Delhi witnessed hate speeches and firing incidents during and after the elections too. I am quoting some of them here because it is necessary for the people to know the perpetrators behind the large scale violence in the National capital where 42 people have lost their lives while more than 200 have been injured, till now.
The people who gave hate speeches were the leaders of BJP and AIMIM. None of them is behind the bars, except an FIR was lodged against Waris Pathan.
It all started on 15th December 2019, when Delhi police mishandled the Jamia Milia university students strike (against CAA) by entering the campus and brutally beating the students; many are seriously injured while one student has lost his eye permanently.
After a month, the JMCC released a video which clearly showed that the police entered the library and have broken the CCTV cameras. This video has been fact-checked by Alt news.
Calling the anti-CAA protesters traitors, a BJP leader took out a Pro-CAA rally on 20th December 2019 in which his supporters were marching with the slogan “Desh ke Gaddaron ko …”. In spite of this hateful slogan, Delhi Police remained silent and didn’t take any action.
On 5th January 2020, a group of masked men with iron rods illegally entered the JNU Campus and allegedly brutally assaulted the teachers, students and the JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh.
Delhi police are still in investigation mode after two months of the violence. This ignorance of the Delhi Police has given us the wrong impression about its reputation. On 23rd January the same Kapil Mishra Tweeted that “on 8 February (voting day of Delhi elections) it will be India vs Pakistan competition on the roads of Delhi”.
I believe he was intentionally pointing towards Shaheen Bagh where many people are protesting against the CAA. It seems like, according to BJP leaders, anyone who criticises the Government policies is anti-national and should go to Pakistan. This India-Pakistan narrative created a communal divide in Delhi.
On 27th January, Anurag Thakur (State Finance Minister) chanted the same “Desh ke Gaddaron ko….” slogan in an election rally, in Delhi, after which he was banned from rallying.
On the same day, a BJP MP, Pravesh Verma in an interview, warned: “Shaheen Bagh Protesters will rape and kill your sisters”. He also promised people that all mosques in west Delhi will be removed if BJP is voted to power.
A very shameful incident happened on Martyr’s day (30th January) when a gunman opened fire outside Jamia University and said ” yeh lo azaadi “. A student was injured in this firing.
The Police appeared to be mute spectators when he was walking freely with a gun in hand and arrested him only after he fired a shot.
On 1st February, another shooting incident happened near Shaheen Bagh where a man opened fire and said ” Only Hindus will prevail in this country. This country is ours”.
On the next day i.e 2nd February, two people on a bike opened fire at Gate No.5 at Jamia University and fled away.
On 19th February AIMIM leader, Waris Pathan said in a public meeting; “We have to move together. We have to take Azadi (freedom), things that we don’t get by asking, we have to take it by force, remember it…(We maybe) 15 crore, but are heavy on 100 (crore), remember it”.
Finally, on 23 February, Kapil Mishra, who lost the assembly election, gave 3-day ultimatum to Delhi Police to clear the roads, where people were doing 24/7 protests and threatened to disobey police if anti CAA protesters were not evicted.
Surprisingly, a DCP of Delhi Police was standing next to him while he (Kapil Mishra) was addressing the crowd. The next day was dreadful for Delhites. The rioters took over the Northeast Delhi area.
The fire of hate spread too fast. A question should definitely be raised on the action of the Delhi Police. Why did this riot take place? There is no one-line answer.
The above statements fueled the hate which was growing day by day. Delhi witnessed a 3-day assault on its integrity and unity. Not a single political party was on the road, appealing for peace.
AAP party leaders went to Rajghat instead of Maujpuri, which was a highly affected area. During Partition, when Noakhali was burning and there were dead bodies everywhere, Gandhiji himself was on the roads of Noakhali, to calm the tense situation. But unfortunately, our present leaders were busy blaming each other when people were killed.
While all this was happening, USA President, Donald Trump was in India, along with a US Delegation. While our PM was listening to praise from Trump about our culture of unity in diversity, North East Delhi was burning in a Hindu-Muslim Riot.