Kapil Gurjar, the 25-year-old man who allegedly fired at least two shots At Shaheen Bagh’s anti-CAA protest on February 1, he joined the BJP’s Ghaziabad unit on Wednesday. Hours later, however, the party backtracked and revoked his membership, claiming that he had no knowledge of his criminal record.
Gurjar was admitted during a ceremony held in Ghaziabad in the presence of the BJP district coordinator, Sanjeev Sharma, who said: “Kapil Gurjar joined hundreds of supporters. It has influence in the area. It has been influenced by party policies, work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and UP Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath ji. He has also been influenced by the efforts made by our Pradesh Adhyaksh Swatantra Dev Singh ji to strengthen the party, and the youth have joined us. All these people worked for Hindutva for different parties. They met with Pradesh Adhyaksh and he directed me to induct them to the BJP. “
Videos from the event showed Gurjar standing next to Sharma with a garland and the BJP official gave him candy.
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At the ceremony, Gurjar said: “We are with BJP, he is strengthening Hindutva and he wants to take it forward. Everything they do is mainly for Hindus. I have always wanted to do something great for Hindutva and for the nation. That is why I joined BJP. Before this, he was not associated with any other party. I am also part of RSS ”.
Hours later, Sharma issued a press release that read: “Today in the mahanagar office, some people from BSP were incorporated into the party. Kapil Gurjar was also present in the same crowd. We were not aware of his involvement in the Shaheen Bagh affair. The moment the party was informed, we terminated their membership. “
While today’s press release claimed that Gurjar was from the BSP, the BJP claimed after the shooting that Gurjar was from the AAP, a claim denied by the party.
On Wednesday, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said: “During the Delhi Assembly elections, BJP had focused its campaign on Shaheen Bagh and created polarization along communal lines. Poison was spread to the point that observers began to warn that the city could witness riots between Hindus and Muslims, which later happened. During Shaheen Bagh, we said that the protests may have been started by pro-democracy forces, but the BJP then started to control it and use it for electoral benefits. “
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