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Kapil Mishra, BJP slam AAP for ‘supporting’ anti-CAA protests
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday stepped up its attack on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress for supporting anti-Citizenship Amendment
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday stepped up its attack on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress for supporting anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters at Shaheen Bagh and other areas in the national capital.
Kapil Mishra, the BJP’s candidate for the Assembly elections from Model Town, on Thursday said the Delhi elections will be a contest between “India and Pakistan” and termed the anti-CAA protest sites as “mini-Pakistan”.
The BJP, too, stepped up the attack on the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh, referring to it as “Shame Bagh”, and slamming deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia for supporting the agitators.
“Pakistan has entered Shaheen Bagh. Mini-Pakistans are being created in the city. The law of the land is not being followed in Shaheen Bagh, Chand Bagh and Indralok. Pakistani rioters are occupying Delhi roads,” Mishra tweeted.
In another tweet, he accused the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress for supporting “mini-Pakistan”. “India Vs Pakistan. There will a contest on Delhi Roads between India and Pakistan on February 8,” Mishra tweeted. The elections are scheduled for February 8.
When asked for a reaction to Mishra’s contest remark, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh asked, “Who Kapil Mishra”. The AAP leader made a jibe at the BJP leader saying, “Has he joined BCCI? I had no idea.”
The BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] is the sport’s governing body in the country.
A former minister in AAP’s government in Delhi, Mishra left the party in 2019. He is pitted against AAP’s Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.
Earlier in the day, Sisodia had said, “I stand by the people of Shaheen Bagh…It is not my responsibility to clear the Shaheen Bagh route.”
Taking on Sisodia, the BJP said the ruling party had admitted that they were with the protesters. “This is the AAP leader who had instigated and provoked the people against CAA. The chief minister of Delhi [Arvind] Kejriwal had said on social media that people should agitate and the purpose was that other people may be instigated. Manish Sisodia had put a fake post on social media showing that a policeman is setting the bus on fire. Their MLAs had given provocative speeches,” said Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel, who termed Shaheen Bagh as “Shame Bagh”.
The BJP has been making the ongoing anti-CAA protests in the national capital a political issue. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra asked Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to clarify his deputy’s statement. “Questions were asked to AAP on Shaheen Bagh, but they have been silent on it. The party is provoking and instigating the people of Delhi and Manish Sisodia has today stated it,” Patra said.
Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra hit out at Mishra and said the BJP should be embarrassed for “dividing the country” along religion lines.
“The Congress party has always stood to protect the secular fabric of this country and we respect the right of people to peacefully protest. It is their right. The people of India will vote against the divisive politics of the BJP,” Chopra said
Danish Hasan, one of the organisers of Shaheen Bagh protests, said, “We do not want to even comment on the remarks of BJP leader. Our fight is for the Constitution and we do not want to get into their petty politics. Our movement will not get affected by such remarks.”
