Polls a fight between PM Modi and Shaheen Bagh supporters: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the Delhi Assembly polls are a contest between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who eliminated terrorists through surgical strikes inside Pakistan, and those supporting the Shaheen Bagh protest.

Seeking votes for BJP during an election meeting at Bhatti Mines in Sanjay Colony (Chhatarpur), Mr Shah said refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan have as much right over the country as its other citizens.

“Two forces are face-to-face in the Assembly elections in Delhi. While on the one side is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who eliminated terrorists through air and surgical strikes inside Pakistan, on the other hand there are those supporting Shaheen Bagh. You have to decide whom to support.”

He claimed that a vote for BJP in the February 8 polls will ensure the security of Delhi and the country. Shaheen Bagh in Southeast Delhi has emerged as the epicentre of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in the country.

A large number of women protesters have taken the centre stage at the protest in Shaheen Bagh since mid-December last year.

Attacking senior AAP leader and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Mr Shah said BJP was with the thousands of Pakistani refugees living in Delhi’s Sanjay Colony. “Sisodia said I am with Shaheen Bagh. Now I am saying we are with Sanjay Colony. I want to say to dalits, who came from Pakistan and settled in Sanjay Colony, that you have as much right over this country as my son and I do,” he said.

The home minister attacked AAP and Congress for opposing the CAA, which was meant for providing citizenship to minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists “persecuted” in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Mr Shah asserted that the vote of Delhi people on February 8 will not only replace the Kejriwal government but also ensure victory of those who worship Mother India.

“It will not only change the Kejriwal government, but also defeat an ideology. Formation of the BJP government in Delhi will preserve the ideology of worshipping Bharat Mata,” he said.

Mr Shah also credited Prime Minister Modi with finding solutions to issues like Ram temple and Article 370 and accused AAP and Congress of opposing BJP fearing backlash from their vote bank.

He promised that the Ayushman Bharat health scheme of the Modi government will be implemented in Delhi within hours of BJP forming the government here.