Shah in LS: Conspiracy behind violence in Delhi

NEW DELHI: In his first detailed comments about the violence that engulfed Delhi last month, Union home minister Amit Shah said the deadly rioting during February 24-25 was a “preplanned conspiracy” and those guilty, regardless of their religious faith, caste or party affiliation, would not be spared.

Shah was replying to a debate on the issue initiated by the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. According to figures provided by him in the House, 52 people were killed, 526 were injured, 371 shops were burnt and 142 homes were destroyed in the riots. The Capital witnessed three days of communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims, triggered by a violent confrontation between groups supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and those opposing it. The clashes started on the evening of February 23 but assumed the form of a full riot by the morning of February 24.

The home minister rejected charges from the Opposition, especially the Congress, of lapses and crucial delay in controlling the riots. He described the particularities of north-east Delhi, which was the epicentre of

the riots, and defended the role of the Delhi Police and praised it for containing the violence in 36 hours, within a limited geography. He also outlined the various measures taken to control the riots, the mechanisms set up for subsequent investigation and its preliminary findings; emphasised how he personally was monitoring the situation on a real-time basis; and said that he had requested the national security adviser (NSA), Ajit Doval, to visit the area to raise the morale of the security personnel. Finally, he accused Opposition leaders of provocative hate speeches that created the conditions for the riot.

“There is prima facie evidence that the riots were a pre-planned conspiracy and the police are unearthing proof of this. The guilty, whoever he may be, will be arrested,” the home minister said. To allay apprehensions of opposition leaders, who alleged that many innocent citizens were being arrested, Shah said that no one would be arrested without “strong evidence”.

Earlier in the debate, the home minister came under sharp attack by the Opposition, led by the Congress, which blamed him and his government for ineptly handling the deadly violence.

Asking the home minister to quit, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “Delhi riots could have been stopped if timely action was taken. The Delhi Police is called a modern police. They have all kinds of sophisticated weapons and measures. The Centre can also call paramilitary forces. Despite these things why did this happen? Where was the home minister?”

Chowdhury said “Nero was playing fiddle while Rome burned”, pointing to the government’s preoccupation with the visit of US President Donald Trump at the time. Chowdhury also alleged that Delhi high court judge S Murlidhar was transferred out as he had passed critical orders on the failure of the Delhi Police.

The Trinamool Congress’s Saugata Roy and NK Premchandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party also demanded Shah’s resignation. Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-eittehadul Muslimeen said the country was witnessing a “tsunami of Hindutva hate”. He called for an impartial probe to punish the rioters.

Giving details of police investigations into the riots, Shah said police have unearthed evidence of a conspiracy, suggesting the violence was not spontaneous.

“The police have evidence of a conspiracy and the probe is on. Nearly 300 people entered the capital from Uttar Pradesh. A separate case of conspiracy will be filed. Money was brought in through hawala. Fake messages were spread through social media. Two people linked to the Islamic State have been arrested,” Shah said.

Shah said 700 first information reports (FIRS) have been lodged against suspects so far; 2,647 people have been either detained or arrested; two special investigative teams have been set up to investigate serious offences; 192 weapons have been recovered; and there have been 650 peace committee meetings since February 25 involving people from all religious communities. He also spoke about the advertisements put out by Delhi Police seeking information about the riots and said there had been massive response. He hinted that the circumstances around former Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma’s killing would come through this process.

The home minister also said that his government had written to the Delhi high court to set up a claims commission headed by a judge for compensating those who lost their property.

The minister said 60 social media accounts spreading fake news were opened on February 22 and were shut down on February 25. “These accounts are being tracked,” he said. The home minister pointed out how other new technological tools were also being used to identify the guilty. “The police are using face-identification software to track the guilty. This software has been seeded with thousands of voter-ids and driving licences. The police are constantly analysing thousands of CCTV footage and other media sent by citizens. The police will track down each one of the culprits,” Shah said.

Shah also turned to the roots of the violence and blamed opposition politicians and anti-caa protestors for inciting the violence by misleading people about the act.

“Ek badi party ki rally hui, ‘Ghar ke bahar niklo’, ‘Yeh aar paar ki ladai hai’ kaha gaya, yeh hate speech nahi lagti aapko? (A big party at its rally said ‘Come out of your houses’, ‘This is a fight to the finish... doesn’t this seem like hate speech to you?)” he said in an apparent reference to the Congress’s Bharat Bachao rally addressed by party chief Sonia Gandhi on December 14 in the Capital. He also pointed to provocative speeches made closer to the Delhi riots, including that by Waris Pathan, from Owaisi’s party, which referred to how 150 million Muslims would weigh heavily on a billion Hindus.

While Shah was speaking, the Congress walked out in protest.

During the debate, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi alleged that the Opposition was politicising the riots. On the killing of IB staffer Ankit Sharma during the riots, she said “400 wounds were found on his body”. “What kind of hatred was this... we should discuss that also,” she said. Lekhi said stones and catapults were seized from the house of an “Aam Aadmi Party councillor” and hate speeches were given by an MLA of the party, without naming anybody. “Every tenth home had catapults, which were used in the riots,” she said.

Biju Janata Dal MP Pinaki Misra said that even though his party supported the CAA when it was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, it is time to “think of including Muslims” in the Act. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Misra said: “Women in their mid-80s are sitting in protest at Shaheen Bagh [in Delhi]. Perhaps this is time to think of including Muslims from countries in this region where they are in minority. This will give them a feeling that the government cares for them.”

Shah has defended his government but “we know that the initial response was adequate”, said Asim (who only uses his first name), an activist of Hum Bharat Ke Log, a group opposed to the CAA. “Why were the rapid action force, who are equipped to deal with large scale violence, not called in? The question is not whether violence was contained in three days but how it could go on for three days,” he said.

Political commentator Alok Tripathi, said it was not unusual for political parties to blame each other after the riots. “The BJP is essentially trying to now say that the riots were incited as much by political parties opposing the CAA. This works to their advantage because it is also aimed at discrediting the movement against CAA,” Tripathi, who has taught at Delhi University, said.