'Jinnah wali azaadi' or ''Bharat Mata ki jai': BJP minister asks Delhi

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar briefs the media on cabinet decisions at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. Pic/ PTI

New Delhi: Citing the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said the people of Delhi need to decide whether they want "Jinnah Wali Azaadi" or Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Javadekar also accused the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress of "poisoning" the minds of minorities. Ahead of the February 8 polls for 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, the BJP leadership has sharpened attack on the ruling AAP and Congress over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and continuing protest against it at Shaheen Bagh here for more than a month.

"We have seen 'Jinnah Wali Azadi" slogan being raised there. Now, Delhi people need to decide if they want 'Jinnah Wali Azadi' or 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'," Javadekar said in a press conference. He blamed the AAP and Congress for "instigating" violent protests against the CAA in the national capital. "Delhi people should ask both parties why did they instigate violence. The nexus of AAP and Congress is behind the Shaheen Bagh protest. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have supported the protest," Javadekar alleged.

The protest at Shaheen Bagh started mid-December following a violent anti-CAA protest at Jamia Millia university in the neighbourhood. A road linking south east Delhi areas to Noida has been blocked due to the protest causing daily hardships to commuters and residents of localities including Badarpur, Sarita Vihar, Madanpur Khadar and Jasola. "They (AAP and Congress) are misleading and poisoning the minds of the minorities including children," said the senior BJP leader.

He asserted that CAA was not going to affect citizenship of any Indian, and blamed that political parties were raising the bogey of CAA and National Register of Citizens(NRC) to defeat the BJP in the elections. The CAA is aimed at providing citizenship to persecuted minorities including Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, he said.

"Kejriwal sympathises with people raising 'Jinnah Wali Azadi' slogans not the persecuted minorities," he stated. The AAP has blamed the BJP of diverting attention of people from issues of development, ahead of Delhi polls. Kejriwal had in the past questioned the timing of the CAA, saying the more pressing need was thinking how to provide jobs to the unemployed youth in the country.

The BJP has also attacked Sisodia over his reported support to the protest at Shaheen Bagh.

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