Brutal Delhi violence on peaceful protesters part of Hindutva’s merciless drive for supremacy say Indian Americans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2020
The Indian American Muslim Council (www.iamc.com) an advocacy organization dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, today urged the international community to call out India for its relentless attacks on minorities and marginalized communities. The latest spate of violence in Delhi is a harbinger of things to come under an avowed Hindutva administration that is violating human rights and religious freedom at a pace rarely seen in history.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra’s procession near the epicentre, Jaffrabad was the initiation of the preplanned violence. Mishra had shouted religious slogans and issued an ultimatum to police to clear protest sites within three days.
A mosque in Ashok Nagar was set on fire late on Tuesday afternoon. A mob shouting “Jai Shri Ram” and “Hinduon ka Hindustan” (India belongs to Hindus) paraded around the burning mosque, and a Hanuman flag was placed on the minaret of the masjid. In video footage that has since emerged on Twitter, one of the mob is seen climbing up the minaret with an Indian flag in his hand. He attempts to pull down a section of the minaret but does not apparently succeed.
On Sunday night, video clips surfaced on social media of a group chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, collecting stones and loading on to a truck. In one clip, the group could be seen and heard cheering and sloganeering just as a tractor full of stones and bricks was unloaded. A tyre market was set on fire later on Monday, the Press Trust of India said. Several vehicles and a fire truck were torched in Jaffrabad and Maujpur in the northeastern parts of the capital as police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. Police support for those attacking the protesters has been widely reported as a root cause of the issue including by witnesses from Reuters news agency.
“Delhi and UP police acting as foot soldiers of the RSS is indicative of the extent of Hindutva infiltration in law enforcement, and other institutions of the state,” said Mr. Ahsan Khan, President of Indian American Muslim Council.
The fact that Kapil Mishra and other provocateurs continue to roam free shows that the state can no longer be trusted to guard the life and liberty of its citizens. Seven people, including a cop, were killed and nearly 100 were injured in Monday’s unprecedented violence.
Genocide Watch, an independent body that is widely considered to have expertise in the prediction of genocide in conflict-ridden areas around the world, has issued two separate genocide alerts for the states ofAssam andKashmir. The government appears determined to replicate the situation all over India.
IAMC has urged the protesters to exercise restraint in the face of these brutal attacks and to intensify its peaceful movement against the administration’s repressive policies.
