Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday in a rally address in the national capital, delivered a slogan that gas gathered a lot of controversy where he chanted the first half of a slogan that concluded with a call to gun down traitors.
Addressing the meeting in support of BJP candidate from Rithala, Manish Chaudhary, Thakur raised the pitch of nationalism as he linked opposition parties with anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh and with alleged anti-India slogans, and then asked the crowd to raise the controversial slogan
In a widely-shared video Thakur can be seen and heard chanting “desh ke gaddaron ko”, to which the crowd replied “goli maaro sa***n ko”; the entire chant translates to “shoot down the traitors who betray the country”.
According to news agency ANI the slogan was also heard at a pro-CAA rally in Maharashtra’s Nagpur last month, at which people were waving the BJP flag.
Last month, BJP leader Kapil Mishra, who served a 48-hour campaigning ban over the weekend for tweets Delhi Police said were ‘creating enmity among classes’, appeared to chant the same slogan during a march in support of CAA.
ALSO READ: Delhi polls: EC bans BJP’s Kapil Mishra from campaigning for 48…
The chanting of the slogan has been criticised by the Congress’s Kirti Azad, who is the head of the opposition party’s campaign committee.
As per PTI, Azad was quoted as saying the BJP are the ‘real traitors’ as they are working to ‘destroy’ peace and amity.
Delhi will go to polls on February 8 and the counting of votes will take place on February 11.