Delhi riots 2020: Let’s all try to give peace a chance!

Bengaluru: Our capital is burning for the last few days. Yet, social media users and media did not learn a bit from it. The constant mudslinging and fear mongering are on. Words such as pogrom are being used like coins without even thinking what its implications might be. Instead of trying to calm things down, people are inciting others leading to more violence. This is our collective failure; this is our failure as a society!

People have been attacking the Delhi Police for not controlling the riots, but people are failing to realise that they are doing all that they can to stop the violence. They have used all means they could, from flag marches to tear gas to control the mob without once resorting to violent measures! Even the deputy commissioner of police, Amit Sharma, was attacked by the mobs and is hospitalised. He is fighting for his life. But even after he was injured, he did his duty to control the mob. And that is the dedication of Delhi Police. Head constable Ratan Lal was also lynched to death! If this is their dedication to serve the people, it honestly calls for responsible behaviour on our part to term them mere bystanders. Social media and conventional media are responsible fanning the insecurities of people which are making the rioters throw acid on the Delhi Police!

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We have seen even journalists being attacked! Akash Napa of JK 24*7 was shot at while he was covering the violence at Maujpur. This scared the fraternity so much that they had stopped coverage for a while after that.

We should not be taking sides in such a grave situation as to who triggered the violence. Both the Hindus and Muslims have been killed mercilessly. We have been losing our policemen and IB officials in this violence. This isn’t a war where there is a winner and a loser. This is but a sad situation where humanity is lost, and we all are losers! A mere look at the list of deaths will tell us that both Hindus and Muslims have lost their lives in equal numbers, their homes burnt, their shops ransacked, and both their children have lost their all. So, it is not the time to point fingers at each other. We should instead get together and stop this violence. Here is a list of people who died in this violence:

·         Vir Bhan, 50 years

·         Md Mubarak Hussain, 28 years

·         Pravesh, 48 years

·         Loni

·         Shan Mohammed, 35 years

·         Md Furqan, 30 years

·         Rahul Solanki, 26 years

·         Mudassar, 30 years

·         Asfak Hussain, 22 years

·         Shahid, 25 years

·         Zakir, 24 years

·         Mehtab, 22 years

·         Rahul Thakur, 23 years

·         Deepak, 34 years

·         Ratan Lal, 42

·         Ram Ser, 48 years

·         Ankit Sharma, 26 years

·         Mehtab, 22 years

·         Unknown, 25 years

·         Unknown male, 22 years

·         Unknown, 40 years

·         Beerban, 40 years

·         Dilbar

·         Ishak Khan, 24 years

·         Unknown male, 30 years

·         Unknown female, 70 years

·         Mohammad Tahir, 28 years

·         Atul Gupta, 45 years

·         Mahrum Ali, 25 years

·         Aman, 19 years

No, we cannot categorise them based on their religion. This is our loss as a society with so many innocent people, who have been lost to irrational violence.

But it is said that only in tough times do we get to see the true colours of people. The same came true for India as well. Amidst this grim situation, we saw the communities protecting each other. Hindus guarded the homes of the Muslim residents in Ramesh Nagar and  the Muslims defended the Hindu homes in Laxmi Nagar. We have seen human chains being formed so that no kids get affected in these riots! In Lalita Park, Hindus and Sikhs went to the homes of their Muslim neighbours and assured them of their safety. We have seen a local BJP councillor from Laxmi Nagar rushing to save his Muslim neighbours' houses from getting torched. That is the true spirit of India, where we stand by each other like a rock in such testing times.

To instil confidence among the people, Delhi Police have started the initiative of Peace Committee Meetings across Delhi to help normalise the situation. Till now, over 330 such meetings have been held. These meetings also had Civil Society Groups, besides representatives of various political parties. Meetings were also held with Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) and Market Welfare Associations (MWA). We can all just pray and hope that peace restores soon! Let us all play our parts in spreading positivity and exercise a little restraint before posting on social media, and I am sure every citizen of India just wants peace. Let us all work together to achieve that!

 

About Abhinav Khare

Abhinav Khare is the CEO of Asianet News Network and also the host of a daily show named Deep Dive with AK. He has a lifetime collection of books and gadgets and has already pinged more than hundred cities around the globe. 

He is a tech entrepreneur, who is passionate about policy, technology, economy and philosophy from ancient India. He earned an MS Engineering from the ETH Zurich and an MBA Finance from the London Business School.

 

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