NEW DELHI: Hours after BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma stated that "Shaheen Bagh will be cleared within an hour if the saffron party comes to power," protesters registered their strong condemnation.
Protesters including students from Jamia and locals said that this statement was only highlighting BJP’s “fascist” ideology and they (BJP) were in dilemma now because Shaheen Bagh has pan-India support.
“It is for the country to see the people they have voted in power...the people will only vote wisely after listening to such statements. It highlighted the fascist ideology of BJP that we are fighting. Amit Shah is also saying the same things, there is no further scope. These BJP leaders are coming from the same people who killed Gandhi, somebody who stood for secularism,” a student of M.Phil at JMI, Safoora Zargar told this newspaper.
“We have come on streets not just to fight against CAA and NRC but also the mob mindset and patriarchy that Hindutva tries to impose on us. BJP has lost all ethical sense and they can stoop to any level,” added another student Srijan Chawla.
Making sensational accusations, Singh said that lakhs of people gathered at Shaheen Bagh “will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, kill them.” “There’s time today, (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) and Amit Shah won’t come to save you tomorrow,” the BJP MP from West Delhi said while campaigning in Vikaspuri.
Rejecting Singh’s claims, Mohammad Yusuf who has been part of Shaheen Bagh protests said that BJP was “far from reality”.
“Every fourth person in Shaheen Bagh is a non-Muslim. It is not a religious gathering here. BJP isn’t aware of it because they don’t believe in dialogue thus they are far from the truth on the ground,” Yusuf added.
He further said that the ruling party was in a dilemma because “if they use state-sponsored violence like they did in Jamia and AMU, they know it will only get intensified...people are no more ready to stay in their houses. Instead of behaving responsibly on the chair, BJP is misusing the power.”
Shaheen Bagh and protests outside Jamia have been continuing since 15 December 2019 when Delhi Police barged inside the campus injuring around a hundred students and damaging property worth Rs 2 crores.
Mohammad Faheem, a local businessman from Shaheen Bagh took a jibe at the BJP MP saying that only time will tell whose government would be formed in Delhi and these comments were just made in a haste. “No one is sitting on the streets for fun here, leaving the comfort of their homes. Thoughtful people will see through this irresponsible statement before voting for anyone,” Faheem stressed.