The Northeast Delhi riots resulting in the death of a large number of innocent persons in three days were too painful to be described in words. What was more shocking and surprising was the failure of the authorities to gather intelligence in this regard with a view to preventing the massive loss of lives and property in the national capital. It was also astonishing to find that the Delhi Police totally failed to play its role efficiently and without bias as alleged by many victims.
Tension had already been building up for some time in localities like Jafarabad, Maujpur, Kardampuri, Bhajanpura, Yamuna Vihar, Chand Bagh and Gokulpuri in the trans-Yamuna area on the left side of GT Road, as one goes from Delhi to Ghaziabad, in the wake of the on-going protests at the Jamia Millia Islamia, Shaheen Bagh and many other places in the national capital as also in the rest of the country against the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Tension mixed with official apathy and a faulty policy made the situation worse.
Earlier too, protests were reported from Northeast Delhi, demanding abandonment of the controversial CAA-NPR-NRC in the interest of peace and amity in the country, but there was no clearly noticeable communal polarisation as it was visible this time in the violence-hit areas. Things appeared to have gone out of control when a local BJP leader, Kapil Mishra, addressed a group of pro-CAA protesters, issuing a virtual ultimatum to the police that the authorities “must remove within three days” a group of women allegedly blocking a road running from underneath Jafarabad Metro station before “we take to the streets to accomplish the job ourselves”.
Mishra virtually threatened to take the law into his own hands when he thundered, “They (the anti-CAA protesters) want the situation in Delhi to remain volatile. That is why they are blocking roads and creating a riot-like atmosphere. We have not picked up a single stone till now. We will wait till (US President) Trump is here. But after that we won’t even listen to you (the police) if the (blocked) roads are not cleared. We are appealing to you (the police) to clear the Jafarabad and Chand Bagh areas till Trump leaves. If not, we will have to take to the streets.”
He is the same person who caused a major controversy when he likened the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections to an India-versus-Pakistan contest. His threatening remarks were enough to cause sharp communal polarisation, seen when clashes erupted between pro-and-anti-CAA protesters. People, who had been living together for years, were found to be baying for each others’ blood and targeting each other’s houses and business establishments like shops.
When it was learnt through videos circulated through social media, people were heard saying even in the Jamia area that now it might be “our turn to suffer crippling losses”. Their scare multiplied when videos got circulated showing policemen not acting when pro-CAA goons went on attacking anyone who came their way. In many cases, the attackers asked their likely targets to prove their religion. A few media persons assigned the job of covering these developments also had to prove their identity to save their lives. Yet some of these journalists suffered major injuries as a result of the madness indulged in by protesters.
In any case, violence was preventable, asserted a former DGP of UP, Vikram Singh. In Sigh’s own words, “Reports are disturbing. I think we are seeing something like this in Delhi after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. There were groups protesting against each other. So, why did the police not take action? The police allowed trouble-mongers to come together and gave them time to do what they did.”
Is this policing to maintain law and order if what Singh has claimed is true? The police, obviously, will deny the allegation, but that is not enough. It must function as a professional force to perform its duties honestly and efficiently. It is, however, a different matter that the ruling politicians are shameless in using the police the way they want to, rarely allowing it to function independently and professionally.
Therefore, it was not without reason that the police response to the killings, loot and arson witnessed in parts of Northeast Delhi on February 23, 24 and 25 came under the scanner. Questions are being raised why the police could not keep the anti-and-pro-CAA protesters away from each other. Intelligent handling of the situation could have prevented the loss of lives and property in the affected areas. The police claim that they did their duty professionally and with adequate force at their command or else the situation could have been far worse has no meaning. Those who allege police complicity with the pro-CAA protesters claim that it did very little to prevent the situation from escalating to an uncontrollable level. It must be taken to task.
The police has sullied its image by its own actions as was witnessed at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 16 last year and again on January 5 at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Police personnel attacked students indiscriminately unleashing violence on innocent students at the Jamia campus and its library whereas policemen stood as silent spectators at JNU when masked goons went from room to room in hostels to attack those associated with leftist student organisations. All the rioters clearly identifiable with the help of videos have not been brought to justice, sending encouraging signals to those who have already been thinking that they can do anything and get away with it under the present ruling dispensation. This cannot be described as the rule of law.
If the questionable conduct of the police has been encouraging for those who do not hesitate to take the law into their own hands, the rhetoric indulged in by BJP leaders during the just concluded assembly elections too contributed to vitiating the atmosphere in the national capital. The anti-CAA-NPR-NRC peaceful protest going on at Shaheen Bagh was unfortunately used to cause communal polarisation for winning the elections, not bothering about the consequences of such a dangerous approach.
The truth is that the residents of Northeast Delhi have suffered mainly because of the policy of suppressing dissent expressed through dharnas (sit-ins) and rallies, and encouraging those who sing songs of praise for whatever the ruling dispensation does. Who bothers about the views expressed by two learned judges of the Supreme Court, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Deepak Gupta, that promoting a culture of questioning and dissent is essential for strengthening democracy.
Justice Gupta emphatically opined, “A political party getting 51 per cent mandate in the polls did not mean the other 49 per cent of the country ought to remain silent for the next five years.”
The same way Justice Chandrachud said, “The blanket labelling of dissent as anti-national or anti-democratic strikes at the heart of our commitment to protect constitutional values and the promotion of deliberative democracy.”
Are the authorities listening?
[The writer is a Delhi-based senior journalist and political commentator.]