Around 1,000 people took part in a rally in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) that was taken out in Daltonganj on Wednesday.

Participants in the rally — organised by Ekta Manch — were seen carrying saffron flags, national flags and placards one of which read Deshdrohiyon ki banegi qabar, Veer Savarkar ki dharti par (Veer Savarkar’s land will serve as the grave for anti-nationals).

On other placards were written azadi, a slogan made famous by Communist Party of India eader Kanhaiya Kumar.

As the rally winded its way through the market areas to reach the Palamau Tiger Project directorate, chants of desh ke gaddaro ko, goli maaro salo ko by a group of 25 youths rented the air.

Quizzed about the provocative slogan, senior BJP leader Durga Johri, who was leading the rally, said: “Yeh bolna thik nahi hai. Yeh galat hai. Aisa nahi bolna tha (This should not have been said. It was wrong). This is the reason that the microphones were given to sensible people in the rally who were raising slogans such as Jai Sri Ram and Vande Matram.”

State BJP secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said the rally was not organised by the party. “This is not a BJP rally. We will organise a rally across the state on January 21 to garner support for the NPR-NRC- CAA combine,” he said.