Chants of “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko [shoot the traitors]” were heard on Thursday at a roadshow by Union Home Minister Amit Shah for Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tajinder Singh Bagga, News18 reported.

In a video, Shah was seen flanked by Bagga, the party’s candidate from Hari Nagar constituency, and other members of the saffron party as the crowd in front of the car shouted the slogan. The chant, commonly used for anti-Citizenship Act protestors, has stirred controversy after Union minister Anurag Thakur was censured by the Election Commission for using part of it during a campaign rally. Thakur was heard shouting “desh ke gaddaron ko” and the crowd responded with “goli maaro saalon ko”.

The commission had served a notice to Thakur, and had ordered the BJP to remove Anurag Thakur as a star campaigner. He was also banned from campaigning for Delhi elections for three days.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed by Parliament on December 11 last year, provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. The Act has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims, leading to protests against it. At least 29 people have died during the protests with 19 in Uttar Pradesh, six in Assam, two in Karnataka – all ruled by the BJP. Two people were killed in West Bengal last month.