‘Symbol of love for Owaisi’ — Telangana’s new Secretariat at heart of new ‘mandir-masjid’ row
Days after the inauguration of Telangana’s new Secretariat, politics around it continues, with the Opposition BJP repeatedly accusing the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of “hurting Hindu sentiments”.
On Sunday, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao inaugurated a swanky new Secretariat — Dr B.R. Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat — for the state. Built at an estimated cost of more than Rs 600 crore, the Secretariat stands in place of a Nizam-era structure. It will house a temple, a mosque and a church — much like the old one, which had a temple and two mosques.
The BJP, however, has objected to the design of the building, claiming that the cylindrical domes atop it follow Islamic architecture, and were adopted by the chief minister in an attempt to “appease” a “certain group of people”.
Speaking to the press a day before the Secretariat was inaugurated, Telangana BJP chief and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that it “hurt Hindu sentiments” and it was being built to please Asaduddin Owaisi and his Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
He claimed that the land allotted for the temple inside was half the size of the allotment for the mosque, and vowed that he would never enter the Secretariat premises until the domes were torn down.
He repeated those claims on 1 May, when he said in a tweet that the chief minister was “constructing a symbol of love” for Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, but ignored farmers who suffered crop losses following incessant and unseasonal rains.
When KCR’s focus is on constructing symbol of love for MIM, people are bound to suffer.
How many days will BRS govt fool people with Drone videos of village nurseries and flyovers? Reality is farmers are facing crop losses in…
— Bandi Sanjay Kumar (@bandisanjay_bjp) May 1, 2023
On its part, the Telangana government has clarified that the building’s architecture was inspired by temples of both Telangana and Gujarat, as well as the Deccan Kakatiya architecture.
Owaisi, too, has given a similar response. After a Twitter user named ‘Al Bhagwa’ claimed that the new building looked like a “makbara (tomb)”, the Hyderabad MP said the design was inspired by temples of Telangana and Gujarat.
Sir the design was inspired by Temples of Neelakanteshwara Swamy temple in Nizamabad,RajaPrasadas of Vanparthy Samasthanam,and Hanuman Temple Sarangpur Gujrat.
