Shaheen Bagh, where hundreds of people have been protesting against the citizenship act, will be cleared once the BJP comes to power in Delhi after the February 8 assembly elections, Union minister Anurag Thakur has said.
The colony in southeast Delhi has seen residents, mostly women, sitting in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act for nearly three months now.
It has also become one of the main poll issues with several leaders of the party led by Union home minister Amit Shah describing the protests at Shaheen Bagh as being against the national interests and attacking Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over it.
Union minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur chipped in on Tuesday with his prediction.
“When people of Delhi will cast their vote in favour of the lotus (the BJP’s poll symbol)... and after the results on February 11, Shaheen Bagh will be cleared,” Thakur said at an event held at the BJP office in Delhi.
He also accused Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia of backing the protesters in Shaheen Bagh.
{{/usCountry}}He also accused Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia of backing the protesters in Shaheen Bagh.
{{/usCountry}}The statement comes days after Bharatiya Janata Party leader was handed a 72-hour ban against campaigning over his provocative remarks at a poll rally in the Capital.
Anurag Thakur was allegedly heard, in a widely shared video, prompting the crowd, saying “desh ke gaddaron ko... (traitors of the country...),” to which the crowd responded with “goli maaron … (shoot them...)” while campaigning in Delhi’s Rithala on January 27.
Thakur had screamed out the first part of the slogan exhorting the audience to finish it as the crowd was waiting for a meeting by Union home minister Amit Shah.
Day after that a 17-year-old boy fired at a group of protesters in Jamia Millia Islamia, injuring a 22-year-old student and the university teachers’ association said blamed the “goli maaro” slogans shouted by the BJP lawmaker for the attack.
The junior finance minister faced the opposition’s ire as leaders shouted slogans of “Goli Maarna Band Karo” or “stop shooting” in Parliament on Monday as he responded to questions on the economy.
On Tuesday, he asserted that his party will register a “clean” sweep in Delhi and said the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will have to pat for its “misdeeds”.
“Ayushman Bharat will be implemented and the Metro train network will be expanded up to Narela, if BJP comes to power in Delhi. The Delhi people are in no mood to forgive the misdeeds of the AAP and it will lose heavily with BJP making a clean sweep,” Thakur said at the event.
A BJP leader Nand Kishore Garg has also moved the Supreme Court seeking the removal of protesters from Shaheen Bagh
Garg had urged the top court for an urgent hearing, considering the difficulty faced by residents due to the protest on a road connecting Delhi and Noida.