On February 2, the Bharatiya Janata Party released a new campaign video for the Delhi Assembly elections. It returned to a claim the party has made repeatedly over the past month: that protests against Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens are tearing India apart. A previous video released by the party started by declaring it was time to evict those sitting in protest in Delhi.
Late night on February 2, shots were fired near the gates of Delhi’s Jamia Milia Islamia University. It was the third shooting in four days in this part of Delhi, which has been the epicentre of the largely peaceful protests against the amendment to the citizenship law, which critics contend violates the constitutional right to equality and discriminates against Muslims. On January 30, shots were fired at Jamia, injuring a student. on February 1, bullets flew at nearby Shaheen Bagh, where women from the area have driven a sit-in protest for more than 50 days.
The shootings were preceded by Union Minister Anurag Thakur exhorting participants at a BJP rally to fire bullets at traitors to the nation: “Desh go gaddaron ko, goli maaro salo ko”. Hours after the first shooting at Jamia, Home Minister Amit Shah asked voters to choose between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who conducted “surgical strikes” on Pakistan, and those who supported Shaheen Bagh, an allusion to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party.
Hindu voters, Muslim protesters
The BJP’s new campaign video elaborates on the theme. It features another song, this time four minutes and 28 seconds long, set to a tune of imminent crisis.
“Dekh yeh kya ho raha, tujhe o meri Dilli,/ Dhongi dharna de rahe, uda rahe hai khilli”, the song begins. Look what’s happening to you, oh my Delhi,/ Imposters are sitting in protest, mocking you. At this point, the video cuts to a picture of Kejriwal, followed by former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar and Umer Khalid, hijab-clad protestors, and Aishe Ghosh, the current president of the JNU students’ union, who was injured when the university was attacked by a masked mob on January 5.
As the video continues, it cuts between protestors who are visibly Muslim, wearing skull caps and hijabs, and silent figures who are marked out as Hindu by sacred threads, ash smeared on foreheads and bindis. They are the voters being appealed to: “Ab jag tu,/ Chhed raag tu,/ Ghar se nikal,/ Bujha har aag tu.” Wake up now,/ Sing your song,/ Get out of your homes,/ Douse every fire.
The image of a burning bus, presumably set alight by protestors, is inserted for good measure. “Har drohi tu pehchaan le,” runs the refrain. Identify every traitor. Apart from the “Mughliya” Sharjeel Imam, the JNU student booked for sedition for a speech at Shaheen Bagh, they apparently include the “firangi” Gandhis, Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap.
Monuments are corralled into rhetoric as well. A teeming Jama Masjid is clubbed with the image of Sharjeel Imam. The Hanuman Mandir is an image of the capital under siege, while prospective voters stream out of the Bahai Temple.
Breaking up ‘Akhand Bharat’
It does not stop there. Soldiers marching on what seems to be Republic Day segue into images of the last British viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, and hordes advancing on horseback. This is followed by a map of Akhand Bharat, which splinters into Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, all marked in green. These are the three countries mentioned in the Citizenship Amendment Act, making undocumented non-Muslim migrants from these places eligible for Indian citizenship.
The accompanying lyrics say: “Bataaden tu unhe,/ Daraane kayi aaye the,/ Bataaden tu unhe,/ Haraane kayi aaye the,/ Iss akhand Bharat mei,/ Daal woh gaye daraar.” Tell them,/ Many came to scare us,/ Tell them,/ Many came to defeat us,/ They left cracks in this undivided India.
Delhi is the soul of the country, the song goes on to say, connected to both Assam and Kashmir. Unable to succeed there, the forces of division had travelled to the capital to set hundreds of Shaheen Baghs.
Here are the lyrics of the song:
“Dekh yeh kya ho raha,
Tujhe o meri Dilli,
Dhongi dharna de rahe,
Uda rahe hai khilli.”
Look what’s happening to you,
Oh my Delhi,
Imposters are sitting in protest,
Mocking you.
“Ab jag tu,
Chhed raag tu,
Ghar se nikal,
Bujha har aag tu”
Wake up now,
Sing your song,
Get out of your homes,
Douse every fire
“Jo pilaane aa rahe
Tujhe nafraton ke ghol,
Khol de tu aaj,
Un farebiyon ki bol.”
Those who are coming to make you drink
The milk of hate,
Expose today
The words of those deceivers.
Chorus:
“Dilli tu ab jaag le,
Zoro se gaath baadh le.
Har drohi tu pehchaan le,
Desh apna abhimaan hai.”
Delhi wake up,
Tighten your belt.
Recognise every traitor,
This country is our pride.
“Yeh aag teri bastiyon mei
Jisne bhi lagayi hai,
Jhoot aur fareb ki
Dukan jo sajayi hai.”
Those who set fire
To your settlements,
Those who traded
On lies and deception,
“Bataaden tu unhe
Daraane kayi aaye the,
Bataaden tu unhe,
Haraane kayi aaye the”
Tell them,
Many came to scare us,
Tell them,
Many came to defeat us,
“Iss akhand Bharat mei,
Daal woh gaye daraar,
Phir se wohi humei
Katai nahi swikar. [repeat]”
They left cracks
In this undivided India.
The same thing
We will never accept again [repeat]
[Chorus]
“Yeh desh gar deha hai
Toh Dilli uska praan hai,
Kashmir bhi tera aur
Aur tera bhi Assam hai.”
If this country is the body,
Delhi is its soul,
Kashmir is yours,
So is Assam.
“Hokar wahan naakaam woh,
Dubak ke Dilli aaye bhaag,
Aur khade kar diye
Sain karon Shaheen Bagh.”
Unable to succeed there,
They stealthily came to Delhi,
And set up here
Hundreds of Shaheen Baghs.
“Imam ko toh lagta hai
Taadaat kaafi ho gayi,
Woh phir daraar daalega
Teri janta kaise soh gayi.”
[Sharjeel] Imam thinks,
He has enough numbers,
He will leave more cracks,
How was your public sleeping?
[Chorus]
“Har danke ki chot se
Dilli tu kar de elaan,
In drohiyon ke raaste mei
Tu atal hai khadi.”
Delhi announce,
With every beat of your drum,
You stand unshakeable,
In these traitors’ path.
“Aur saath mei tere hai
Poora Hindustan. [repeat]
Standing with you
Is all of Hindustan [repeat]
“Firangi ho koyi,
Ya koyi Mughliya,
Yeh desh ab na tootega
Dilli ne thaan liya. [repeat]”
Some are foreigners,
Others Mughals,
This country will not break,
Dilli has decided. [repeat]
[Chorus]
“Yeh Shiva ka rakt jo
Teri ragon mei bahe rahaa,
Lahu ubaal maar kar,
Aaj sabse keh raha.”
This blood of Shiva,
That flows in your veins,
Is boiling,
Telling everyone now
“Subhash tu tu hi Bhagat
Tu hi toh Azad hai,
Tu Gandhi ki ahimsa aur
Pratap ki talwar hai,
Bhim ka kanoon tu
Iraadon se Sardar hai.”
You are Subhash [Chandra Bose], you are Bhagat [Singh],
You are Azad [freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad],
You are Gandhi’s non-violence,
And [Maharana] Pratap’s sword.
You are Bhim’s [Bhimrao Ambedkar’s] law,
Sardar’s determination.
[Chorus]