BJP honours Uber driver who called cops on poet-activist commuter
Mumbai BJP president Mangal Prabhat Lodha felicitated an Uber cab driver on Saturday, days after he took a passenger to a police station for speaking about the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests over the phone. He conferred ‘Alert Citizen Award’ on driver Rohit Gaur at a police station in Mumbai.
Mumbai BJP president Mangal Prabhat Lodha felicitated an Uber cab driver on Saturday (February 8), days after he took a passenger to a police station for speaking about the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests over the phone.
The BJP leader conferred ‘Alert Citizen Award’ on the driver, Rohit Gaur, at Mumbai’s Santacruz police station and accused the passenger, poet-activist Bappadittya Sarkar, of hatching an “anti-national conspiracy” against the new citizenship law.
रोहित गौर…. नागरिकता संशोधन कानून के खिलाफ राष्ट्र विरोधी षड्यंत्र कर रहे उबर टैक्सी यात्री को जिन्होंने पुलिस को सौंपा। रोहित गौर को सांताक्रुज पुलिस थाने में बुलाकर मुंबई की जनता की ओर से उनका अभिनंदन किया एवं अलर्ट सिटिज़न अवार्ड से सम्मानित किया। pic.twitter.com/hct3ReNjgK
— Mangal Prabhat Lodha (@MPLodha) February 8, 2020
“Rohit Gaur… who handed over the Uber taxi passenger devising anti-national conspiracy against the citizenship amendment act. Felicitated Rohit Gaur on behalf of the people of Mumbai calling him at the Santa Cruz Police Station and gave alert citizen award,” Lodha tweeted. He also shared pictures showing him felicitating Gaur.
Related news: Uber cabbie hears passenger say ‘CAA protest’, calls cops
On Wednesday night, Sarkar was taken to police station by the driver of his Uber cab. Sarkar, a resident of Jaipur who arrived in Mumbai on February 3 for a poetry reading session at the Kala Ghoda Festival, also took part in the ongoing anti-CAA-NRC protest at Nagpada in Mumbai.
On Wednesday night, while traveling by an Uber cab, he was discussing protests against the CAA with a friend on phone. Overhearing the conversation, the cab driver summoned policemen and urged them to arrest Sarkar. Sarkar was taken to a police station and allowed to leave after an inquiry.
The driver allegedly told Sarkar he should be thankful that he took him to a police station and not somewhere else.
Sarkar later commented that the driver’s aggressive behaviour and violent language reflected the atmosphere in the country. The 23-year-old poet also said that despite the ordeal he faced, he was not going to lodge a complaint against the driver as it might ruin his career and life.
(With inputs from agencies)
Related news: Artists take up brush & paint to protest against CAA & NRC
