New Delhi: Hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) inducted Kapil Gurjar, the man who opened fire in Shaheen Bagh during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in February 2020, canceled his party membership following the political storm it kicked up on Wednesday.Ghaziabad BJP president, Sanjeev Sharma, issued a statement to the effect stating that they were not aware of his connection with the Shaheen Bagh issue.Earlier, Gurjar, along with a group of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers, was welcomed into the party by Ghaziabad BJP officials.Gurjar said that he had joined BJP because he believed that the party works for the “Hindutva” cause.On February 1 this year, Gurjar had descended on the site at Shaheen Bagh where thousands of protesters were at the ongoing peaceful protest against CAA and fired two rounds in the air. He was arrested by the police and taken into custody.After shooting, Gurjar told the police that he was infuriated by protests at Shaheen Bagh leading to road blockade and traffic disruptions. He said he was annoyed by the fact that he had to spend hours on the road in traffic at a time when his family was in the process of preparing for his sister’s wedding.When a man asked him why he had shot at the protesters, Gurjar was seen on video replying, “Hamare desh mein aur kiski nahin chalegi, sirf Hinduon ki chalegi (In our country, only Hindus can have their way, not anyone else).”Also watch | ‘Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra Only About Persecution of Muslims; Modi Encourages This’During the investigation, Gurjar had informed police that he and his father had been the members of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since 2019.Photos accessed from his phone shown Gurjar with senior leaders of AAP including Sanjay Singh and Atishi.But, both AAP and Gurjar’s family refuted his claim. The family had instead said that Gurjar’s father had contested Delhi municipal corporation election in 2012 on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket, but he had never been associated with AAP.
