Giriraj Singh at it again, says Shaheen Bagh breeding suicide bombers

Union Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Giriraj Singh stoked yet another controversy on Thursday (February 6) by saying that Shaheen Bagh has become a breeding ground for suicide bombers plotting against the country from the national capital.

“This Shaheen Bagh is not a movement anymore. Suicide bombers are being raised here. A conspiracy is being planned against the country in the country’s capital,” Giriraj Singh tweeted in Hindi.

This assertion of Singh has only vitiated the already polarised campaign in Delhi, elections for which would take place on February 8.

Through his tweet, Singh joined a long list of BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, who have targeted the Shaheen Bagh protesters during their campaign. They have also accused the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of providing unstinted support to the protesters.

It is to be noted that hundreds of women, children and several men have been on a sit-in protest since December 18 at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi against the new citizenship law.

Critics of the law contend that the new legislation violates the principle of secularism as it bestows citizenship on non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on grounds of religious persecution, provided they had taken refuge in India prior to 2015.