On Sunday, BJP member Ashwini Upadhyay and five others were arrested for shouting violent anti-Muslim chants at a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
Ashwini Upadhyay, who is suspected of being one of the protest’s organizers, was questioned with other suspects till late last night.
The arrests were made in response to the uproar over recordings showing a gang screaming obscene chants threatening Muslims at Jantar Mantar, a protest venue in Delhi’s centre.
In clips on social media, “Ram, Ram” chants were raised along with threats to kill Muslims. “Hindustan mein rehna hoga jai shri ram kehna hoga (To stay in India, must say Jai Shri Ram),” the group shouted barely a km from parliament and top government offices.
Questions were raised on the police not arresting those behind the event including Ashwini Upadhaya – who is a member of the Delhi BJP executive – and those visible in the videos.
The police finally acted only late on Monday evening and rounded up suspects for questioning.
The police claim they had denied permission to the protest over Covid precautions but a crowd showed up.
TV actor and BJP leader Gajendra Chauhan was also present in the protest though he is not seen in the clips.
Mr. Upadhyay had claimed he had no idea such slogans were raised.
In a statement, Mr. Upadhyay had said the march against outdated colonial laws was organised by Save India Foundation. “I don’t have any relation with Save India Foundation Trust. I was a guest like Mr. RVS Mani, Mr. Firoz Bakht Ahmed, Mr. Gajendra Chauhan. We reached at around 11:00 and left at 12:00. I never met these miscreants,” he said in a statement.
Save India’s director Preet Singh is among those arrested. The others are Vinod Sharma, Deepak Singh, Vineet Kranti and a suspect identified only by one name, Deepak.
