There has been a Bharat Bandh for 70 years: Kapil Mishra

Image Courtesy:timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) most ‘active’ Delhi-based politician Kapil Mishra has warned people against expressing peaceful solidarity with the farmer unions’ call for a Bharat Bandh on December 8. Mishra took to social media to blame those expressing solidarity with the farmers who have been demanding the repeal of the three farm laws they say are against their interests.

Mishra called them ‘professional’ protestors and claimed that he and his followers will ‘stop the bijli paani’ of the old women of Shaheen Bagh, activist Yogendra Yadav, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. According to Mishra, those who are not farmers have no business standing in solidarity with the lakhs of farmers now demanding the repeal of the farm laws by protesting peacefully.

He aimed his verbal warning and attack at, “Yogendra Yadav, Kejriwal, the people of Shaheen Bagh gang” and warned them to “stop capturing Delhi repeatedly”. He also said India had been suffering under a “Bharat Bandh for the past 70 years.” And that he (he uses the term ‘we’) and his followers will “not allow it anymore.”

He has asked his followers to ensure they defy the call for a national shutdown, which has got support from workers unions, transport unions, citizens groups, political parties, Mishra said, “Tomorrow we will all open our offices, shops, factories, warehouses… India will not stop now… We the silent majority will not allow the hijack our constitutional rights…” he goes on.

किसान कुछ भी करें आंदोलन, धरना, बंद
लेकिन योगेन्द्र यादव, केजरीवाल, शाहीन बाग गैंग के लोग बार बार दिल्ली को बंधक बनाना बंद करें
कल हम सब अपने दफ्तर, दुकान, फैक्टरी, गोदाम सब खोलेंगे
अब भारत बंद नहीं होगा
हम साइलेंट मेजोरिटी अपने संवैधानिक अधिकारों का अपहरण नहीं होने देंगे pic.twitter.com/CVk4MUIEtI
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) December 7, 2020

pic.twitter.com/onkJzSA9KS
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) December 7, 2020

While no one from the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has given such a call to boycott the Bharat Bandh, Mishra has ‘warned’ those sitting on protest not to block Delhi and to stop ‘troubling’ it citizens. He has accused the old women of Shaheen Bagh of “murdering constable Rattan Lal” who was killed in February 2020 riots. Mishra also warned that he and his followers will not allow a “second Shaheen Bagh” to be created during the farmers movement. “I want them to stop troubling Delhi,”

He warned Yogendra Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, and people he calls ‘Shaheen Bagh gang’ that their own “bijli paani will be stopped and people will reach their homes” if they express solidarity with the farmers’ protest and the Bandh call. His hate speech is going viral in the right wing’s online groups already!

It was in February 23, 2020 that Kapil mishra had used the same line: “Second Shaheen Bagh will not be allowed in Delhi,” and communal riots had erupted in North East Delhi soon after his speech on ‘clearing the streets if protestors do not leave’, made in the presence of a Delhi Police officer ended. That tweet is still visible on his timeline:

दिल्ली में दूसरा शाहीन बाग नहीं बनने देंगे
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) February 23, 2020

Meanwhile, even as rumours of ‘jammers’ to block internet and mobile communication at protest sites are gaining grounds, Zee News has reported that a “major terror plot” has been busted in Delhi, and “five terrorists” were arrested in Shakarpur after an encounter. The group affiliation of the arrested terrorists is yet to be identified but the news report stated that “three terrorists hail from Jammu and Kashmir, the other two are from Punjab”. According to Zee, on Monday, December 7, “a Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested at least five terrorists from Shakarpur area of New Delhi after an exchange of gunfire with Special Cell officers.” The report identified them as “Shabbir Ahmed, Ayub Pathan, Riyaz Rather, Gurjeet Singh and Sukhdeep Singh” adding that one “of the five terrorirsts is suspected to be linked with murder of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh in Punjab, however it added that according to the Delhi Police “his role is to be identified”.