Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (Praveen Khanna) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (Praveen Khanna)

A day after a school bus full of children was pelted with stones by anti-Padmaavat protesters in Gurgaon, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked people to break the silence against people who are trying to “break our country”.

“Today, a few people are trying to break our country and making people fight among themselves. Whatever is happening in the country is not right. I am raising this issue because I love my country; I cannot see such violence. I want to appeal to everyone, you cannot remain quiet. When they killed Muslims, we kept quiet; when they burnt Dalits, we kept quiet. Now they have started pelting stones at your children, they have entered your homes — please don’t remain silent. We need to talk and raise our voice against it,” said Kejriwal during his Republic Day celebration address at Chhatrasal Stadium.

Saying that he could not sleep the entire night after watching videos of the attack on the G D Goenka school bus, Kejriwal pressed for a punishment “harsher” than the one Lord Ram meted out to Ravana. “A few kilometres away from the national capital, stones are being pelted at small children. With this incident, the entire country needs to bow their heads in shame. No matter which law of the land it is, no one can raise hands over our children. Our country is the land of Lord Ram, Krishna, Gautam Buddha, Guru Nanak, Jesus Christ and Muhammad. Did Ram ever say that stones should be pelted at young children? I want to question these people, who threw stones at the young children — which religion do they belong to?” he said.

Read | Padmaavat protests: Those on board school bus pelted with stones recount horror

Kejriwal also touched on the sealing drive taking place in the capital, urging the Centre to look into changing the law.

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