A COMMOTION MADE OF CLAY

In an ironic quirk of politics, Telangana is seeing heightened emotions over both the idols of a deity and an aniconic faith.

- Amarnath K. Menon

On the one hand, the T. Raja Singh affair kept the atmosphere tense into the second week. The controversial video put out by the BJP’s suspended Goshamahal MLA, with offensive references to Prophet Mohammed, brought into play all the usual plot elements: arrest, bail, protests, calls for decapitation in public and on social media that led to more cases and an appeal for security cover even from Singh’s lawyer, and a legal drama that has reached the Supreme Court. On the other, the BJP turned the quest to have an eco-friendly Ganesh Chaturthi on August 31 into another occasion for confrontation with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti.