BJP supporters erupt into ‘goli maro’ slogans at Delhi poll rally, asked to stop

In west Delhi’s Rohini, BJP leader and Union minister Anurag Thakur Thursday participated in a “tiranga yatra” organised by a group of lawyers in support of BJP candidate Vijender Gupta.

The “goli maro…” slogan, the raising of which had resulted in two senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders being banned by the Election Commission from campaigning for the February 8 Delhi assembly elections, resurfaced briefly during the party’s last leg of campaigning in Hari Nagar and Rohini on Thursday.

BJP supporters wave party flags during a campaign rally in New Delhi on Thursday. (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

In west Delhi’s Hari Nagar constituency where Union home minister Amit Shah led a 3.5km roadshow from Subhash Nagar to Hari Nagar, a group of supporters suddenly erupted into chants of “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro... (shoot the traitors)”. However, the group was immediately stopped by campaign organisers and taken to a side.

The police who were escorting Shah’s security, also told these supporters to stop the sloganeering. However, when asked about the incident at the end of the roadshow, organisers denied that any such slogan was raised.

“It is difficult to pinpoint what slogans were raised and who raised them in a roadshow. To my knowledge, no such slogan was raised,” an organiser of the BJP roadshow in Hari Nagar said.

The procession started from near Rohini court and as soon as it reached near Madhuban Chowk, amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, a small group of lawyers suddenly chanted the “goli maro…” slogan. However, Thakur and his supporters immediately asked the group to stop the sloganeering.

Thakur was banned by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for three days for encouraging such incendiary slogans at a public meeting in Rithala last month.