Telangana Police arrested former BRS MP Balka Suman for allegedly calling for “militant” activities that include “burning of government offices and breaking down rail tracks”.

Suman was arrested from near BRS party headquarters — BRS Bhavan — Saturday afternoon. He was booked under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act by the Nampally police.

In a purported video that went viral five days ago, on May 25, Suman was seen telling the BRS cadre to burn offices. “Even if you go to jail for a month, it doesn’t matter,” he was heard telling the cadre in the Chennur constituency that he represented from 2018 to 2023.

Suman is believed to have been “unhappy” that farmers were not turning up at BRS protests over procurement troubles, and was purportedly heard voicing it in the video, adding that it was “high time” for the BRS to launch “militant activities” to attract people’s attention.

The Congress called the speech as “a militant move to destabilise and topple the democratically elected Congress government”. “This is not legitimate Opposition politics. This is a direct call to abandon peaceful democratic protest in favour of militant confrontation, damaging public property, disrupting law and order, and endangering innocent lives,” the Congress leadership said in a media release.

A call to burn government offices crosses every line of responsible politics, the Congress leadership said in the release, questioning the silence from BRS leadership. “By not condemning Suman’s calls, BRS leaders, including KCR and KTR, seem to have given their tacit approval or consent,” the release said.

Suman had later held a press conference to clarify his statement and state that it was not a public function, but an internal event of the party where he made the comments. “My words were misrepresented,” Suman said.

Some BRS leaders too defended Suman. “Congress Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had once said that Pragathi Bhawan (CM’s official residence) should be bombed. He (Suman) did not say anything like that,” a BRS leader told The Indian Express, adding that Suman’s speech was meant to motivate the BRS cadre and not to cause any harm to public property.

BRS’s top leadership, however, remained silent on the matter. “The party has not issued any clarification,” said a BRS leader.