A group of people broke out into chants of “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko” (“shoot the traitors”) in the heart of Delhi inside the Rajiv Chowk metro station on Saturday morning. The slogan has become a popular war-cry used by Hindutva groups and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to threaten violence against anti-government protestors, including those who have been opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens across India.
The video above was shot at 10.35 am on Saturday by advertising agency copywriter Vaibhav Saxena near the Cafe Coffee Day outlet in the station.
Saxena, who was having coffee when he heard the slogans, told Scroll.in: “There were about 10 people in the group”. They stood near the platform where blue line trains depart for Noida. Ten minutes after he recorded the video, he said he saw the police on the spot making enquiries, while the metro authorities were trying to secure the area.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation confirmed the incident, News 18 reported. “Today, six boys were found shouting slogans ‘Desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaro saalon ko’ at Rajiv Chowk metro station. We have detained them at Rajiv Chowk Metro Police Station and interrogation is being carried out,” said Vikram Porwal, deputy commission of police, Delhi Metro.
Later, another video surfaced showing a group of men walking around the Connaught Place area, where the Rajiv Chowk metro station is located. They were carrying the Indian national flag and shouting the same slogan. Scroll.in will update the story when more details about this video are available.
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