A Muslim party has strongly protested Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit here next month, saying it would stir communal tension.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) warned that a trip by Modi, widely blamed for the communal violence in Gujarat last year, could create law and order problems here.
Modi will attend a massive Ganesh idol procession here on September 9, according to Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi which organises the Hindu festival in this city.
But MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi told IANS his party would protest the visit.
"While in a democracy everybody has a right to celebrate a festival and enjoy it, nothing should be done to vitiate the communal atmosphere. Why should a controversial person be invited to a religious festival?" he asked.
The annual Ganesha procession, which has been held for the last two decades, is attended by over a million people.
Nearly 20,000 huge idols of god Ganesha are immersed in Hussain Sagar Lake, which divides Hyderabad from its twin city of Secunderabad on the occasion.
The procession passes through many communally sensitive areas in the old city of Hyderabad, and the city has witnessed some of its worst communal riots during the festival.
Asaduddin has asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu to use his political clout to stop Modi from visiting Hyderabad.
The Muslim leader, whose party has three members in the assembly and one member in Lok Sabha, also warned that if Modi was allowed to visit Hyderabad, his party would not be in a position to stop Muslim youth from protesting.
Modi's visit may embarrass TDP, which is supports the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in New Delhi. TDP had demanded Modi's resignation at the height of communal violence in Gujarat, but kept mum when BJP turned down the demand.
The MIM leader alleged that Modi now wanted to foment communal trouble in Hyderabad.
"He has already stated that the Gujarat experience would be repeated in other parts of the country. His visit is to rub salt into our wounds and belittle us -- this city has sent the maximum relief to the victims of Gujarat," he said.
He criticised Naidu for his "double standards" on secularism and asked him to emulate Laloo Prasad Yadav, who did not allow Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia into Bihar.
Muslims constitute 40 percent of the four million population of this 412-year-old city, which has a distinct Muslim culture and history.
The MIM leader also said the BJP and rightist Hindu groups were bringing Modi here as they wanted to muster support ahead of assembly by-elections in Karwan.
The Karwan assembly seat in Hyderabad
fell vacant following the death of MIM legislator Syed Sajjad two months
ago and the by-poll is to be held on September 26.