The BJP is upping the ante on the ongoing anti-CAA protest in Shaheen Bagh ahead of Delhi Assembly elections, calling it "Shame Bagh" where agitators are "defaming the country for earning Rs 500 each" and accusing the AAP and Congress of playing politics to garner "votes of a particular community".
Senior Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel and BJP National spokesperson Sambit Patra on Thursday held a press conference to target both AAP and Congress, after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia remarked that he stands by the protesters of Shaheen Bagh. They asked AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to clarify whether he supports the stand of his deputy.
The protest in Shaheen Bagh against CAA, which was started on December 15 last year, is continuing and it has become an inspiration for similar protests in several parts of the country. There has been criticism of the agitation following the protesters blocking the road, resulting in huge traffic snarls in the area.
"Shaheen Bagh has become Shame Bagh for the country," Goel said, as he claimed that people in the locality were "unable to go anywhere, school children not going to schools and many confined to their own homes".
Without referring to Muslims, he accused the Congress and AAP of playing "politics of appeasement only to get votes of a particular community". Goel said protest at Shaheen Bagh is being held in a planned manner "only for politics of vote bank"
Patra claimed AAP was behind "provoking and instigating" Delhiites and this reality has come out of the mouth of Sisodia. "These are the people who feel proud in claiming to be anarchist. We are watching the height of anarchy in Shaheen Bagh and the statement of Sisodia has proved that one anarchist is in support of another anarchist," he alleged.
"I want to ask Kejriwal. You stand by the Shaheen Bagh protesters but why are you not with the people of Sarita Vihar, Jasola and Madanpur Khadar. People there are suffering as they cannot call ambulance and take the patients to hospitals because the protesters have blocked the roads. Shaheen Bagh has become a cause of great inconvenience to the people," he said even as protesters claimed that they do not block ambulances.
He also claimed the protesters at Shaheen Bagh are defaming the country for earning 500 rupees each. "People of the country are being poisoned against Hindus and this is very painful. In Shaheen Bagh, posters are being pasted with the caption 'Hum Dekhenge' (We will see), Kejriwal if you say Hum Dekhenge', then we will also see how your nefarious designs succeed. The people of Delhi are ready to give a befitting reply to the persons who are misleading the people by the politics of appeasement," Patra added.