2020 Delhi riots: Difference between revisions

The riots had their origin in [[Jaffrabad, Delhi|Jaffrabad]], in North East Delhi, where a [[Shaheen Bagh protests|sit-in by women]] against India's [[Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019]] had been in progress on a stretch of the [[Seelampur metro station|Seelampur]]–[[Jaffrabad, Delhi|Jaffrabad]]–[[Maujpur - Babarpur metro station|Maujpur]] road, [[Traffic obstruction|blocking]] it.<ref name=diplomat-2-27-2020>{{citation|last1=Basu|first1=Soma|title=Delhi: The Anatomy of a Riot|url=https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/delhi-the-anatomy-of-a-riot/|access-date=6 March 2020|work=Diplomat|quote=BJP leader Kapil Mishra issued a 'three-day ultimatum' to police to clear a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by women at the Jaffrabad Metro Station.}}</ref><ref name="uniindia">{{Cite web|url=http://www.uniindia.com/protests-at-jaffarabad-against-caa-security-beefed-up-2-metro-stations-closed/india/news/1896707.html|title=Protests at Jaffarabad against CAA; security beefed up, 2 metro stations closed|work=United News of India|date=23 February 2020|access-date=2 March 2020|quote=Demanding revocation of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, protesters—mostly women—on Sunday took to streets and blocked the road below Jaffrabad metro station.}}</ref> On 23 February 2020, a leader of the ruling [[Hindu nationalism|Hindu nationalist]] [[Bharatiya Janata Party]], [[Kapil Mishra]], called for [[Delhi Police]] to clear the roads, failing which he threatened to "hit the streets".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/video/kapil-mishra-bjp-jaffrabad-protest-delhi-police-3-days-ultimatum-1649286-2020-02-23|title=BJP leader Kapil Mishra's 3-day ultimatum to Delhi Police|website=India Today|date=23 February 2020 |access-date=26 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/bjp-leader-kapil-mishras-3-day-ultimatum-to-delhi-police-to-clear-anti-caa-protest-jaffrabad-2184627|title="We'll Be Peaceful Till Trump Leaves," BJP Leader Kapil Mishra Warns Delhi Police|website=NDTV.com|access-date=26 February 2020}}</ref> After Mishra's ultimatum, violence erupted.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Fresh violence erupts in Indian capital during anti-CAA protests|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/fresh-violence-erupts-indian-capital-anti-caa-protests-200224121139653.html|website=Al Jazeera|first=Bilal|last=Kuchay|date=24 February 2020|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref> Initially, Hindu and Muslim attacks were equally lethal.<ref name=nytimes-2020-3-12-1>{{citation|title='If We Kill You, Nothing Will Happen': How Delhi's Police Turned Against Muslims|first1=Jeffrey |last1=Gettleman|first2=Sameer|last2=Yasir|first3=Suhasini |last3=Raj|first4=Hari|last4=Kumar|others=Photographs by Loke, Atul|date=12 March 2020|access-date=13 March 2020|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/asia/india-police-muslims.html|quote=When the violence started on Feb. 23 – as Hindu men gathered to forcibly eject a peaceful Muslim protest near their neighborhood – much of it became two-sided. By day's end, both Muslims and Hindus had been attacked, and dozens had been shot, apparently with small-bore homemade guns. But by Feb. 25 the direction had changed.}}</ref> Most deaths were attributed to gunfire.<ref name="veconomist-2">{{cite news|title= Donald Trump and Narendra Modi hug as Delhi burns|url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/02/26/donald-trump-and-narendra-modi-hug-as-delhi-burns|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=26 February 2020|quote=Both sides soon resorted to shooting; most of the fatalities, which included two policemen, were caused by gunfire... The police, which in Delhi are controlled by the central government, only deployed in strength on February 26th. On the orders of a court, they also began registering complaints of incitement. Mr Modi's national-security adviser toured affected districts, giving his 'word of honour' that residents could feel safe. The prime minister himself, after three days of silence, belatedly tweeted a plea for calm.}}</ref> By 25 February 2020, the balance had shifted.<ref name=nytimes-2020-3-12-1/> Rioters wearing helmets and carrying sticks, stones, swords or pistols, and the saffron flags of [[Hindu nationalism]] entered Muslim neighbourhoods, as the police stood by.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Landrin|first1=Sophie|title=Inde : New Delhi en proie à de violents conflits intercommunautaires|date=26 February 2020|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/02/26/inde-new-delhi-en-proie-a-de-violents-conflits-intercommunautaires_6030862_3210.html|trans-title=India: New Delhi plagued by violent inter-community conflicts|work=Le Monde|language=fr|quote=Des hordes d’émeutiers casqués, armés de bâtons, de pierres, de sabres ou de pistolets, portant des drapeaux safran – la couleur des nationalistes hindous – ont pris d’assaut cette zone. Des véhicules, des échoppes, ainsi que des maisons appartenant à des musulmans, ont été incendiés sous les yeux d’une police totalement passive. (Hordes of helmeted rioters, armed with sticks, stones, sabers or pistols, carrying saffron flags – the color of Hindu nationalists – stormed this area. Vehicles, stalls, as well as houses belonging to Muslims, were set on fire in front of a totally passive police force.)|access-date=4 March 2020}}</ref><ref name=nytimes-2020-3-12-2>{{citation|title='If We Kill You, Nothing Will Happen': How Delhi's Police Turned Against Muslims|first1=Jeffrey |last1=Gettleman|first2=Sameer|last2=Yasir|first3=Suhasini |last3=Raj|first4=Hari|last4=Kumar|others=Photographs by Loke, Atul|date=12 March 2020|access-date=13 March 2020|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/asia/india-police-muslims.html|quote= Hindu mobs fanned out and targeted Muslim families. Violence crackled in the air. Police officers watched as mobs of Hindus, their foreheads marked by saffron stripes, prowled the streets with baseball bats and rusty bars, looking for Muslims to kill. The sky was filled with smoke. Muslim homes, shops and mosques were burned down.}}</ref> Chants were heard of "''[[Jai Shri Ram]]''" ("Victory to [[Rama|Lord Rama]]"), a religious slogan favoured by prime minister [[Narendra Modi]]'s party.<ref name="wapo-3-2-20-slater-1"/> In the neighbourhood of Shiv Vihar, Hindu rioters attacked Muslim houses and businesses for three days, often firebombing them with [[fuel gas|cooking gas cylinder]]s and gutting them without resistance from the police.<ref name=guardian-3-6-20-3>{{citation|title='I cannot find my father's body': Delhi's fearful Muslims mourn riot dead|last1=Ellis-Peterson|first1=Hannah|last2=Azizur Rahman|first2= Shaikh|location=Delhi|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/how-can-i-go-back-delhi-fearful-muslims-mourn-riot-dead|date=6 March 2020|access-date=7 March 2020|quote= In Shiv Vihar, from where they and many others had escaped, almost every Muslim home lay in blackened ruins, and two mosques looked like bomb sites. For three days, Hindu rioters attacked Shiv Vihar's Muslim localities and ran mayhem without any resistance from police. The mobs repeatedly used gas canisters as weapons, setting them alight and exploding them in Muslim properties so that the walls crumbled entirely.}}</ref> In some instances, Muslims countered perceived threats by returning the violence; on the 25th a Muslim mob approached a Hindu neighbourhood throwing stones and [[Molotov cocktails]] and firing guns.<ref name="wapo-3-2-20-slater-2">{{citation|last1=Slater|first1=Joanna|last2=Masih|first2=Niha|date=2 March 2020|title=What Delhi's worst communal violence in decades means for Modi's India |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/what-days-of-communal-violence-mean-for-modi-and-for-india/2020/03/01/3d649c18-5a68-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html |access-date=15 March 2020|quote=In the riots that swept northeastern Delhi, Muslims mobilized to counter perceived threats and clashed with Hindus. A two-lane road separates Muslim-dominated Mustafabad from Hindu-dominated Bhagirathi Vihar. Hindus say a large mob approached from the Muslim side Tuesday night, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and firing guns. 'It became difficult to save our lives,' said Yogesh Kumar, 24, an accountant. 'When the fire spreads, everything gets torched,' Sanjay Kumar, 40, said bitterly as he looked around at the destroyed storefronts and burned facades along a lane leading from the main road. He blamed Kapil Mishra, the BJP leader who issued the original threat to protesters who mounted a sit-in.}}</ref> During this time, stories were also told of Sikh and Hindu families coming to the aid of besieged Muslims;<ref name="guardian-3-1-20-sikh-hindu">{{citation|title=Inside Delhi: beaten, lynched and burnt alive|last1=Ellis-Peterson|first1=Hannah|location=Delhi|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/india-delhi-after-hindu-mob-riot-religious-hatred-nationalists|date=1 March 2020|access-date=27 March 2020|quote= But for all the tales of discord, dozens of accounts were also given to the ''Observer'' of how Sikh and Hindu families helped save their Muslim neighbours, sheltering them in their homes as the violence broke out or helping them escape as the mobs descended.}}</ref> in some neighbourhoods, the religious communities cooperated in protecting themselves from violence.<ref name="Barton2020"/>

 

 

After the violence had abated in the thickly-settled mixed Hindu-Muslim neighbourhoods of North East Delhi, some Hindu organisations continued to parade alleged Hindu victims of Muslim violence in an attempt to reshape the accounting of events and to further inflame hostility towards Muslims.<ref name=nytimes-2020-3-12-7>{{citation|title='If We Kill You, Nothing Will Happen': How Delhi's Police Turned Against Muslims|first1=Jeffrey |last1=Gettleman|first2=Sameer|last2=Yasir|first3=Suhasini |last3=Raj|first4=Hari|last4=Kumar|others=Photographs by Loke, Atul|date=12 March 2020|access-date=13 March 2020|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/asia/india-police-muslims.html|quote=The religiously mixed and extremely crowded neighborhoods in northeastern Delhi that were on fire in late February have cooled. But some Hindu politicians continue to lead so-called peace marches, trotting out casualties of the violence with their heads wrapped in white medical tape, trying to upend the narrative and make Hindus seem like the victims, which is stoking more anti-Muslim hatred.}}</ref> About 1,000 Muslims sought shelter in a relief camp on the fringes of Delhi.<ref name=nytimes-2020-3-12-5>{{citation|title='If We Kill You, Nothing Will Happen': How Delhi's Police Turned Against Muslims|first1=Jeffrey |last1=Gettleman|first2=Sameer|last2=Yasir|first3=Suhasini |last3=Raj|first4=Hari|last4=Kumar|others=Photographs by Loke, Atul|date=12 March 2020|access-date=13 March 2020|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/asia/india-police-muslims.html|quote= Some Muslims are leaving their neighborhoods, having lost all faith in the police. More than 1,000 have piled into a camp for internally displaced people that is rising on Delhi's outskirts.}}</ref> Gangs of Hindus appeared in several Muslim neighbourhoods in the days preceding the Hindu festival of [[Holi]], celebrated in 2020 on 9 March, to scare Muslims into abandoning their homes.<ref name=nytimes-2020-3-12-4>{{citation|title='If We Kill You, Nothing Will Happen': How Delhi's Police Turned Against Muslims|first1=Jeffrey |last1=Gettleman|first2=Sameer|last2=Yasir|first3=Suhasini |last3=Raj|first4=Hari|last4=Kumar|others=Photographs by Loke, Atul|date=12 March 2020|access-date=13 March 2020|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/asia/india-police-muslims.html|quote= India's population is about 80 percent Hindu, and gangs of Hindus threatened Muslims in several Delhi neighborhoods to leave before the Hindu holiday Holi that was celebrated this week.}}</ref> In the midst of prevailing anti-Muslim attitudes, senior lawyers in Delhi were not accepting cases on behalf of the riot victims.<ref name=telegraph-london-2020-3-13>{{citation|title=Lawyers representing Delhi riot victims 'attacked by police' |first1=Joe|last1=Wallen|date=13 March 2020|newspaper=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/lawyers-representing-delhi-riot-victims-attacked-police/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/lawyers-representing-delhi-riot-victims-attacked-police/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=15 March 2020|quote=Many senior lawyers are refusing to take up cases on behalf of the victims of the riots amidst wider anti-Muslim sentiment, stoked by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Instead, volunteer lawyers – who are typically young and Muslim and from organisations like the Indian Civil Liberties Union – are taking on cases for free.}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Among Hindus and Muslims who continued to live in their neighbourhoods, the violence created potentially long-living divisions.<ref name=reuters-jain-ahmed-2020-3-16/> For at least two weeks after the rioting, they avoided each other during the day and at night blocked their lanes with barriers.<ref name=reuters-jain-ahmed-2020-3-16>{{citation|last1=Jain|first1=Rupam|last2=Ahmed|first2=Aftab|title=In Indian capital, riots deepen a Hindu-Muslim divide|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-protests-divide-ins/in-indian-capital-riots-deepen-a-hindu-muslim-divide-idUSKBN2130DZ|date=16 March 2020|access-date=26 March 2020|quote=But the riots that raged through the district last month appear to have cleaved lasting divisions in the community ...During the day, Hindus and Muslims shun each other in the alleys of the Delhi districts that were hardest hit by the unrest in February. At night, when the threat of violence is greater, they are physically divided by barricades that are removed in the morning.}}</ref>