Just hours after an armed gunman fired at protesters near Jamia Milia Islamia University (JMIU), Union Home Minister Amit Shah further alienated those who oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by juxtaposing them against supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shah was addressing an election rally at Chhatarpur in the run up to the Delhi elections that are all set to take place on February 8. Shah said, “On one side is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan. On the other are supporters of Shaheen Bagh protesters. Voters must decide whose side they are on.”
It is noteworthy that the sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh is being led largely by women, many of whom have been sitting in the biting cold day after day protesting against the CAA. Not only have these brave women faced vile allegations against their character and patriotism, but recently a gun man had made his way inside the venue. Luckily, he was overpowered by the people present before any untoward incident took place.
But people outside JMIU who were planning to march to Raj Ghat on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary were not so lucky. A young man, a minor whose identity cannot be revealed, shot at them injuring a young man, even as police watched. The incident took place in full view of media persons and from a video of the event that went viral it is clear that the police acted like mere bystanders and intervened only after the young man had fired his gun. This is also significant because the incident took place after another BJP leader, Anurag Thakur, encouraged people at another election rally to “gun down traitors”.