When violence broke out in Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), BJP leader Kapil Mishra was in the eye of the storm. On February 23, Mishra had visited Maujpur in northeast Delhi, where a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had begun. Mishra had issued a virtual 'ultimatum' to the Delhi Police to clear the streets in three days. Violence erupted in the area hours later. He was accused by many opposition parties and anti-CAA protesters as the 'cause' behind the violence in northeast Delhi. Prominent Muslim bodies including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had demanded action against Mishra and the police officers in whose presence he made those remarks.
Despite the demands, rising from various quarters, Mishra had remained defiant. On Wednesday, Mishra tweeted in Hindi: "Those who never considered Burhan Wani and Afzal Guru terrorists are calling Kapil Mishra a terrorist. Those who wanted to free Yakub Memon, Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Islam are demanding that Kapil Mishra be arrested."
This was not the first time Mishra faced scrutiny. In the run up to the Delhi elections, the controversial leader had uploaded a video of him leading a large crowd of people supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Delhi. In the video, people can be heard chanting, “Shoot the traitors,” in an apparent reference to opponents of the CAA. Mishra tweeted, “We too have come out on the streets; let there be no misunderstanding: We know how to win in Parliament, we also know how to win on the street. I have come out on to the streets with thousands of youths of Delhi...”
In 2016, when he was still with the AAP, in the aftermath of the Pathankot terror attack, when a joint investigation team from Pakistan visited the Pathankot site, then Delhi minister Mishra had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi an "ISI agent". "Do we have a ISI agent as PM now? Its very serious the way PM is surrendering to anti-India forces?" Mishra had then tweeted.
Months after that, Mishra wondered if there is a "secret deal" between Narendra Modi and his then Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, due to which the nation was suffering. In a blog written after the Uri terrorist attack, which has left 17 soldiers dead, Mishra said its clear now nothing is working out between India and Pakistan and no back channel diplomacy is of any use. "Time has come, India should know, is there a secret deal between Modi and Nawaz Sharif? Time has come to make public what has been discussed and decided between the two during various secret and not-so-secret meetings," he said. He said Indians have right to know the "secret of cosy, brotherly and loving friendship between Modi and Sharif".
Mishra, a minister in Kejriwal's government, drifted apart from the chief minister after he was removed from his post in May 2017. Mishra had been the MLA for Karawal Nagar and was water resources minister in the AAP government. Mishra was removed after he criticised Kejriwal and levelled corruption charges against him. In a moment that had gone viral, Mishra—who was on a hunger fast—had even fainted at a press conference when he charged Kejriwal with financial "irregularities".
During the most recent Delhi Assembly election campaign, Mishra was banned from campaigning for 48 hours after he tweeted the contest was akin to a India versus Pakistan match.
-Inputs from PTI
