DELHI RIOTS 2020

- Kashvi Patel 20bal103

What transpired in Delhi from 23rd -26th February 2020? What
led to those circumstances? These are the questions that
usually come to our minds when we think about the riots that
took place in the capital of our country. On the evening of 23th
February, riots broke out in the parts of Northeast Delhi
between anti-citizenship amendment act protesters and pro
citizenship amendment act protesters. The violence took
communal turn and led to the death of 53 people over the
course of next 10 days. More than 200 were left injured. Shops
and houses were vandalised and burnt down and even the
places of worship were attacked while the political
establishment and the police forces were busy in hoisting the
president of United States and making sure they have good time
in our country, the parts of northeast Delhi was burning and by
the time the Delhi police supplemented by paramilitary reached
the area a lot of damage was already been caused in the riot
affected area.
The Manifestation and the sequence of riots:
The events that manifested such a horrific situation in the
capital region started with the protests against the citizenship
amendment bill that was passed in the parliament which paved
the way for grant of citizenship to Hindu, Sikhs, Parsi, Jains,
Buddhists and Christians who took refuge in India from
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in or before December
2014. The Act was seen by protestors discriminatory to the
Muslim population and threatening to their existence in India
when combined with the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
On 17th February Umar Khalid, a student leader, made a speech
in Amravati in Maharashtra. In this speech, he exhorted the
largely Muslim audience to come out in numbers when the
American president visited India. He also invoked the Ayodhya
verdict and argued that Muslims did not revolt after the
Supreme Court ruling. Inciting and misleading the mob, he
further claimed that the Modi government brought the CAA to
harm Muslims. However, the CAA don’t apply to Indian Citizens.
On 22nd February, about 1000 group of Muslim women began a
sit-in protest near the Jaffrabad metro station in northeast
Delhi, which blocked a stretch of Seelampur-Jaffarbad-Maujpur
road which connects U.P to Delhi, as well as the entry and exit
to the metro station.
On 23rd February, hours before the communal riots broke out in
Northeast Delhi, BJP leader Kapil Mishra gave “ultimatum” to
the police to remove anti- CAA protests blocking roads in the
area and after sometime the pro- CAA protestors and Anti- CAA
protestors clashed and soon that violence took a communal
turn and a lot of people got injured and a lot of places were
vandalised and looted. Within hours of Mishra's speech, clashes
broke out between anti- and pro-CAA demonstrators in Karawal
Nagar, Maujpur Chowk, Babarpur and Chand Bagh. Police lathi-
charged and used tear gas to disperse the crowd. The following
afternoon, violent clashes broke out in several areas of
Northeast Delhi, including in the Gokalpuri and Kardampuri
areas. Clashes were marked by arson, vandalism of property,
stone pelting and burning of places of worship. While trying to
control the protestors, Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal
suffered a bullet injury and lost his life.
In areas like Bhajanpura, thousands of people attacked petrol
pumps, carried petrol bombs, sticks and weapons. Violence was
also reported from Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Kardampuri,
Babarpur, Gokalpuri and Shiv Puri. Section 144, imposed the in
riot-hit areas, had little effect. A man, identified as Shahrukh,
opened fire at the police, before being arrested days later from
UP's Shamli district.
In Shiv Vihar, several shops and houses owned by Hindus were
torched by a Muslim mob. Later, mutilated bodies of workers
were recovered from the site. Around 8:30 PM, a tyre market
(predominantly owned by Muslims) was set on fire by crowd
that screamed "Jai Shri Ram".
 On February 25, a mosque was reported to have been
vandalised in Ashok Nagar. Hindu-Muslim clash continued
throughout the day. The dead body of Ankit Sharma of the
Intelligence Bureau was found in a drain in Jaffrabad. Tahir
Hussain, an AAP councillor whose house was alleged to have
been used by rioters, was booked for the murder and arrested
later. The case is still pending in the court and the charges of
forging and cheating Is also added as Enforcement directorate
founded some evidences regarding money laundering.
Opinion:
I’ll start with the quote by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands
speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.” The
events that unfolded in front of us was clear but the
unfair and biased reportage of media played a crucial role
in building different narratives around this event which is
somewhat of a important stature in the sense that it took
place in the most VIP area and most secured area of our
country. The protests around the country were started
with a concern about Muslim community being excluded
from the purview of the Citizenship Amendment Act but
some people with a clear intent of creating disruption
created confusion in the community’s mind by all the
leaders of protestors and the CAA was portrayed in a
manner that it’ll harm the community and it’s against
them but in reality, it didn’t affect the Indian citizens at
all. Every event described above played its part in
instigating the violence and vandalism in northeast Delhi
where the innocent’s bodies bleed to further the agenda
of select few.