SHAH, THAKUR UP THE ANTE AGAINST SHAHEEN BAGH

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah held a roadshow in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar constituency on the last day of campaigning for the February 8 assembly elections.

Union minister Anurag Thakur also invoked Shaheen Bagh in his speech again at a public meeting at northwest Delhi’s Rohini and urged the voters to “press the (EVM) button for BJP so hard on February 8 that the protest tents at Shaheen Bagh get blown away”.

In the roadshows in Seemapuri, Hari Nagar and Madipur, Shah claimed that the “tukdetukde gang” will be shocked on February 11, when the results of the Delhi polls are announced.

He said, “Shaheen Bagh is the joint venture of AAP and Congress. Kejriwal and Gandhi are worried and want that Shaheen Bagh should not be discussed. Why are the people sitting in Shaheen Bagh demanding ‘Jinnah wali azadi’? Why is the tukdetukde gang supporting them? Shame on these people.”

As supporters thronged to see Shah on the last day of campaigning, chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ rendered the air. Even though the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is not fighting the Delhi elections this time, SAD leader and the sitting MLA from Rajouri Garden, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, joined Shah and Bagga’s roadshow in Hari Nagar to extend support to the BJP campaign.

In Rohini, Thakur spoke at a lawyers’ convention, organised by a group of lawyers supporting the BJP. Thakur later also participated in a “tiranga yatra” taken out by this group. Thakur, who was banned by the ECI from campaigning in Delhi elections for three days after his “shoot the traitors” remarks, on Thursday continued his attacks on the AAP and Congress for their “support” of Shaheen Bagh protesters.