‘Pakistan has entered Shaheen Bagh’: BJP’s Kapil Mishra raises political temperature in Delhi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra on Thursday kicked up a major controversy when he termed the sites where protests are being held against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA in Delhi “mini-Pakistan”.

“Pakistan has entered Shaheen Bagh. Mini Pakistans are being created in Delhi. The Indian law is not followed in areas like Shaheen Bagh, Chand Bagh and Inderlok. Pakistani hooligans have captured the streets of Delhi,” Mishra said in his tweet posted in Hindi. 

He was responding to people who reacted to his earlier tweet in which he compared Delhi Assembly elections to India-Pakistan match.

“India vs Pakistan 8th February Delhi. The contest on February 8th will be an India-Pakistan contest,” Mishra said in his first tweet.

He continued his diatribe and further explained his tweets. “You must be feeling helpless in reporting acts of people who set the buses on fire in the garb of Constitution and the Tricolour, block the roads, pelt stones at the policemen, use petrol bombs, who give Rs 5 lakh to these hooligans, not me,” Mishra said while responding to a Twitter user.

And then came his final attack on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and Congress. “AAP and Congress have created these mini-Pakistans, like the one in Shaheen Bagh. They will get the answer from India on February 8. Whenever seditious people create a Pakistan in India, they will come face-to-face with patriotic Indians,” Mishra said in last of his provocative tweets. 

Mishra was removed as minister by Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in 2017. Last year, he was also disqualified as AAP lawmaker under the anti-defection law.

He joined the BJP in August last year.

Mishra, who has often found himself in controversy, is a BJP candidate from Model Town in north Delhi. He faces AAP MLA Akhileshpati Tripathi.

Mishra was criticised for a tweet with communal overtones during Diwali last year. The post was later taken down by Twitter for violating its guidelines.

The Aam Aadmi Party had complained to the Election Commission on Wednesday alleging “wrongful acceptance of nomination forms of BJP candidate Kapil Mishra from Model Town constituency” and demanded cancellation of his candidature.

Delhi, which has 70 seats, is slated to go to polls on February 8. The counting of votes will take place on February 11.