A day after the opposition gathered at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the political fight over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls reached Hyderabad’s old city. On Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah began his visit with prayers at the Bhagyalakshmi temple next to the historic Charminar, before leading a BJP “Maha Padyatra” through the heart of the city.

Shah was given a warm welcome on his arrival at Begumpet Airport. Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, state BJP president N. Ramchander Rao, BJP MPs and other party leaders received him. Kishan Reddy and Ramchander Rao then went with him to the temple in the old city.

The choice of starting point was deliberate. The Bhagyalakshmi temple has long been a symbolic stop for BJP leaders in Hyderabad, and beginning a political march there, in the shadow of Charminar, gives the event both religious and political weight.

Why Hyderabad, and why now

The foot march runs from the Babu Jagjivan Ram Statue at Basheerbagh to Moazzam Jahi Market, where Shah will address a corner meeting. It is part of the BJP’s nationwide campaign titled “Save democracy, remove anarchy”. The campaign has been set up as a direct counter to the INDIA bloc’s agitation against the SIR exercise.

The timing matters. On Sunday, November 1, the INDIA bloc held a rally at Ramlila Maidan as part of its “Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao” campaign. There, opposition parties alleged irregularities in the Election Commission’s revision of voter rolls and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Shah is expected to use the Hyderabad platform to respond to the attack the opposition made on the BJP at that rally.

BJP leaders have urged people to join the march in large numbers to “save democracy and safeguard constitutional institutions”.

The rhetoric from the state unit was sharp. In a post on X, Ramchander Rao said they had offered special pooja at the temple for strength to fight “deshdrohi” forces, which he said were trying to create anarchy in the country. He also attacked the Congress, saying Telangana would never forgive the party for trying to push the nation into anarchy. “Our country will not be run by the riot-mongering politics of Rahul Gandhi, but by the Constitution and people’s mandate,” he said.

Rao also targeted Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for attending Sunday’s rally in Delhi. He claimed that while Telangana is reeling under a severe water crisis, the Chief Minister and his administration are “missing in action”. “Their entire focus was on making yesterday’s Ramlila Maidan rally a success, only for it to turn into a major flop. Instead of fighting the water crisis in Telangana, CM Reddy is busy attending flop rallies to protect the votes of illegal infiltrators,” he said.

The INDIA bloc, for its part, says its campaign is about protecting voters’ rights and making sure no eligible citizen is removed from the rolls.

The bigger picture

The SIR row has become one of the main fault lines in national politics, and both sides now want to win the argument in public as well as in institutions. By holding the march in Telangana, a Congress-ruled state, the BJP is taking the national debate into the opposition’s own territory. Shah’s speech at Moazzam Jahi Market will show how hard the BJP intends to push back.

With inputs from IANS.