This Article is From Dec 30, 2020

Shaheen Bagh Shooter Removed From BJP Hours After Joining

Kapil Gujjar aka Kapil Baisala had fired twice in the air at the Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protest in February this year and shouted "only Hindus will rule".

Kapil Gujjar joined the BJP earlier on Wednesday.

New Delhi:

Kapil Gujjar, who fired a gun at the demonstration against the centre's controversial citizenship law in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh earlier this year, has been expelled from the BJP hours after the party inducted him.

The BJP unit in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, neighbouring Delhi, said they did not know of his antecedents when he joined the party on Wednesday morning.

"Kapil Gujjar was among some people who were inducted into the party from the Bahujan Samaj Party. We had no idea of his involvement in the controversial Shaheen Bagh incident. On finding out, his joining has been cancelled with immediate effect," the BJP's Ghaziabad chief Sanjeev Sharma said in a statement.

In February this year, Kapil Gujjar aka Kapil Baisala had fired twice in the air at Shaheen Bagh, where a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was underway.

After being overpowered by police personnel, he shouted "Jai Shri Ram" and said, "Hamare desh me aur kisi ki nahi chalegi, sirf Hinduon ki chalegi (only Hindus will rule in our country, no one else)," as he was taken into custody by Delhi Police. He was later released on bail.

This incident had chilling similarities to one that took place just 2 km away at Jamia Millia Islamia university days ago, when a 17-year-old Class 12 boy from Uttar Pradesh fired a country pistol at unarmed protesters with dozens of policemen behind him, watching.

The shootings took place in quick succession after controversial slogans of "Goli Maaro Sa***n Ko (shoot the traitors)" were chanted at a Delhi election campaign rally of Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of State for Finance.

Mr Thakur was banned from campaigning in Delhi for three days for egging on BJP workers to shout the "Goli Maaro" slogan.

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