Facebook row: Telangana BJP MLA gets security boost due to 'threat perception'

Two weeks after The Wall Street Journal reported that a senior executive of Facebook India had opposed applying hate speech rules to posts by BJP legislator T Raja Singh and some other saffron party leaders, security cover has been enhanced for the lone BJP MLA from Telangana.

In the wake of “threat perception” to Raja Singh, he has been asked not to move around on a two-wheeler in his constituency, Hyderabad police said on Saturday (August 29). He has instead been requested to use the bulletproof vehicle provided by the government.

However the legislator, in a video message, demanded to know what this threat perception was and said he had to move around on a two-wheeler at times as some areas had narrow alleys where a four-wheeler could not enter.

But Raja confirmed having received the letter, dated August 28, from City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar on the security issue and wanted to know which organisation was posing a security threat to him.

He clarified that he moves around in his constituency for two hours every day, some areas of which have narrow alleys where a four-wheeler cannot enter. “I can’t change my schedule and keep away from my people,” the BJP legislator said in the video message.

After the report was published, Raja Singh rejected allegations that he posted communally charged comments online, asserting he only worked in the national interest. He also said his official Facebook page had been “hacked and blocked” in 2018 but that there has been no response from police on a complaint filed by him.