'Shouldn't have': Amit Shah on 'goli maro', 'India-Pak' remarks by BJP leaders in Delhi campaign

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said statements like 'goli maro' and 'India-Pakistan match' should not have been made by BJP leaders as they campaigned for the Delhi Assembly elections. 

The former BJP president said such remarks may have cost the BJP dearly in the assembly polls. 

The BJP lost badly in the recently-concluded polls and was confined to eight seats while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured 62 seats in the 70-member assembly. 

"Such statements should not have been made. Our party has distanced itself from such remarks," he told a TV channel. 

BJP leader and Union minister Anurag Thakur had last month led chants of slogans that called for "shooting down of traitors" as he attacked those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). 

Addressing a public meeting in support of BJP's Rithala candidate - Manish Chaudhary - Singh linked opposition parties with anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh and then asked the crowd to raise the controversial slogan that has become synonymous with pro-CAA protesters.

As the minister shouted "desh ke gaddaron ko", the crowd responded with chants of "goli maro sa*** ko." 

Another BJP leader, its Model Town candidate Kapil Mishra had dubbed the Delhi election a contest between India and Pakistan.

During a programme by a TV channel, Shah was asked a question about a few BJP leaders making such remarks during the Delhi elections campaigning.

He admitted that the BJP may have suffered in the polls because of the statements made by some of its leaders.

"It is possible that our performance may have suffered because of this," he said.

He, however, asserted that the BJP does not fight elections just for victory or defeat but believes in expanding its ideology through polls.

Shah said his assessment on Delhi elections went wrong but asserted that the result of the polls was not a mandate on the CAA or the NRC.