‘What is Happening in Delhi’: Kejriwal Locks Horns With Home Minister Shah
NEW DELHI : Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday questioned Union home minister Amit Shah on the “deteriorating” law and order situation in poll-bound Delhi hours after a Jamia Millia Islamia student was injured by a gunman at an anti-CAA protest march.
“What is happening in Delhi? The law and order is deteriorating. Please take care of Delhi’s law and order,” Kejriwal said in the tweet.Kejriwal’s statement came in reply to a post by Shah in which the home minister said he has directed police commissioner Amulya Patnaik to take strict action.
“I have spoken to the Delhi Police Commissioner on the incident of firing in Delhi and have directed him to take strictest action,” Shah had said in the tweet, adding that there will be “serious action” into the incident.
Tension spiralled in the Jamia Nagar area after the gunman, whose name is being withheld as police are verifying claims he is a minor, brandished and fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters, injuring Jamia Millia Islamia student Shadab Farooq. The incident unfolded in full public view while police personnel looked from a distance.
The entire drama, which triggered panic in the area, was captured by television cameras that showed the man in light coloured pants and a dark jacket, walking away on an empty road barricaded by police, turning around and shouting at the protesters in Hindi, “Here, take this freedom.”
The man was subsequently overpowered by police and detained. He was taken into custody and was being interrogated, police said. Before the attack, the man also put out messages on Facebook stating “Shaheen Bag Khel Khatam” (Run Shaheen, the game is over). Another message stated, “Please wrap me in saffron in my last journey with slogans of Jai Shri Ram”. His Facebook profile was deleted after screenshots of his posts were circulated widely on social media platforms.
Hours after an armed individual shot at students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today tweeted out an assurance that the “culprit will not be spared”.
However, the Home Minister’s assurance did not seem have convinced Delhi CM Kejriwal. “What’s happening in Delhi? The law-and-situation in Delhi is deteriorating. Please take care of Delhi’s law and order,” he tweeted. The police force in the national capital is controlled by the centre.
The person — who identifies himself as a right-wing activist on Facebook — had turned up at the protest venue near the Jamia Millia Islamia University with a gun this afternoon. Waving a pistol threateningly at the protesters, he walked down the road shouting “Yeh lo azaadi (here’s your freedom)” even as police watched warily from the distance. When protesters at the venue tried to disarm him, he shot a student — Shadaab Farukh — in the arm. Chaos broke out, forcing police to barricade the area and divert traffic to other routes.
