Zeeshan, Siddharth, Kashyap Slam Delhi Police After Jamia Shooting

In a video, the gunman can be seen walking towards protestors and shouting slogans like, “Ye lo Azadi”.

Zeeshan Ayyub, Anurag Kashyap and others have condemned the recent shooting at Delhi’s Jamia Millia University.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Members of Bollywood, including Anurag Kashyap, Zeeshan Ayyub, Swara Bhasker and Siddharth have expressed outrage after a man armed with a gun chanted pro-CAA slogans at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University and fired a shot, injuring a Jamia student at the protest site on Thursday, 30 January.

They strongly condemned the Delhi Police, who, according to photos and videos of the incident, appear to be passively standing by while the man, who identified himself as Rambhakt Gopal, continues to brandish his gun at protestors.

Director Vinod Kapri deemed the incident a product of the hate speech and violent rhetoric that has emerged from senior BJP leaders amidst the ongoing anti-CAA protests in the country. “Understand the chronology. First the Home Minister (Amit Shah) said that the people of Shaheen Bagh should feel the current of your vote. Then the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs (Anurag Thakur) said to shoot the traitors. Then an MP said that protestors would enter people’s houses and rape them. And now, a terrorist has shot at protestors as the Delhi Police stands by watching but doing nothing,” he tweeted.

“The police uniform should be changed from khakhi to saffron,” tweeted Anurag Kashyap.

Actor Sushant Singh questioned the Delhi Police’s inaction asking whether their “blood boiled only for innocent students,” a reference to the police violence against students of Jamia Milia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, who has been an active participant in anti-CAA protests, said that the incident was far from shocking, and whoever thought otherwise was delusional.

“If the man who opened fire at Jamia is affiliated to any political party, then you can see what a dire situation the country is in. But if he isn’t, then the situation is even more deadly,” he added.

Zeeshan, actor Siddharth and Swara also slammed Republic TV for falsely claiming the gunman to be a protester who turned violent.

The gunman can be seen on video walking with the gun and shouting slogans like, “Ye lo azadi”, “Delhi Police zindabad” and “Hindustan zindabad”. As he walks back, police personnel approach and ultimately apprehend the assailant. A first-year student pursuing mass communication was injured in the attack.