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A man opened fire in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area, the epicentre of the anti-CAA protest. The man, who identified himself as Kapil Gujjar, fired two shots in the air at the protest site. No one was injured in the incident which occurred at around 4:53 pm. He has been taken into police custody.
Initial videos showed the man chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram‘ while being detained and saying only Hindus shall have a say in this country. “Hamare desh me aur kisi ki nahi chalegi, sirf Hindu ki chalegi (Only Hindus shall have a say in our country, no one else),” he said. The man was overpowered by locals and handed over to the police, PTI reported. Following the incident, women protesters in Shaheen Bagh formed a human chain in the backdrop of heavy police presence.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked Home Minister Amit Shah to “focus on fixing the law and order situation” in the city. “Gun shots are being fired in broad daylight… elections will come and go, politics will also keep on going, but for the sake of the people of Delhi, please focus on fixing law and order,” he said.
The Congress said the shooter has changed but the ideology pulling the trigger in 1948 or 2020 has remained the same.
Addressing a rally in northwest Delhi’s Rohini, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that those who support terrorists in Kashmir are staging protest at Shaheen Bagh and raising slogans of ‘azadi’. Hitting out at the AAP dispensation, Adityanath said that the Arvind Kejriwal government “supplies biryani” to protesters at Shaheen Bagh.
The shooting comes days after a man fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters near the Jamia Millia University, in which a student was injured. Later said to be 17 and a juvenile, the teenager brandished a gun at the protest site around 1.45 pm, and shouted slogans of “Yeh lo azadi (Here, take azadi)”, “Desh mein jo rehna hoga, Vande Mataram kehna hoga (If you want to stay in the country, you have to say Vande Mataram)” and “Dilli Police zindabad”, before he fired. The accused has been sent in 14 days police custody.
On Monday, Anurag Thakur, the Minister of State, Finance, addressing a rally for the February 8 Delhi Assembly elections, had repeatedly raised the slogan of “Desh ke gaddaron ko” as the crowd responded with “goli maaro saalon ko”.
The next day, BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma said protesters at Shaheen Bagh could “enter homes and rape our sisters and daughters”. Thakur has been banned from campaigning for 72 hours, and Verma for 96 hours.
On the same day, an armed man entered the protest area at Shaheen Bagh and threatened the protesters to their agitation. He was, however, overpowered by other protestors and taken away from the site.
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