File photo of BJP MLA Sangeet Som (Getty Images)

News18.com

Updated on: January 31, 2020, 9:24 AM IST

January 31, 2020, 9:24 AM IST FOLLOW US ON: Facebook Twitter Instagram

Lucknow: Stoking a fresh controversy, BJP legislator and 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots accused Sangeet Som said that people like Sharjeel Imam, who talk about 'breaking India', should be 'shot dead publicly.

"The women sitting on protests have no work, a probe is needed to find out the source of funding of these protests. As far as people like Sharjeel Imam, who talk of breaking India, are concerned, such people should be shot dead publicly," the MLA was quoted as saying by ANI.


Som's statement came in context to Delhi's Shaheen Bagh protest and Lucknow's Husainabad Clock Tower agitation, where hundreds of women have been staging a sit-in against the new citizenship law for over a month. On Thursday, women in Aligarh joined in by sitting on an indefinite dharna at Eidgah, even as the police booked 250 of them for unlawful assembly.

The MLA's reaction came a day a gun-wielding man opened fire on protesters near Jamia Millia Islamia in south Delhi, injuring a student.


"Brandishing the gun, he shouted 'yeh lo azadi (take your freedom), come I'll shoot you' and then fired on the protesters," a student who was part of the protests told News18. A video of the attack that is being shared widely on social media also showed the shooter shouting the 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan and warning protesters to chant 'Vande Mataram' if they want to stay in India.

Perturbed by the incident, Hyderabad politician Asaduddin Owaisi, in a series of sharply-worded tweets, blamed Union Minister Anurag Thakur for inciting violence with 'Goli Maaro' comment.


Som, who is not new to controversies, had earlier called Owaisi an agent of Pakistan for opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament. He also attacked the Congress over the issue, saying that both the Congress and Owaisi "should go to Pakistan".

"Both Congress and Owaisi will have to go to Pakistan if they did not change their attitude especially when a Bill is being introduced for the welfare of our country… The Congress and Owaisi eat and breathe in our country but they speak on the political and diplomatic line that suites Pakistan," he said.