The Delhi riots are a blot on India’s democracy. RK Mattoo, editor of Spade a Spade draws a parallel between these riots and the way the Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out of their homeland thirty years ago.
Bengaluru: Quick decisions on several key issues which were kept under wraps by the previous UPA-and-Congress-led governments at Centre, by the present Narendra Modi led-NDA government, have come as a big surprise and shock to several opposition political parties including the non-existing Communists who see their political future bleak.
The flourishing business of various lobbies of so-called middlemen, intellectuals, NGOs, journalists, anti-nationals, urban naxals and so on has come to a naught. Their shops are getting shut, resulting in frustration and restlessness. And, without any valid issue, they have now ganged up against the democratically elected Modi-led government. These shameless power mongers and lobbies don't mind going to any extent, even at the cost of this great nation, to dislodge this government, discredit it in international circles and re-establish the rule of the most corrupt and selfish set of people.
Otherwise, the ongoing anti-CAA protest by a section of people backed by these marginalized political parties should not have been happening. And pre-planned ugly and communal violence in the sensitive eastern part of Delhi which left over 50 people dead and hundreds injured including policemen.
The biggest blunder the Delhi Government and the Centre did is that they should not have allowed the Shaheen Bagh protest to prolong.
Instead, section 144 should have been imposed to disperse the illegal gatherings which caused huge hardship to the people and commuters.
While holding peaceful protest or demonstrate anger is the fundamental right of a citizen, carrying out illegal businesses like inciting public and delivering hate speeches and holding antinational posters is equally punishable under the same law.
Ever since the CAA was passed by both the houses of parliament and made into an act, selective outcry was seen and those opposing it
did not have any substantive argument except apprehensions about the things to follow. Any number of assurances by the Government fell
on deaf ears.
Not cutting much ice, a sinister design by some anti-Modi lobbies held the government to ransom when the visit of US President Donald Trump was announced. The conspiracy stated.
While the state laid out the red carpet for Donald Trump there were darker forces at play.
Donald Trump's 36 -hour visit to India was by far one of the most spectacular events laid out for any head of state. It was fast paced from Ahmedabad to Agra to Delhi. Yet everything went as planned from an overwhelming welcome in Gujarat in a packed stadium to photos at the Taj Mahal. His speech and subsequent press conferences confirmed his special chemistry with Prime Minster Modi, where even when asked questions about religious freedom in India, he said that India had great diversity and 200 million Muslims and he felt convinced that it would flourish under Modi.
It was a by all measures a successful trip.
In another area of the capital, however darker forces were at play that used ordinary people as weapons to polarize a society. It is not missed by many that the riots that took place in Northeast Delhi were planned in advance to coincide with a Presidential visit when our police forces and security would be stretched to its limits and the world media would be present.
A riot that spread like wildfire, where it is now almost established that one of chief minister Kejriwal's righthand man had an arson factory in his home. Several TV and media reports have shown how this councillor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was caught on video with more than three hundred rioters, on the terrace of his home throwing Molotov cocktails, bricks and acid at the police and buildings in the neighbourhood. His terrace was found with sacks of bricks, crates of Molotov cocktails and packs of acid. It would take a stretch of imagination to think all this was a last resort measure. Today, the AAP councillor, Tahir Hussain, has a murder charge against him and is absconding.
A young Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma who was living in the area was dragged into the councillor’s home and killed brutally. Ask yourselves, could this have been done in the heat of the moment?
Head Constable Ratan Lal died due to massive injuries to his head due to stone-pelting.
Amit Sharma, DCP was pulled out of his vehicles and pelted with stones and bashed and was in critical condition as was Anuj Kumar, another constable. In all 56 policemen were injured apart from the deaths, yet political parties in the opposition actually questioned the alacrity of the police!
The photograph of unarmed, policeman Deepak Dahiya, walking up to a gunman Shahrukh who was pointing a gun at him and saying “I will kill you,” will go down as a fearless act of courage in the face of extreme danger. Shahrukh escaped and is still absconding. (at the time of writing this article).
The fact that many have died of bullet injuries proves the dangerous proliferation of unlicensed arms. Shahrukh is alleged to belong to a deadly gang.
Nobody in their right mind can even suggest that all of a sudden, several areas of Delhi came under attack without having been instigated and riled up by some dark forces that wanted to show India in a bad light. When one sees the sheer amount of bricks and stones lying strewn mile after mile and the number of places vandalized and vehicles burnt, it is obvious that it took a lot of planning to collect sacks of bricks, petrol, acid and bottles to actually weaponize mobs to create injury and destruction on a large scale.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that being a Kashmiri Pandit who was hounded out of my homeland Kashmir Valley three decades ago by Muslim mobs after brutally killing 800-odd Kashmiri Pandit men, women and children and vandalizing and looting their properties at gun point, I can see a parallel in 2020 Delhi
riots.
The governments at the centre and states have to see through the larger designs of such happenings and deal with these elements with a heavy fist. Otherwise, many unjustified demands like a separate country for minorities, mainly Muslims besides frequent riots and arson will be the order of the day.
The courts and judiciary have to fast track this as we cannot allow such evil to escape.
Our laws too need to be strengthened to bring perpetrators to justice soon, without endless bails and appeals.
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