Nand Kishore Gurjar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Loni appears to have virtually admitted to being involved in the February 2020 North East Delhi riots. This came to light after a new video of him addressing a crowd at Sunday’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) event surfaced.
In the video that has now gone viral on social media, Gurjar says, “If someone misbehaves with our sisters and daughters, we will not let him get away. That’s just who we are.” He goes on to say, “There were riots about CAA in Delhi. These “jihadis” started killing Hindus. That’s when you people let us in. We were accused of bringing in 2.5 lakh people into Delhi. We were trying to make them understand, but the police filed a case against us for killing “jihadis”. We will kill “Jihadis”. We will always kill them.”
The video may be viewed here:
BJP MLA Nand Kishore Gujjar openly admits his participation in Delhi mass violence!
Would BJP dare to take any action on him? ? pic.twitter.com/yE7YXqxggB
— YSR (@ysathishreddy) October 9, 2022
It is noteworthy, how Gurjar has labelled the entire Muslim community as “jihadi”, insinuating that all Muslims want to engage in some kind of holy war. This kind of fear mongering has no basis in reality given how people of all communities, including Hindus and Muslims had been living peacefully as friends, neighbours and even families for hundreds of years in Delhi.
Gurjar had at the same event also made disparaging remarks about Muslims. In another video that has gone viral on social media, he can be seen and heard saying, “A pig named Akhlaq, who killed cows, was killed in Dadri. Then everyone from Rahul Gandhi to Akhilesh (Yadav) and Arvind Kejriwal cry as if their son-in-law has been killed.”
“Dadri mein ek suar maara jaata hai gaay kaatne waala Akhlaq toh Rahul Gandhi se lekar Akhilesh aur Arvind Kejriwal aise rote hain jaise inka damaad mar gaya ho” –BJP MLA Nand Kishore Gurjar in Virat Hindu Sabha in Delhi today
Muslims are dehumanised even after they are lynched. pic.twitter.com/1DGuTnGdb9
— Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) October 9, 2022
This is not the first time Nand Kishore Gurjar has tried to drive a wedge between communities. In October 2020, he had famously gone about shutting down meat shops in Loni, his constituency. He said he did so to avoid hurting sentiments of a section of Hindus who do not eat non-vegetarian food during Navratri. However, he also tried to add another bizarre reason for his actions – that bones and other animal remains attract birds, that could in turn cause airline accidents due to bird hits.
जय माता दी??
नवरात्रि के दौरान किसी भी प्रकार की मांस-मीट की दुकान लोनी में बर्दाश्त नहीं की जाएगी
एयरक्राफ्ट ऑर्डिनेंस का उल्लंघन कर क्षेत्र में वायु दुर्घटना को आमंत्रित करने वाले और क्षेत्र का माहौल खराब करने वाले लोगों की लोनी में कोई जगह नहीं है
@lokeshrailive @Sandip_ANI https://t.co/N2BNuSnkWu— Nand Kishor Gurjar (@nkgurjar4bjp) October 18, 2020
It is noteworthy that Gurjar was speaking at the same event, Virat Hindu Sabha, organized by the VHP in Delhi on Sunday, where another BJP leader Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma openly called for the complete boycott of a particular community. Though Verma did not specifically name the Muslim community, he was speaking in reference to an alleged case of murder where the victim was Hindu and the alleged perpetrators all hailed from the Muslim community.
At the same event, at least two hardline Hindutva leaders gave open calls for violence against Muslims. Yogeshwar Acharya, a spiritual leader who goes by the title “Jagat Guru”, was seen and heard in a viral video urging people to chop off fingers, hands and heads of “those who point fingers at temples”. Another hardline Hindutva leader Mahant Nawal Kishore Das urged Hindus to bear arms, get guns even if they do not have licenses.
The Delhi Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) on Monday, saying prior police permission was not sought for the event. However, so far, no action has been taken against any of the political or spiritual leaders who made anti-minority remarks or gave open calls for boycott or violence.
Related:
BJP MP Parvesh Verma calls for total boycott of a particular community
Hardline Hindutva leaders give call to bear weapons, chop off hands, heads of minorities