Delhi Initiatives For Peace and Justice

IN the past week, inflammatory statements by BJP leaders like Kapil Mishra stoked communal violence targeting Muslim minorities in Delhi. There has been widespread arson, looting and killing in North East Delhi, especially in the constituencies that the BJP won in the recently held Assembly elections. At least 35 people are said to have lost their lives. While some of the victims are Hindu, including a police constable and an intelligence officer, the majority are Muslim. The casualties include children and an 85-year-old woman who was burnt to death inside her own home.

The role of the Delhi Police was to protect, patronise, and even join the communal mobs. The Delhi Police did not lift a finger to arrest the BJP leaders openly threatening violence. Instead, the police have destroyed CCTV cameras to protect the rioters’ identities, used Islamophobic abuse, publicly humiliated and beaten Muslims, arrested Muslims on false pretexts, and broken into Muslim homes to allow anti-Muslim mobs to plunder them.

In this backdrop, CPIML activists have joined other Left and civil society activists in trying to offer rescue and relief for the victims, press for arrest of the hatemongers and rioters, resignation of the Home Minister Amit Shah, and also make efforts to prevent the spread of violence to the rest of Delhi.

On 25th February, 2020 CPIML Politburo member and AIPWA Secretary Kavita Krishnan joined a delegation of concerned citizens and women's rights activists met the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Dy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia. The delegation strongly urged more visible and proactive measures by the Delhi Government to prevent violence, restore law and order, safety and peace, and build confidence among vulnerable citizens.

Among the suggestions discussed were:

• CM and MLAs visiting affected areas to send out a strong message of moral leadership against communalism and targeting of vulnerable Muslims.
• Release of video messages and appeals for Hindu-Muslim unity to be released by the CM & MLAs in every neighbourhood urging citizens to proactively ensure peace and protect vulnerable minorities, from every community, in every neighbourhood.
• Nodal peace-keeping centres and safe houses (drawing on existing Delhi Govt infrastructure)
• Helpline/s to respond to SOS calls [which should be directed to the police by the Delhi government]

The delegation also provided updates of some of the more alarming ground reports, especially seeking an urgent need for intervention to allow ambulances and surgeons to access bullet victims in Al Hind hospital in Mustafabad.

The delegation expressed the hope that the AAP government would play a more proactive role in pushing the law and order machinery to act impartially, urgently prevent escalation, and help restore peace to Delhi.

The delegation consisted of Farah Naqvi, Vrinda Grover, Kavita Krishnan, Bhasha Singh, Ayesha Kidwai, Sarojini Nadimpally, Navsharan Singh, Tani Bhargava, Pratiksha Baxi, Indira Unninayar, Ratna Appnender, Maya John, and Poonam Kaushik.

On 26 February, Delhi’s citizens held a sit-in for peace and justice at Jantar Mantar. The sit-in was conducted by Kavita Krishnan (AIPWA), AR Sindhu (CITU) and Annie Raja (NFIW).

Navsharan from Karwan-e-Mohabbat spoke about the night-long efforts by civil society activists to ensure medical teams, lawyers, documentation teams, as well as relief and rescue efforts for the victims of the violence. Vrinda Grover said that the Delhi Police in 1984 and now in 2020 was not incompetent – they had orders from above to facilitate the mobs targeting Muslims. Sasikant Senthil who resigned from the IAS in protest at the government’s communal policies, came from Bangalore to Delhi to help with the relief efforts and addressed the gathering.

CPIM GS Sitaram Yechury and CPI GS D Raja held the Central Government responsible for failing to arrest BJP hatemongers and to control the violence. CPIML GS Dipankar Bhattacharya said the violence was an attempt by the BJP to undo the Delhi election mandate, and said that the CPIML and its student and youth organisations and trade unions would work their hardest to prevent the spread of violence and counter the deep deep communal rot in society. CPIM’s Brinda Karat spoke about her visit to injured victims in the hospitals. Syeda Hameed, and Gauhar Raza recited poetry, while Sangwari performed songs calling for peace, harmony, and justice.

The gathering demanded arrest of Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and all other hatemongers, resignation of Amit Shah and Delhi Police chief, and an immediate stop to all the violence, rehabilitation and compensation of victims of the violence. It also resolved to work for peace and communal harmony all over Delhi, in our respective neighbourhoods, workplaces, to ensure that minority Muslims feel protected, and Delhi does not repeat 1984 (Delhi) or 2002 (Gujarat).