Lashing out heavily on the supporters of anti-CAA protesters, Minister of State (Finance), Anurag Thakur, said “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko (shoot the traitors of our country).”
Thakur, who participated in poll campaigning in Rithala Assembly constituency with other BJP leaders, clapped and urged the crowd to chant the slogan with him.
As the Delhi Aseembly polls scheduled to be held on February 8, the Central leadership of the BJP has sharpened its attack on the Congress and AAP over the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh.
Stakes are very high because the BJP has been out of the power in Delhi for more than two decades. For this, it is working hard to wrest power from ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.
In a press conference at Delhi BJP state office, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Parsad targeted AAP for not taking required action against the protests in Shaheen Bagh. “Lakhs of people are distressed because they can not go to office, shops are shut and their children are not able to go to school due to the road being blocked by the protesters,” Prasad said.
Shaheen Bagh is not just a locality but an “idea”, he said, adding that “under the cover of the tricolour, those seeking to dismember the country are being given shelter at Shaheen Bagh and innocent children are being tricked into threatening violence against the minister.”
The CAA does not deprive anyone of his/her citizenship and each Muslim citizen of this country will continue to live with full respect, he said.
Accusing the opposition of misleading the people by creating confusion over the CAA, he said all democratic norms were fulfilled in enacting the amended citizenship law.
He further accused the Congress of bringing Jinnah to Indian politics saying the love that the party’s leaders have for Pakistan is surprising.
“I want to say it clearly to the Congress that no further partition of the country will be allowed and if anyone thinks otherwise, strong action will be taken,” he said.
Prasad also asked Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal to clear his stand on Jinnah, saying the BJP takes pride in people like A P J Abdul Kalam, Maulana Azad, Abdul Hamid, Ashfaqullah, and cricketer Zaheer Khan from the minority community. “But see the drama by the Congress if Adnan Sami is given citizenship; they have objection to it. He is a good singer, he came here and became a citizen, we showed respect to him,”he said.
However, both Gandhi and Kejriwal have no qualms in visiting JNU where slogans like “Bharat tere tukde honge” were raised because of “vote bank” politics, Prasad said.
“Their (AAP and Congress) problem is that those (persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh) people coming here are not their vote banks so their dignity does not matter to them,” he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Monday flayed the AAP and the Congress, alleging they are more bothered about being with Shaheen Bagh, where an anti-CAA protest has been taking place for over a month now, than with the country.