Shaheen Bagh will be cleared once BJP comes to power: Anurag Thakur

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday asserted that the process of clearing Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-CAA protests, will begin once the BJP comes to power in Delhi after the February 8 Assembly polls.

The statement comes days after Thakur was banned from election campaigning due to his controversial remarks at a poll rally.

"When people of Delhi will cast their vote in favour of the lotus (BJP's poll symbol)... and after the results on February 11, Shaheen Bagh (protest site) will be cleared," Thakur said at an event held at the Delhi BJP office.

Thakur, who is the Minister of State for Finance, was banned from campaigning for 72 hours after he egged on a crowd to raise an incendiary slogan - "shoot the traitors" - and lashed out at those protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Asserting that the BJP will register a "clean" sweep in Delhi, he alleged that the AAP had stalled the Centre's Ayushman Bharat health scheme and the expansion of the Metro train network in the national capital.

"Ayushman Bharat will be implemented and the Metro train network will be expanded up to Narela, if BJP comes to power in Delhi. The Delhi people are in no mood to forgive the misdeeds of the AAP and it will loose heavily with BJP making a clean sweep," Thakur stated at the event.