Know Your MLA: ‘Gau Rakshak’ who desires a Hindu Rashtra

Hyderabad: Thakur Raja Singh is popularly known as ‘Tiger Raja Singh’, ‘Gau Rakshak’, ‘Hindu ka Sher’ and ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’. From a small-time businessman to a corporator and to a three-term legislator, Raja Singh has had a meteoric rise in politics.

A long-time member of Hindu Yuva Vahini, Raja Singh entered politics by maintaining relationships with local political leaders. Once, he was a close aide to the then Goshamahal MLA Mukesh Goud of the Congress party that helped him to learn the ropes of politics. He was a youth leader in the party for some time.

He said that after being an active leader in the area, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2009 municipality elections offered a ticket from Mangalhat division of Goshamahal Assembly. He won the seat with a handsome majority. He has been ideologically inclined towards the BJP, and in 2014, ahead of the Assembly elections, he joined the BJP and won the Goshamahal Assembly seat against Congress’ Mukesh Goud.

Raja Singh was born on April 15, 1977. Decades ago, his forefathers settled in Hyderabad and had made a living by making idols of gods and goddesses. Initially, he used to sell audio and video cassettes, and later ventured into domestic electrical wiring works. As he was fond of Hindutva, he joined Hindutva organisations. Raja Singh said, “In my Goshamahal constituency, especially Dhoolpet, many people belong to BPL families. I developed the civic infrastructure and laid new roads, upgraded sewage and water pipelines and constructed nalas. I built a five-foot Hanuman statue, constructed a temple by spending Rs 8 crore without any support from the State government, which has also become a popular tourist spot,” he added.

In 2018 Assembly elections, he was the only sitting BJP MLA out of a total of five who retained his seat amid the pro-TRS wave with a margin of 17,000 against the TRS’ Prem Singh Rathore and got elected for a historic consecutive third term in 2023. On several occasions, he said politics is his secondary interest. “The first is to strive for accomplishing a Hindu Rashtra. Along with my followers, we have saved thousands of cows in Hyderabad. I want an immediate ban on cow slaughter,” he says.