New Delhi: BJP MP Parvesh Verma Tuesday drew a parallel between Kashmiri militants and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters at Shaheen Bagh, the latest in a string of attacks by party leaders targeting the anti-CAA agitation.
From Home Minister Amit Shah to union ministers Anurag Thakur and Giriraj Singh, BJP leaders have minced no words in making Shaheen Bagh a poll plank ahead of the Delhi assembly elections on 8 February.
Verma, the West Delhi MP, joined the bandwagon, saying Shaheen Bagh protesters will “enter your house… abduct your sisters and mothers, rape them, kill them the way militants had treated Kashmiri Pandits”.
“Lakhs of people gather there (Shaheen Bagh) and this fire can anytime reach households of Delhi,” he said. “People of Delhi need to think about it and decide. These people will enter your house, will abduct your sisters and mothers, rape them, kill them, that’s why today is the moment,” Verma added.
“Modiji won’t come to save you tomorrow, Amit Shahji won’t come,” he said. “Today is the time, if people of Delhi wake up, it will be good for them.”
Verma also urged Delhiites to think hard before voting.
“Arvind Kejriwal always says that he is with Shaheen Bagh, and Delhi’s deputy chief minister (Manish Sisodia) always says that he is with Shaheen Bagh,” he said. “Delhi’s public knows that the fire that engulfed Kashmir a few years ago, sisters and mothers of Kashmiri Pandits were raped, after that that fire took over UP, Hyderabad, Kerala. The same fire has taken over a corner of Delhi.”
The West Delhi MP also said that all mosques that have come up on government land in his
constituency would be “demolished” after the BJP comes to power in Delhi. Earlier, while campaigning, he had said that if the came to power in Delhi, the protesters in Shaheen Bagh would be cleared in a day.
Also read: Shaheen Bagh not just a local protest, it’s India’s Tahrir, Taksim Square: Umar Khalid
BJP gets communal, Shaheen Bagh the focus
Verma’s outburst is the latest in a series of provocative speeches and comments made by BJP leaders, including Union ministers Amit Shah, Giriraj Singh and Anurag Thakur, targeting the Shaheen Bagh protesters in the run-up to Delhi assembly elections.
Home Minister Shah had asked Delhiites to press the button on the voting machine with such force that “its current is felt at Shaheen Bagh”. Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur kicked off a political storm Monday, egging on supporters at an election rally in Delhi with the slogan “desh ke gaddaro ko, goli maaro saalon ko.”
BJP candidate Kapil Mishra, who was censured by the Election Commission for
his remarks, had tweeted that “Pakistani rioters had encroached on the roads of Delhi.
“Pakistan ki entry Shaheen Bagh mein ho chuki hain. Delhi mein chhote chhote Pakistan
Banaye ja rahe hain. Shaheen Bagh, Chand Bagh, Indralok mein desk ka kanoon nahi mana jaa raha hain. Pakistani dangayiyo ka Delhi ki sadko pe kabza),” Mishra had tweeted on 23 January.
पाकिस्तान की एंट्री शाहीन बाग में हो चुकी हैं
दिल्ली में छोटे छोटे पाकिस्तान बनाये जा रहे हैं
शाहीन बाग, चांद बाग, इंद्रलोक में देश का कानून नहीं माना जा रहा
पाकिस्तानी दंगाइयों का दिल्ली की सड़को पर कब्जा हैं https://t.co/jcq1PgzXb7
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) January 23, 2020
On Monday, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said that “the voters of the Congress and AAP were sitting in Shaheen Bagh”.
कांग्रेस और आम आदमी का वोट बैंक शाहीन बाग में बैठा है..आप सभी को कमल के बटन को दबाना है और शाहीन बाग समर्थित लोगों को करंट लगाना हैं ।
मा० @AmitShah जी ने रिठाला उम्मीदवार @ManishChBjp जी के समर्थन में आयोजित रैली को संबोधित किया । pic.twitter.com/0saOrTL92Q
— Shandilya Giriraj Singh (@girirajsinghbjp) January 27, 2020
According to sources in the BJP, as the campaign intensifies in the coming days, party leaders are set to make the protests at Shaheen Bagh a major poll plank.
“If there is polarisation, the BJP will benefit. Also, many people are unhappy with the protests at Shaheen Bagh but aren’t saying it openly. With leaders becoming more vocal even the general public will start raising this issue,” said a senior BJP leader.
The focus of BJP’s campaign has been on national issues such as the scrapping of Article
370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Triple Talaaq, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and others. With the budget session of Parliament starting on 31 January, all ministers and BJP MPs will be in town, and the Delhi unit is set to make them part of the campaign.
Also read: Amit Shah raises Shaheen Bagh in Delhi election: BJP’s desperation or trump card?
why The Print is feeling bad about comments ofMr Verma.What he said is truth and earlier Hindus become aware of it better for them and country.At least Muslims never intend to hide their true agenda.It is “USEFUL IDIOTS” who can’t see it.
Arvind’s poll planck is his achievement – a loss for him will be a loss for good governance.
It is make ir break situation for the country… If the citizens wake up the BJP go into gutter or if failed to wake up, the country will go down. Modi and Amit Shah are such a shameless persons that they only believe in communal polarisation to win elections… THE REAL TUKDE TUKDE GANG