New Delhi: The Election Commission of India, on Wednesday, ordered the removal of Bhartiya Janta Party MPs Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma from the list of the party’s star campaigners in the Delhi assembly elections, for “provocative” statements made by them earlier.
Verma, an MP from West Delhi, had targeted those protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at Shaheen Bagh while campaigning in Vikaspuri. He had said, “Lakhs of people gather there [Shaheen Bagh]. They will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, kill them. There’s time today, Modi ji and Amit Shah won’t come to save you tomorrow.”
“This is not just another election. It is an election to decide the unity of a nation. If the BJP comes to power on February 11, you will not find a single protester within an hour. And within a month, we will not spare a single mosque built on government land,” Verma had said.
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Referring the mosques and graveyards as “illegal structures,” Verma had further said that they “have come up on over 500 government-owned plots of land in the capital…where the land belongs to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Jal Board and many other government agencies.”
Meanwhile, addressing a rally in support of a BJP candidate from Rithala on Monday, Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur who is also Minister of State for Finance, had led the crowd to chant “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro salon ko”. The line, used frequently against CAA protesters, means ‘those who have betrayed the nation, shoot them.’
The Delhi Chief Election Officer (CEO) on Tuesday had submitted reports to the Election Commission on the violation of the model code of conduct against the two BJP MPs.