Hate Speech by Sonia Gandhi Where She Asked People to Pick Sides Led to Shaheen Bagh Protests: Amit Shah

Sonia Gandhi, who called for the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah following the Delhi riots, was in turn blamed by Shah in Parliament on Wednesday for her alleged 'hate speech' in capital last December. Shah said that the interim Congress chief had made statements that had vitiated atmosphere in the national capital.

"On December 14, at an anti-CAA rally at Ramlila Maidan, head of a party had said that people should come out of their homes, that this was the fight for identity. Was this not hate speech? What kind of statements are these?...She made these statements on December 14, the Shaheen bagh protests started on December 16," Shah remarked.

He also lashed out at AIMIM leader Waris Pathan for an incendiary statement made by him during an anti-CAA rally. "Waris Pathan said that 15 crore people could take on 100 crore people...It was after he made these communally flagrant remarks on February 19 that, on February 24, various people at eight to nine different locations started holding sit in protests and later there was violence," Shah said.

He also quoted a speech made during an event organised by 'United Against Hate', in which the speaker had purportedly talked about protesting against CAA during Donald Trump's visit in order to attract maximum attention.

Shah said that Delhi Police was investigating all instances of hate speeches but there were cases that weren't being discussed as widely.

In Congress' Bharat Bachao rally at Ramlila Maidan in December last year, Sonia Gandhi had said that the time had come to pick sides, to struggle for the idea of India. She had slammed the government for revoking Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and said that everyday the Constitution was being shattered by the ruling party.

Earlier, during the day, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi had also alleged that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress leaders had delivered provocative speeches during the December 14 rally at Ramlila Maidan. Lekhi had also defended statements made by BJP leader Kapil Mishra, BJP MP Parvesh Verma and Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Anurag Singh Thakur.

Amit Shah lashed out at the Congress and said that it had no moral right to speak on issues of communal riots, as, he claimed, "76% of the people killed in communal riots in India have died under Congress regimes."

He said that not even one Congress worker had been punished for 1984 anti-Sikh riots till Modi government came to power in 2014.