Politics

Aggressive Hindutva push, with strong oratory style, captive Sanjay Kumar shoulder BJP’s Telangana dreams

August 28, 2022
Bharat Times

With national leaders like Amit Shah and JP Nadda increasingly coming to the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is sending out a clear message that Telangana is important to them.

After Karnataka, the saffron party wants to continue its southern conquest with Telangana, and all its dreams rest on the shoulders of state party chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar. The 51-year-old MP from Karimnagar recently concluded his 25-day Praja Sangram Yatra 3 at Hanamakonda.

Known for his aggressive style and unapologetic delivery of the BJP’s Hindutva agenda, he was made Telangana state chief at a time when the BJP saw an unprecedented rise in vote share in 2019.

Speaking to News18, political analyst Gali Nagaraj said: “Sanjay became Telangana BJP chief after the 2019 elections. In that election, BJP made a big surprise by getting four Parliament seats and 20% vote share. This was a dramatic increase in the 2018 state election, he had just one seat and a vote share of less than 5%. ,

With such a turn of events, the search for a new face for the BJP started. There was a general perception that the leaders leading the BJP at the time – Dr K Laxman and before him Kishan Reddy – were close to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Meanwhile, Sanjay was a youth leader who came from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background. “Sanjay, who was under 50, was relatively young and a prominent member of the RSS. He rose from the position of a city councillor. With his RSS background, he could aggressively pursue the Hindutva agenda and spread the BJP’s message through some difficult padayatras. The party leadership is hopeful of it flourishing with divisive politics in Telangana,” said the analyst.

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Sanjay does not belong to a political family but joined the RSS at the age of 12. He was an active member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). While pursuing his MA in Public Administration from Madurai Kamaraj University, he occupied various ranks in the student body.

Talking about the main strength of his ally, former Uppal MLA, Dr NVVS Prabhakar told News18: “Sanjay is a self-made political leader and has held various positions in the party. He also took part in the struggle for a separate Telangana state. He served as Municipal Councilor of Karimnagar from 2005 to 2019 and became a force to be reckoned with due to his active participation in festivals like Hanuman Jayanti and Ganesh Chaturthi. With his organizational skills and passion for the Hindu cause, he has been able to influence the masses. He has also undertaken long padyatras, which has brought him closer to the people of the entire state.

Sanjay is known to be close to Amit Shah and rose up the ranks by organizing meetings, participating in agitations and writing articles. His party members believe that he has been able to fight KCR tooth and nail through his confrontational oratory style.

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There is a danger of worsening the political equation of BJP even from the caste angle. Vidyasagar Rao and the Chief Minister of Telangana belong to the same community – the Velamas. The small community is politically ambitious and has no loyalty to any one party. Vidyasagar is believed to be close to KCR and this does not bode well for the BJP.

Will prisoner Sanjay Kumar be able to overcome these challenges and turn BJP’s fortunes in the 2023 general elections? One needs to wait and see.

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