TRS calls BJP's bluff as videos show saffron men attacking civilians

HYDERABAD: BJP Telangana Chief Bandi Sanjay and a battery of leaders from the saffron party have been making a hue and cry over the way the Praja Sangrama Yatra was foiled by the police. One common accusation that most of them used against the TRS government and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, in particular, is the use of violence by the TRS cadre against its leaders, more so against women.

But to their misfortune, a few videos floating in social media came in handy for the BJP detractors to call their bluff. In what could be a major embarrassment for the saffron brigade, the videos, according to the BJP baiters, expose the truth behind the clamour of Bandi's bandwagon in stark contrast.

Bandi Sanjay has been vocal about how BJP's women leaders were abused and assaulted and how stones were rained at his yatra by the TRS men at several places. However, not willing to take things lying low, the TRS activists allege that the videos are a clear proof of the BJP's 'hypocrisy' and the deception used to camouflage the atrocities committed by its own men. One of the visuals, tweeted by TRS social media convenor Krishank, shows a man, purportedly a BJP activist, throwing a stone towards the opposite side even as Bandi Sanjay's voice could be heard in the background.

Krishank tweeted: "What sort of Padayatra is this where BJP workers are pelting stones on the directions of BJP State President BS Kumar?"

Whether it was at the behest of Bandi Sanjay or not, the video certainly grabs the eyeballs for one more glaring observation. The TRS workers claim that the unidentified man, hurling the stone, was none other than a member of Bandi Sanjay's yatra organising team. The man, caught in the nasty act, was seen sporting a red-colour tagged ID card around his neck. As TRS men would claim, it is worn only by the core team looking after Bandi Sanjay's yatra.

The BJP men themselves stoking violence with stone-pelting and then crying foul of their rivals has invited the wrath of the netizens. If this was not proof enough, a few other videos show how the BJP men, in an inebriated condition, targetted the vehicles of ordinary civilians and even harassed women commuters, the TRS men allege. One of the videos showing women literally begging the hooligans from inside their vehicles to leave them unharmed has gone viral.

With the wind literally taken out of their sails, the BJP is under fire, not just from the TRS, but even from the man on the street. Many of them feel that the saffron party's cacophony on TRS violence is reminiscent of an old Telugu saying, popularly used in the hinterlands, 'Mogudini kotti Mogasaalaku yekkadam' (Beat the husband black and blue and then make a scene out in the street).

Now that the TRS supporters, emboldened by the irrefutable video evidence, caught the BJP in the act of deception, the BJP has nowhere to hide, the netizens feel.