india

Updated: Jan 27, 2020 13:31 IST

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said that the protest in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh is a cover for people who want to divide the country.

“Shaheen Bagh is not an area anymore - it is an idea where the Indian flag is being used as a cover for the people who want to divide the country. It is being supported by tukde-tukde gang,” Prasad said while addressing a press conference.

“Shaheen Bagh is emerging as a textbook case of a few hundred people seeking to suppress the peaceful majority,” Prasad added.

He also took on the Congress and the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) for not doing anything to end the protest. “Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal are silent. Kejriwal can’t hear the silent voice of children who can’t go to school because of the protest, of office-goers who are experiencing so much inconvenience. His deputy Manish Sisodia says he stands with Shaheen Bagh protesters. This shows their real intent,” said Prasad.

Shaheen Bagh has emerged as a big issue for the upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi. The protesters, led by women, are sitting on a dharna for over a month now, against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA. They want the government to scrap the new law, but the Centre has made it clear that it won’t take it back.

The BJP is trying to corner the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the ongoing protest.

“People are sitting on protest at Shaheen Bagh, and a 100-odd gathered in Mumbai to recreate the spiriti of Shaheen Bagh. This is different game altogether. And voters of Delhi need to understand this,” said Prasad.

The ongoing protest has led to closure of Road No 13A which connects Delhi to Noida. Due to this, the commuters are facing harrowing time, and have held counter march demanding an end to the Shaheen Bagh protest. But so far, the protesters have refused to budge.

A petition was also filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the police to clear the protesters. But the court asked the police to take action in accordance with the law in a time-bound manner.

The police has since then appealed to the protesters, but to no avail.

The elections for 70 Assembly seats of Delhi will be held in a single phase on February 8. The results will be announced on February 11.

The AAP, which had won 67 out of 70 seats in the 2015 Assembly election, is seeking to return with an even bigger margin. The BJP, meanwhile, is trying to defeat AAP and come back to power in Delhi after two decades.