As Hindu and Sikh refugees staged a protest near Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, demanding an apology from him over his statements against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the Delhi Chief Minister slammed the protesters calling them “Pakistanis” and questioned their “audacity”.
"The audacity of these Pakistanis! First, they illegally infiltrated our country, breaking our laws. They should have been in jail. They have the audacity to protest in our country, causing unrest? After the implementation of CAA, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis will spread all over the country and harass people. BJP is causing trouble to the entire country for its own selfish interest of making them their vote bank," Kejriwal posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.The Hindu and Sikh refugees living in Rohini, Adarsh Nagar, near Signature Bridge and Majnu ka Tilla took part in the protest. The protesters said Kejriwal should withdraw his statements against the CAA and refugees and tender an apology. The protestors also held a protest near the Congress headquarters here on Friday over statements made by INDIA opposition bloc leaders on the CAA.
Lambasting the AAP supremo, the Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said it seems Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is politically frustrated with the implementation of CAA and lost his political cool.
Expressing their anger, Hindu and Sikh refugee protesters carried placards and raised slogans against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, and AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "When the BJP-led Centre is implementing the CAA to give us citizenship, why are other political parties opposing it? We are protesting against them for opposing the law," Panju Ram, one of the protesters, said.
The protesters assembled near Jaisalmer House and started marching towards Akbar Road but were stopped, according to police. In view of the protest, police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in the Central Delhi area.
Sona Das, who came to India from Sindh in Pakistan, said that "opposing the CAA is not a good thing". "Minorities from Pakistan came to India for refuge.
We are Hindu refugees, we fled from Pakistan," Das said, amid chants of "Jai Shri Ram".
Nanki, another refugee from Sindh, said, "Some political leaders have spoken against us and said that the process to give citizenship should be stopped. We have no enmity with them. We have just come to ask why (the process to give) our citizenship should be stopped?"
The Hindu and Sikh refugees staged a protest near Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence here on Thursday, demanding an apology from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader over his statements against the implementation of the CAA. The protesters had said Kejriwal should withdraw his statements against the CAA and refugees, and tender an apology.
