The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, 30 December, cancelled ‘Shaheen Bagh shooter’ Kapil Gujjar’s membership, hours after it was reported that he had joined the party in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
Sanjeev Sharma, president, Ghaziabad BJP said, as per news agency ANI:
“Gujjar was part of a group of BSP workers who joined the BJP today. We had no knowledge of his association with the Shaheen Bagh issue.”
‘Also Associated With RSS’
Earlier, on Wednesday, Times Now reported that Gujjar, known for firing shots in the air amid anti-CAA-NRC protests at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh locality in February, had joined the ruling party.
ANI Hindi News had also reported Gujjar as saying that he has joined the BJP because he ‘wants to work for Hindutva and that he was also associated with the RSS.’
“We are with the BJP, the BJP is strengthening Hindutva, wants to take Hindutva forward. I want to work for Hindutva, that’s why I joined BJP. Before this, I had nothing to do with any party. I am also associated with RSS.”Kapil Gujjar
A video of the incident, that took place on 1 February 2020, showed Gujjar screaming, “In our country, only Hindus will prevail, nobody else.” According to witnesses, he fired two or three times while standing besides the police, Scroll.in reported.
Kapil's family had said, after the shooting incident,that it was probably the inconvenience caused due to blockage of roads by the protests at Shaheen Bagh that ticked him off, PTI reported.
What Had Happened at Shaheen Bagh?
The man in question had fired two rounds in the air at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area – the epicentre of anti-CAA protests – on Saturday, 1 February. Taken into custody by the police following the incident, he reportedly chanted 'Jai Shri Ram.'
Hours after the Delhi Police claimed that Gujjar was (then) a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the party had asked in a Twitter post how BJP’s then Delhi president Manoj Tiwari had claimed to know there was a report about this “at 9 am, 11 hours before the official statement by Crime Branch, Delhi Police.”
(With inputs from Times Now and Scroll.in)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)