People want a Delhi free of Shaheen Bagh: Shah on CAA protest
Press the lotus button [BJP symbol] with such force that people of Shaheen Bagh are forced to leave the place due to its current on polling day.
AMIT SHAH, Union home minister
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday hit out at the ongoing protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, at Shaheen Bagh, and said people want a “Delhi free of Shaheen Bagh”.
Shah also reiterated his criticism of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the issue, and accused the party of supporting those who speak about “dividing the country”.
Shah was addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) IT cell volunteers, whom he referred as ‘cyber yoddhas’ (cyber warriors) ahead of the February 8 elections in Delhi, at a program titled ‘Jeet Ki Goonj’ at the Jawaharlal Nehru Weightlifting Auditorium. Later in the evening, the BJP leader also addressed public meetings in Badli and Bawana assembly segments. Shah began and ended his speech at JLN Stadium speaking about Shaheen Bagh, where people have been sitting on protest against the CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) for more than a month now.
“Say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ after me so loudly that it reaches Shaheen Bagh… press the lotus button [BJP symbol] with such force that people of Shaheen Bagh are forced to leave the place due to its current on the evening of February 8. We want a Delhi that is pollution free, has worldclass infrastructure, clean potable water and a Delhi that is free of Shaheen Bagh,” Shah said .
Indirectly referring to a video of one of the organisers of Shaheen Bagh protest, Shah said the AAP was supporting agitators who talk of “dividing the nation”.
“Three years back Modi ji had put people who raised slogans to divide India in JNU, behind bars, but the AAP government didn’t give prosecution sanction. I want to ask whom do you want to protect ... those who want to divide the country. Tukde-tukde slogans will stop the day after the BJP comes to power in Delhi,” the home minister said.
The AAP government is yet to give sanction for prosecution in the police charge sheet against JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar and other accused persons in the a case of sedition.