Jubilee Post News & Views
Abdul Hayee
The number of deaths in the unprecedented violence in Delhi since Sunday has risen to 20. Over 150 people have been injured in the clashes. The violence-hit areas continue to remain tense this morning, with police and paramilitary personnel on the ground. Late last night, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited areas affected by the violence and met with top police officers. Mr Doval visited areas such as Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Maujpur and Gokulpuri Chowk to take stock of the law and order situation. There are enough forces on the ground and no one needs to fear, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval told, after he took stock of the situation in a part of Delhi that saw unrelenting violence over citizenship law protests since Sunday.
Also read: Why Akhilesh termed BJP a casteist party
Delhi BJP issued a statement and said, “Shri Tiwari appealed to all the BJP leaders to do everything possible to establish peace in Delhi. No leader should do such a thing that causes confusion and portrays a wrong message among the people. Everyone should refrain from making inflammatory statements. Intentionally some people are trying to mislead the common people of Delhi.” Tiwari, who attended an all-party meeting convened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier in the day, also said everyone should refrain from making “inflammatory” statements.
New Delhi has been a hotbed of non-violent protests against the controversial new citizenship law and protesters have been camping out continuously in several parts of the capital for the last two months. The latest round of violence broke out just as Trump began his maiden visit to India, addressing a mega rally in Gujarat on Monday.
The violence started a day after the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra warned anti-CAA protesters to end their peaceful sit-ins in the northeastern Jafrabad and Maujpur areas of the Indian capital. On Monday, police used tear gas and smoke grenades but struggled to disperse the stone-throwing crowds. Several vehicles and a fire truck were torched in Jafrabad and Maujpur as police imposed prohibitory orders to prevent further violence.
BJP leaders are trying to give the protests a Hindu-Muslim colour. They incite people in the name of religion which is very unfortunate. They make it into a Hindu-Muslim issue, spread lies and propaganda but that hasn’t worked for them this time. Delhi police said some incidents of “violence and arson” were reported and they “appealed to the people of Delhi and particularly to the North East District to maintain peace and harmony”.
India’s capital has been a hotbed of protests against the law, which eases the path of non-Muslims from three neighbouring Muslim-majority countries to gain Indian citizenship. This has led to accusations that Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP are undermining India’s secular ethos. The BJP denies any bias against India’s more than 180 million-strong Muslim minority, but objectors have been holding protests and camping out in parts of New Delhi for two months.
Also read: How will BJP tackle NItish’s tantrums
