NO ‘MAJOR COMMUNAL RIOT IN 7/8 YEARS’? NOT QUITE, SAYS DATA

Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, on April 28, told a visiting European Union (EU) delegation that there has been “no major incident of communal violence in the past seven/eight years” under the National Democratic Alliance government in India, reported a daily.

“There have been some isolated incidents, and in these, the Narendra Modi government has taken strong and effective action against the perpetrators, without consideration of religion, caste or community,” Naqvi was quoted as saying.

He said this during a discussion with a six-member delegation that included the EU’S Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore on the human rights situation in India.

Naqvi’s response came after the delegation expressed concerns about a letter written by 108 former civil servants on April 26 to Prime Minister Modi on rising violence against minorities in India. The letter mentioned the recent demolition drives conducted by the ruling party to demolish ‘illegal structures’ which mostly belonged to the Muslim community.

Naqvi’s claim is not consistent with facts.

The first example of a ‘major’ communal violence is the riot that broke out between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and ones opposing the law in North East Delhi between February 23, 2020, and February 26, 2020. The violence claimed 52 lives and injured 545, according to a March 18, 2020, Rajya Sabha reply.

The National Crime Records Bureau, which collects and maintains the number of cases of riots registered under Section 147 to 151 of the Indian Penal Code, showed 5,415 communal riots reported between 2014 and 2020.