Published Nov 02, 2026 | 9:39 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 02, 2026 | 9:39 PM
Amit Shah addressing the crowd after Maha Padayatra in Hyderabad
Synopsis: The Union Home Minister Amit Shah led a ‘Maha Padayatra’ rally in Hyderabad on Monday, in an effort to counter the INDIA Bloc’s campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Shah devoted his speech to the SIR row and attacks on the Congress, and vowed to form government in the State. Minister Ponnam Prabhakar asked why the state’s pending demands from the Centre were not part of his address.
It was all politics and no development issues at the BJP’s Maha Padayatra rally in Hyderabad on Monday, 2 October.
Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah took on Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the gathering.
Shah called on Telangana to give the BJP a two-thirds majority in the 2028 State Assembly elections and said it was time to remove Congress from power. He led the ‘Maha Padayatra’ under the slogan, ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’.
The march began at the Babu Jagjivan Ram statue near Nizam College and ended at Mozamjahi Market in Abids. Shah’s address focused on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and a sustained attack on Gandhi and Revanth Reddy, while avoiding the state’s development needs and any mention of central funding.
Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, state BJP president N Ramchander Rao, and MPs Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Eetala Rajender, DK Aruna, and Dharmapuri Arvind were among the leaders who joined the rally. Earlier in the day, Shah offered prayers at the Bhagyalakshmi Temple near Charminar.
The BJP billed the event as a response to the Opposition’s campaign against the SIR. It came a day after the Congress-led INDIA bloc rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.
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Shah dismissed the Delhi gathering as a bid to shield infiltrators rather than defend voting rights. He said the BJP would remove every infiltrator from the electoral rolls and from the country.
Pointing to Gandhi’s claim that 13 crore names have been deleted from the rolls, Shah broke the number down for the crowd. He said more than six crore were people who had moved elsewhere; nearly three crore had died; one crore were duplicate entries; and the remaining three crore were Bangladeshi infiltrators.
But so far, the Election Commission has not released a figure for foreign nationals found on the rolls.
Shah also rejected the charge that the BJP wins elections because of the SIR, noting that Narendra Modi won in 2014, 2019 and 2024 without one. He claimed that after 2024, the BJP had won state elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Bengal, and Assam, and vowed to form the government in Telangana as well.
He challenged Gandhi to a special Parliament session on the SIR, ‘infiltrators’ and EVMs, and predicted the Congress leaders would stay away out of fear of losing the debate to Narendra Modi.
Also Read: Karnataka SIR: 85% of 1.08 crore names marked for deletion are for reasons other than death
On the state, Shah’s remarks focused on accusations against the Congress government.
He alleged that an “RR tax” operated in Telangana, which he said was ultimately a “Rahul tax”. He accused Revanth Reddy of turning the state into an ATM, and said the party had failed to deliver its six guarantees promised during the polls. He said only the BJP could stop what he called a conspiracy to sell the state, and that the Congress, the BRS, or Owaisi could not be trusted to do so.
The BJP leader said Modi had set a precedent for governance and cited Article 370, the Ram Mandir, triple talaq, Operation Sindoor, and the push against Naxalism. He vowed to make India drug-free by 31 December 2029. Citing several development and welfare schemes such as free ration, Ujjwala, Ayushman Bharat, and more, he said that the Modi government had helped tens of crores of people in the country.
He urged party workers in Telangana to counter ‘fearmongering’ and ‘misinformation’ on SIR by visiting every household and distributing pamphlets.
Shah, however, did not address the state’s pending promises under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, among them a steel plant at Bayyaram and a rail coach factory at Kazipet, which the Revanth Reddy government has repeatedly raised with the Centre.
Pending projects such as the long-awaited Metro Rail Phase 2 and 3, and the Regional Ring Road (RRR) project, also did not receive a mention.
Also Read: SIR and denying the citizenship rights of minorities
Telangana Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar responded, saying Shah’s visit had been limited to criticising the Congress. He said he expected the Home Minister to speak on the Reorganisation Act assurances and apologise for his comments on the state’s formation and its martyrs.
Ponnam refused the infiltrators allegation and said that Shah, as Home Minister, should explain how such people got onto the rolls. He demanded the Centre produce evidence of how many foreigners it found during the SIR, and whether it sent them back to their countries after removing their names from the electoral rolls. He said the Congress was questioning only the removal of SC, ST, BC and minority votes.
He also raised concerns about Telangana’s contribution to the Centre in taxes and how much it receives in returns, and called for drought relief amid El Niño conditions. Ponnam listed the state’s schemes, including fine rice, ration cards, 200 units of free power, free bus travel and recruitments, and asked whether the state BJP was ready for an open debate on its own promises.
Describing Shah’s Hyderabad visit as a failure, he called the speech a script written by local BJP leaders. He said Shah had come to Hyderabad because he lacked the courage to counter the Delhi rally in the capital. He also accused the Centre of favouring corporates, naming Ambani and Adani, and said the BJP had been caught stealing votes and was now trying to bluff its way out through a padayatra.
Ponnam said the Congress, too, wanted democracy protected and anarchy ended, and that the party that fought for Independence would now fight for democracy.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
