As the atmosphere in Delhi remains vitiated after a 17-year-old boy shot at protesters outside the Jamia Millia Islamia University, injuring a student, a video circulating on WhatsApp calls for a mob to gather to “clear out” the peaceful Shaheen Bagh protests.
In the video, a group of men call on their nationalist, gau bhakt and Hinduvadi brothers in the NCR area to get together.
“Brothers, we must gather and warn the government and show our strength in numbers,” said a man who seemed to be the spokesperson of the group.
HuffPost India could not independently verify the authenticity of the video or where it was shot.
In the run-up to the Delhi election on 8 February, several BJP leaders have made divisive and communal speeches targeting anti-CAA protesters and the Shaheen Bagh sit-in.
Amit Shah, who leads the home ministry to which the Delhi Police reports, called for voters to press the EVM button with such anger that “Shaheen Bagh feels the current”.
BJP MP Parvesh Verma demonised the protesters at Shaheen Bagh by saying “they will come into your homes and rape your sisters”. He also claimed that all mosques on government land will be removed if the BJP came to power in Delhi.
Most controversially, MoS Finance and Commerce Anurag Thakur raised incendiary slogans at a rally in Delhi, calling for anti-CAA protesters to be shot.
One of the Facebook statuses posted by the gunman before he shot at the protesters says “Shaheen Bagh... khel khatam” which translates to “Shaheen Bagh... game over”.
In the video circulated on WhatsApp, the men claim that if the government did not clear Shaheen Bagh, they would clear the road without the help of the government or authorities.
“If the government doesn’t open the highway in Kalindi Kunj, all nationalist, Hindu brothers, without the help of the authorities will do the work of clearing out the protests,” a man in the video said.
The spontaneous sit-in at Shaheen Bagh, begun by a group of women after the Delhi Police’s brutal crackdown on students of Jamia Millia Islamia in December, have inspired similar protests across the country.