During the campaign for Delhi election which coincided with the anti-CAA movement, Manish Sisodia, a top AAP leader and Delhi deputy CM had said that he stands with the people of shaheen Bagh
Clarion India
NEW DELHI – After BJP claimed that 50 people from the Shaheen Bagh sit-in joined the party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) whicn is currently in power in Delhi accused the BJP of engineering the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh.
AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj held a press conference in which he said that the people supporting Shaheen Bagh protests must be feeling “cheated and manipulated” hearing that “BJP pulled the stings” of the protests.
During the campaign for Delhi election which coincided with the anti-CAA movement, Manish Sisodia, a top AAP leader and Delhi deputy CM had said that he stands with the people of shaheen Bagh. He had made these remakrs even as AAP tried to publicly stay away from the protests as they were being labelled by BJP as pro-Muslim.
“The topmost leadership of the BJP scripted each and every step of the Shaheen Bagh protest. They decided who will say what, who will attack whom and who is going to do the counter-attack. All these things were planned and well scripted,” Bharadwaj was quoted by Indian Express as saying.
Shaheen Bagh, led by women , emerged as a center stage of the anti-CAA movement and became an inspiration for a string of sit-ins across the country. Every day women activists, student leaders, civil society members would come and speak at the stage that was set at a high way near the Shaheen Bagh locality in Delhi’s Muslim dominated Okhla area.
“A group of 10 women started the blockade and the Delhi Police allowed it to happen. The same police do not allow protests by students, teachers, and farmers. It did not prevent installation of tents. Over 1 lakh vehicles faced inconvenience daily… Shaheen Bagh pe logon ki duty lagti thi, people used to come and sit, maintaining a proper schedule. Every morning, some people used to come, only to go home in the afternoon, eat food, take rest and then again return in the evening,” Bharadwaj claimed at the presser.
The news of Shahzad Ali, a member of the Rashtriya Ulama Council, joining BJP made headlines but his association with Shaheen Bagh, as claimed by BJP, has been disputed as the volunteers say that he was not a part of the sit-in.
However, the AAP claimed that “key people behind the protest” joined the BJP.
The Okhla assembly constituency was won by AAP’s Amanatullah Khan by over 70,000 votes, defeating BJP’s Braham Singh.
Umar Khalid, former JNU student leader, lashed out at AAP as he said Amanatullah Khan wouldn’t have won with that margin. He said AAP and BJP “are sailing in the same boat”.
