Wisps of smoke still rise from torched vehicles and shops. Streets littered with brickbats remain mute spectators to the maelstrom that ravaged these parts of Delhi. Over two dozen people lost their lives, hundreds of others were injured while countless houses, shops and offices were burnt down or damaged in a mayhem that singed northeast Delhi since late evening on February 23. Paramilitary forces바카라Rapid Action Force (RPF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)바카라were deployed amid allegations of inaction and even complicity of Delhi Police personnel in the clashes that hit hard areas such as Maujpur, Jafrabad, Chand Bagh, Karawal Nagar and Gokulpuri, among others.
The violence was a tragic commentary on the state of affairs in the country바카라s capital, where law enforcing agencies failed to ensure the safety and security of thousands of people who spent nights out of fear of being shot or lynched. How and why did the situation worsen to such an extent? Who started it? Why no prompt action was taken to nip it in the bud? Questions are being asked by those who faced masked, armed rioters on a rampage through localities. Political parties, religious communities and apolitical organisations are blaming each other. The precise answers are yet to be found.
Outlook spoke to a wide spectrum of people across religious and social strata to dig out what really happened on February 23 and how it spiralled out of control to tear apart the lives of tens of thousands of people.
Protests Spark Violence?
Pinjra Tod, a women바카라s association of students and alumni of various colleges, have been organising and mobilising women against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in various areas in northeast Delhi since mid-December. They started with small marches and then organised day-long sit-in demonstrations. To continue the protest, they held candle-light marches between December 24 and January 12.
A car set on fire by rioters.
Then they decided to hold round-the-clock sit-in protests at various places. They first chose Khajuri Khas on January 12 for their dharna and then Seelampur from January 15, with hundreds of women replicating the Shaheen Bagh model. In another week, the protests spread to other areas like Kadampuri and Chand Bagh in northeast Delhi. All these areas saw largescale violence. 바카라When they felt that they were agitating for so long, but without much effect, they decided to block the Jafrabad road on February 22 coinciding with the call of Bhim Army바카라s countrywide shutdown,바카라 says a representative of Pinjra Tod, dismissing allegations that the organisation was responsible for the violence. 바카라Everything was peaceful till the time BJP leader Kapil Mishra came on February 23 and made an incendiary speech바카라 by evening right-wing goons gathered at Maujpur Chowk. Had the police acted against these people, the riots wouldn바카라t have erupted,바카라 she adds.
However, Ovais Sultan Khan, a civil society activist present in the area, blames Pinjra Tod for creating a situation that provided an opportunity to Kapil Mishra to deliver a provocative speeech. 바카라The members of Pinjra Tod are outsiders. It is an extreme left organisation that has been active for the past few months in mobilising other women for roadblocks and protests,바카라 Khan says. He adds, 바카라Relations between Hindus and Muslims had deteriorated after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, but improved with the passage of time. Now, due to these left-wing groups, communal tension has flared up once again.바카라
Is Kapil Mishra to Blame?
Residents of Maujpur, said to be the epicentre of the violence, say that till the evening of February 23, everything looked normal though they could sense tension along communal lines. 바카라It was around 3.30 pm that Kapil Mishra reached Maujpur to address a group of people supporting CAA,바카라 says Rahisuddin Ahmed, a local leader from Seelampur, who claimed to have been present at the venue where the BJP leader addressed his supporters. 바카라I heard him and his supporters talking about sending a lot of messages to others to gather at the venue,바카라 Ahmed says, adding that the DCP (northeast) was present when Mishra threatened that if the police couldn바카라t get the area vacated within three days, he would get it done on his own with his own people. Though the DCP left after the address, Mishra stayed put.
바카라I heard him talking to people. Yahi sahi mauka hai. Isse bhuna lo. Ab chook gaye to dubaara mauka nahi milega. (This is the right time. Exploit it. If you miss it, you won바카라t get another opportunity),바카라 Ahmed says, quoting what he claims to be Mishra바카라s conversation. Mishra apparently left around 4:30 pm. According to Ahmed, 바카라I saw them sending messages from their mobile phones. I left after about an hour or so and later came to know that riots have broken out.바카라
Another AAP leader and MLA from Mustafabad, Haji Yunus, too blames Mishra and said that there was no violence before his provocative speech. 바카라Hours after his speech, goons attacked minorities and started torching their houses and religious institutions in Maujpur,바카라 Yunus says.
However, BJP leaders of the area contradict the story and refute Kapil Mishra had any role in the violence. Jagdish Pradhan, a local BJP leader from the violence-hit Mustafabad assembly constituency, exonerates Mishra of all allegations. 바카라Kapil Mishra didn바카라t make any provocative statement. He simply asked the protestors to clear the area and requested not to create another Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. I don바카라t think his statement was a provocation.바카라
Mobs on the rampage.
BJP Blames Minorities
Pradhan and other leaders have another theory, holding the minority community responsible for starting the violence. According to him, the protestors who blocked the Jafrabad road first started behaving violently with commuters. 바카라They stopped a guy, asked him to get out of his car and burnt it. It happened around 1:30 pm, close to the Maujpur metro station. This angered commuters,바카라 Pradhan says.
He also alleged that protestors were allowing only vehicles of Muslims to pass through the blockade. 바카라Hindus were stopped and their vehicles were put on fire. About 20 to 30 cars were burnt initially. The vehicle-owners were also beaten up. That바카라s how it started from Maujpur and spread towards Brijpuri and Chand Bagh,바카라 Pradhan alleges.
Allegations of 바카라outsiders바카라 being brought in to do the dirty job also abound. Locals allege that truckloads of people carrying arms arrived in Maujpur before the violence began. Ali Mehdi, a Congress leader of the area, says that none of the rioters were locals. 바카라There were about 50 to 60 armed goons, some with their faces covered, who arrived late in the evening on February 23 at Shiv Vihar Tiraha and started attacking people and burning their shops,바카라 he says. Another resident, who was unwilling to identify himself, says that he has been living in the area for the past 30 years, but none of the faces looked familiar to him. 바카라They came well-planned to disturb the harmony and first targeted areas like Shiv Vihar and Chand Bagh because these have a mixed population and it is very easy to disturb the fragile environment. At some places, if locals turned violent, it was in self-defence. No resident initiated anything,바카라 he says.
Residents also say that the coordinated manner in which the goons operated, moving from locality to locality, was indication that the attacks were planned beforehand and that the violence was not a spontaneous reaction to Mishra바카라s speech. 바카라Interior areas of Jafarabad were targeted, where there was no mediaperson. I received incessant calls of locals for help. I am thankful to the DCP (East) who sent a team on time,바카라 Mehdi says, adding that about 35 people were shifted to RML Hospital late in the night on February 25.
Police Inaction Led to Flare-up?
The role of Delhi Police has come under the scanner with allegations of inaction flying thick and fast. AAP leaders from almost all affected constituencies바카라Babarpur, Gonda, Karawal Nagar, Gokulpuri, Mustafabad, Shahadra and Rohtas Nagar바카라allege that police initially showed some purpose and promptness, but gradually left the people to their fate.
Police fence off a picket in a riot-hit locality.
Even BJP leaders admit that police reaction was too slow, too late. 바카라Rioters were more than the police. If paramilitary forces were deployed on February 24, it would have made some difference,바카라 says Pradhan. Many locals allege that had police wanted to stop the violence, they would have stopped people on Maujpur Chowk, where the problem started. 바카라It looks like a well-organised programme to target minorities at such a time and place so that blame comes to people who are protesting against CAA, NPR and NRC. The anti-CAA protest has remained peaceful and secular. We treasure constitutional values,바카라 the Pinjra Tod representative says. She says that the 24x7 sit-in protest is still on in Seelampur. However, they have called off similar protests in other places after attacks on women.
Some have a different take altogether. A resident, who requested anonymity, says that though some are trying to make it a Hindu-Muslim issue, many believe that it is an anti-CAA and pro-CAA fight. 바카라Let the government give it a communal colour. We still believe that it was not Hindus who attacked Muslims, but goons who attacked anti-CAA protestors,바카라 he says.
