Anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh, Jamia, Seelampur not coincidental, designed to harm harmony: PM

The anti-CAA protests in Seelampur, Jamia Nagar and Shaheen Bagh are not a coincidence but a political design aimed at harming the harmony of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday while accusing the AAP and the Congress of fuelling the demonstrations.

Addressing a rally in Karkardooma in east Delhi, Modi alleged that the AAP and the Congress were provoking people and misinforming them.

They were keeping the Constitution and tricolour in the forefront, but the aim was to "divert attention from the real conspiracy", Modi said ahead of the Delhi elections on February 8.

Referring to the protest in Shaheen Bagh, he said people commuting to and from from Noida are facing a lot of problems.

"The people of Delhi are quiet and they are angry watching this vote bank politics," he said.

"If the strength of those plotting a conspiracy increases, then another road or lane will be blocked. We can't leave Delhi to such anarchy. Only people of Delhi can stop this. Every vote given to the BJP can do this," he said.

"Be it Seelampur, Jamia (Nagar) or Shaheen Bagh, for the last several days, there have been protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Are these protests coincidental. No, this is not coincidental, it is an experiment," he said.

Behind the protests, Modi added, is a political design aimed at harming national harmony.

The Shaheen Bagh protests have taken centrestage in the BJP poll campaign with the top party leadership raking it up in every rally.

Modi also took a swipe at the Congress saying those who questioned the Batla House encounter are now saving those who raised 'tukde tukde' slogans.

He also slammed the AAP and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said they questioned the Army on surgical strikes.

The prime minister promised that the BJP-led Central government will provide 'pucca' houses to all poor families by 2022.

The Kejriwal-led party will continue to stall welfare schemes for people if it is voted back to power, he said.

Modi said his government was finding solutions to decades-old problems affecting the country and cited the regularisation of unauthorised colonies to assert that the BJP had fulfilled its promise to the people of Delhi.

"We delivered on our promise to people of Delhi that we will regularise unauthorised colonies," Modi said.

The BJP, he added, believes in positivity and the interest of the country is supreme for the party.

He told the gathering that India will not be driven by politics of hate but by the policy of development.

Listing his government's achievements, he cited the revocation of Article 370, the Ayodhya verdict, the Kartarpur corridor and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act for persecuted minorities.