Raking up a major controversy, BJP MP Parvesh Verma has said that the protesters at Shaheen Bagh will be cleared in an hour if the BJP comes to power in Delhi.
Making shocking accusations against the protesters, he further said: “They will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters”.
“This is not just another election. It is an election to decide the unity of a nation. If the BJP comes to power on February 11, you will not find a single protester within an hour. And within a month, we will not spare a single mosque built on government land,” said Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma.
Further speaking to news agency ANI, he said: “…Lakhs of people gather there (Shaheen Bagh). People of Delhi will have to think and take a decision. They will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, kill them. There’s time today, Modi ji and Amit Shah won’t come to save you tomorrow…”
Verma was campaigning for the February 8 Delhi Assembly Election in Vikaspuri.
Shaheen Bagh has become a key site of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC.
Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also lashed out at those protesting against CAA at Shaheen Bagh. The BJP leader has consistently made Shaheen Bagh, the much talked about anti-CAA protest site in Delhi, a key election issue.
Addressing an election rally, Amit Shah had said: “When you press the button (on the voting machine) on February 8, do so with such anger that its current is felt at Shaheen Bagh.”
According to the new law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
The opposition parties have termed the legislation as “unconstitutional” which “is aimed at diverting attention from the burning issues of the common people”.
Those opposing the amended law say it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA, along with the proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC), is intended to target India’s Muslim community.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government has dismissed the allegations, maintaining that the law is intended to give citizenship to the persecuted people from the three neighbouring countries and not take away citizenship from anyone.