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Press Button With Such Anger That Shaheen Bagh Feels Current, Says Amit Shah

BJP leaders including ministers like Yogi Adityanath have attacked the women protesters at Shaheen Bagh who have been demonstrating against the CAA since December 15.
Home Minister Amit Shah addresses the Jeet Ki Goonj programme, ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Auditorium on January 25, 2020 in New Delhi.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Home Minister Amit Shah addresses the Jeet Ki Goonj programme, ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Auditorium on January 25, 2020 in New Delhi.

Home Minister Amit Shah continued to polarise the Delhi election campaign at a rally in Delhi on Sunday saying that people should press the EVM button on 8 February with such anger that the protesters in Shaheen Bagh “feel the current”.

PTI quoted Shah as saying on Sunday, “Your vote to BJP candidate will make Delhi and the country safe and prevent thousands of incidents like Shaheen Bagh.”

Shah said, “When you press the button (of EVM) on February 8, do so with such anger that its current (poll result) is felt at Shaheen Bagh.”

At Shaheen Bagh, thousands of women have been in a 24/7 sit-in protest since December 15 against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The peaceful protests here have inspired several such protests across the country including the one at the iconic clock tower in Lucknow and the one in Kolkata’s Park Circus.

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The protests have continued to rile the authorities and BJP leaders, with them making bizarre remarks against the protesters there.

Last week, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath took a sexist dig at the protesters at Shaheen Bagh asking why the men of Shaheen Bagh were “sleeping under the quilt while women have been pushed forward”.

NDTV quoted him as saying, “These people (referring to male anti-citizenship law protesters) do not have the courage to participate in the protests themselves... what have they done? They started making the women of their houses sit at roads. The children have been made to sit too.”

Earlier last week, Delhi LG Anil Baijal wanted the Shaheen Bagh protests called off because he claimed it was causing “inconvenience” to school going children.

After meeting a delegation of protesters, Baijal tweeted, “Met the delegation of protestors from Shaheen Bagh. Assured them to convey their concerns to appropriate authorities. Appealed to call off their agitation in view of continued inconvenience to school children, patients, daily commuters, local residents, etc. due to blockade of road.”

BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya had also claimed that the protesters were being paid money to demonstrate against the CAA. The women protesters sent Malviya a defamation notice after is comments.

(With PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.