Controversial dalit writer and social scientist Kancha Ilaiah today made another sensational comment, saying that Arya Vysya representatives were puppets groomed by BJP national president Amit Shah.
Speaking to media on Sunday, Ilaiah said that Arya Vysya leaders were acting at the behest of Shah. He challenged Shah to come to Hyderabad and invite him for a debate on the issue.
"I would question Shah on the injustice that has been meted out to the nation by the Arya Vysyas," he said.
The media meet was held in the backdrop of his controversial 18-page booklet on the Arya Vysya community that he had released last month with the title "Samajika Smugglerlu Komatollu" by Bhoomi Publications sparking protests across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Arya Vysya community demanded that the booklet be banned in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Ilaiah also claims to have received death threats from political leaders and Arya Vysya leaders. After a few members of the community allegedly made a vain bid to attack him in Parakala, Warangal district, when he was returning from a meeting, the writer imposed a house arrest upon himself.
Meanwhile, furious over Ilaiah's stand on the book, Arya Vysya leader Uppala Srinivas Gupta openly threatened to come to his house in Hyderabad. Reacting to the threats, Ilaiah said the people who supported him were ready to give a reply to Gupta.
He also said that the state would be held responsible if he got killed by a mob or people belonging to the Arya Vysya community.
Ilaiah is currently working as Director of the Center for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) in Hyderabad.