BJP increased the decibel levels of its 'nationalism' pitch in the Delhi Assembly elections with party chief J P Nadda on Monday targeting the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government for not giving sanction to prosecute former student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, a CPI leader, for raising "seditious" slogans.
In the ongoing election campaign, the BJP has been accusing the AAP and Congress of supporting the anti-CAA protesters in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, pitching it as "anti-national".
On Monday morning, Nadda tweeted, "Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and other anti-India forces raised seditious slogans like 'Bharat tere tukde honge' in Jawaharlal Nehru University. They were threatening to violate India’s sovereignty. Law enforcement agencies moved in, investigated the matter and in January 2019 were ready to file chargesheet."
"They sought Kejriwal’s permission to prosecute this 'tukde-tukde' gang but one year later, till yesterday (Sunday), no permission was granted. Kejriwal must tell Delhi why is he supporting those who want to break India? Is it because acting against these anti-nationals will hurt his vote bank?" he added.
Kumar, Khalid and others were accused of raising 'azadi' slogans during a protest in JNU. Police had sought sanction from the Delhi government to prosecute Kumar and others in the case in which he was accused of leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised in on 9 February, 2016.
While the AAP is keeping itself out of controversial issues by sticking its campaign to the work it has done in the past five years, the BJP is targeting the AAP as well as the Congress of supporting protesters whom they accuse of acting against the interests of the country.
On Shaheen Bagh protests, the BJP is seeking to pitch it as something that will help the narrative of Pakistan. From Nadda to Home Minister Amit Shah to other leaders, they have been raising the issue in all their public interactions.
While one of its candidates Kapil Mishra described the elections as an "India versus Pakistan" contest, for which the Election Commission banned him from campaigning for 48 hours till Monday evening, Shah said that there was a need to free Delhi from Shaheen Bagh protests. Mishra had also alleged that AAP and Congress were making Delhi a "mini-Pakistan".
BJP leaders Vijay Goel and Sambit Patra had described Shaheen Bagh as "Shame Bagh" while senior Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, BJP's election in-charge in the capital, too had waded into the issue during his press interactions.
AAP has been claiming that the BJP does not have an agenda for the people and that is why they were raising these issues. Kejriwal had taken on Shah, countering the latter for questioning the work done by the Delhi government.