Even as incidents of gun violence has risen to three in four days, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has joined the wagon of Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leaders suggesting the use of bullets against dissenters.
Addressing a rally in Delhi on Saturday, Adityanath, one of the star campaigners for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections, said that those who attack Kanwariyas (devotees of Lord Shiva) will have to face bullets.
“We do not obstruct anyone’s festival or faith. Everyone should be able to celebrate their festivals but within the law. ‘Lekin Shiv bhakto par goli chalayega koi vyakti, danga karayega, boli se nahi manega, toh goli se toh maan hi jayega’ (If anyone opens fire at devotees of Lord Shiva, causes riots…If they don’t listen to talks, they will surely listen to bullets),” the CM said.
Adityanath’s comments come days after Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur, encouraged BJP workers at a rally in Delhi’s Daryaganj to shout the inflammatory slogan “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko(shoot the traitors).”
Furthermore, attacking those protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Shaheen Bhag, Adityanath said that the real intentions of the protesters at Shaheen Bhag is to oppose Article 370 and the construction of Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya. He also alleged that the ancestors of those protesting against CAA were behind the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan.
“These protests happening at various places in Delhi are not about the CAA, but it is happening because those people do want to stop India from becoming a global power,” he added. Slamming Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Adityanath alleged the Delhi CM to be behind the protests and said that he was serving biryani to the protesters at Shaheen Bhag.
“Kejriwal cannot even provide clean drinking water to the people of Delhi… According to a (BIS) survey, the Delhi government is making its people drink poisonous water. But it is supplying biryani to those protesting in Shaheen Bagh and elsewhere in the city,” he said.
He added that after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, “We have been identifying every terrorist and feeding them goli (bullets) instead of biryani.”
This is not the first time that the UP CM has criticised the ongoing anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bhag. Last month, he said that the men of Shaheen Bagh were “sleeping under the quilt while women have been pushed forward.”
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) on Sunday, demanded the Election Commission to ban the UP CM from campaigning in Delhi over his provocative speech. AAP leader Sanjay Singh has also demanded an FIR to be filed against his remarks.
