah Khan of the Majlis Bachao Tehreek party.
Telangana was peaceful sans any communal violence for the last 9.5 years with KCR Garu at the helm of affairs
And now in the Congress Government, neither is there any Law nor any Order
Truly shameful that even a peaceful town Medak which never had any communal activity in the… https://t.co/h9gsJh1BG7
— KTR (@KTRBRS) June 16, 2024
Khan has alleged that workers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked Muslims and their properties in Medak, injuring seven youths, while the police remained a mute spectator.
He further said that communal tensions began when some oxen, bought for sacrifice, were kept at a madrasa.
A Medak town police officer told ThePrint that when protests began Saturday noon, they reached the spot and with the help of a government veterinarian verified that the cattle were all oxen.
“However, as the age of most of the bulls was found to be below two years, prohibited from slaughter, they were shifted to a shelter. Local Muslims also asserted they don’t sacrifice cows,” the officer said.
Slaughter of cows and calves is prohibited in Telangana, while oxen and bulls of a certain age and useful for farm activities are protected under the Prohibition of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act, 1977.
In June 2023, during Eid-ul-Adha, the Telangana High Court directed the state chief secretary and the DGP to ensure the Act implementation strictly in the state.
Meanwhile, clashes took place in another part of Medak town in Saturday evening following which a mob vandalised a private hospital where some of the injured were undergoing treatment.
It spiralled into another round of violence after stone pelting as the vastly outnumbered police watched helplessly. A couple of youths were stabbed, wounded, while some properties and vehicles like bikes were also attacked, damaged.
BJP MLA Raja Singh visited some injured youth at a hospital and demanded immediate police action against the attackers. “When Gau-rakshaks and BJP karyakartas stopped anti-social elements from transporting cows for slaughter in Medak, they were attacked with knives,” Singh said Sunday.
While the police have imposed restriction orders to bring the situation under control, the BJP and related outfits called for a Medak bandh on Sunday.
“Since Anumula Revanth Reddy took charge as the Chief Minister of Telangana communal elements have been given a free hand to attack Muslims and damage their properties with police being mute spectators,” Khan posted on ‘X’.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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