An unidentified man allegedly shot a protesting student of the Jamia Millia Islamia at an anti-CAA protest at Jamia area in Delhi on Thursday. The accused, who has now been taken into custody, allegedly shouted 'who wants azadi' before opening fire. A Jamia University student was injured in the firing.
The incident took place when protesters, including students of Jamia Millia Islamia, were marching towards Rajghat to hold a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens. All this was playing out in front of the Delhi police team present on the spot, standing as a mute spectators.
The shocking incident happened three days after BJP's Anurag Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance, urged a crowd at an election rally in Delhi to say "goli maaro" - or shoot down traitors - in a widely-shared video.
The minister, who was campaigning for the BJP candidate in Rithala in North West Delhi for the February 8 Delhi election on Monday, was seen in a viral video prompting "desh ke gaddaron ko...", to which the crowd responds "...goli maaro sa***n ko"; the entire chant translates to "shoot down the traitors who betray the country".
Thakur never actually says the controversial part of the slogan, but clearly eggs on the crowd and claps his hands as he gets the response he wants. Several BJP leaders were present at the time. The BJP candidate from Rithala, Manish Chaudhary, was also on stage when the slogan was being chanted. Later, Home Minister Amit Shah arrived and addressed the same rally.
On Tuesday, at around 3 pm, two men entered the Shaheen Bagh protest area and threatened the public to vacate the roads. According to those present, one of the men brandished a gun, climbed onto the stage, and said: “Khali kardo ye jagah warna yahan laashein bich jayengi.” Vacate the spot, or it will be littered with dead bodies.
Crowds, predominantly comprised of women, have been camped out in Shaheen Bagh since December, protesting against the CAA and the NRC.
There is a direct connection of Thakur’s rally and the two incidents involving gunmen that followed. It is no brainier that there will be no legal action against Thakur and the BJP leaders who in desperation to win Delhi elections, which they are losing as per the various opinion polls, are leaving no stone unturned to make Shaheen Bag protest and similar such demonstrations in various parts of Delhi as their prime election agenda.
It is no surprise again that the incident occurred on the day of Matrydom Day, which is observed to mark assassination of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. The Prime Minister and Home Minister have remained conspicuously silent. Again, this also doesn’t raise any eyebrows because the party is known to have anti-Gandhi ideology.
Now the ball is in the court of Delhi’s voters as well as all the other States that are poll bound in next couple of years. The country’s central leadership does not talk about the basic needs of people - education, sanitation, security, employment opportunities. It won’t talk because it has nothing to say. And that is because they don’t consider these issues of any consequence.
The real traitors of this nation are not those who are on silent protest against government’s divisive agenda, but those who are out to pit us against each other using a false narrative that Muslims are our enemy.
A political party that does not consider elementary needs of people as poll issue, has no right to contest elections, leave alone get elected. On top of that these BJP politicians are busy spitting venom on the same public, who elected them to alleviate their lives.
It seems that the BJP top leadership is not ready to learn the lessons from its recent setbacks in Assembly elections. They need to be given a bigger jolt to shake them up and show them their real place.
Campaigning for the BJP candidate in Babarpur constituency on Monday, Union Home Minister had said, "When you press the button (of EVM) on February 8, do so with such anger that its current (poll result) is felt at Shaheen Bagh.” Time has come for people of Delhi to actually do as he said. Only difference should be to press any other button except Lotus with so much anger that the impact is felt inside South Block.
There is no doubt that the people of Delhi are going to do exactly this. They have experienced the change that has come about their lives under the present regime. If their promises are to be believed then the Capital city is about to see the real “achche din”. The voters are not that gullible anymore. They know the worth of their vote. They won’t let it go waste as they did in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
It is time for handing over capital punishment to RSS-BJP’s divisive politics in the upcoming Assembly polls. The country is looking at the national capital.