A group led by BJP leader Andela Sriramulu Yadav entered Nooria Co-op Junior College in Hyderabad’s Old City on Wednesday, claiming the institution had admitted children of Rohingya Muslim refugees. Yadav had contested the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections from the Maheswaram constituency and claimed the college was admitting children of illegal migrants with the backing of the AIMIM party led by Asaduddin Owaisi.
Footage from the college’s CCTV system reportedly shows Yadav and his supporters walking onto the campus and demanding that staff hand over student records, with specific questions about two particular students.
College staff said every student had been enrolled using valid documents, including Aadhaar cards. In a video statement afterward, Yadav claimed he had learned a child from Balapur was studying at the college, and alleged that many more children of Rohingya Muslims were enrolled there as well. He went on to accuse AIMIM of protecting wrongdoers and said his party would not be intimidated by the group.
After the incident, college principal Mohammed Ghaziuddin filed a police complaint at Santosh Nagar Police Station. He said around 30 to 40 BJP workers led by Yadav entered the campus while he was away, threatened office staff, and demanded access to student records that staff considered private and could not lawfully share with outsiders. When staff declined, Ghaziuddin alleged, the group argued with them, filmed videos on campus, and accused the college of harboring undocumented students, a claim he called false and baseless. He asked police to take legal action against Yadav and the other unidentified participants.
Majlis Bachao Tahreek spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan criticized the incident, questioning how Yadav and a large group of BJP workers could travel across multiple police jurisdictions to reach the college and allegedly harass staff without any intervention. He said the episode raises questions for the intelligence department and city police, and argued that schools shouldn’t face unauthorized inspections or political pressure tactics. Khan added that decisions about refugee status fall to the central government and relevant authorities, not political activists, and that no one has the right to enforce the law on their own.
Rohingya refugees began settling in Hyderabad around 2011-2012 after fleeing violence in Myanmar. State government figures put the number of Rohingya refugees in Telangana at more than 6,900 people, mostly living in roughly 30 settlements around Balapur. In recent years, right-wing groups have repeatedly targeted the community, particularly during election periods. Yadav himself led a similar visit to Balapur’s Rohingya settlements earlier this year, calling it a security-related search operation.
