Conspiracy Unravelled

 

Thousands of Hindus faced the wrath of anti-Hindu riots, broke out in the national capital Delhi on February 24-25, which claimed 53 lives. It was not a coincidence. This murderous display of hate took place when the world’s most powerful person, US President Donald Trump, was present in India with his family. And, Delhi was embarrassed at such heinous nature of events. After the election in Delhi, various radical groups such as Pinjra Tod, Jamia Coordination Committee, Alumni Association of Jamia Milia Islamia, Popular Front of India (PFI), and the local politicians from AAP, suddenly accelerated misinformation, hate speech campaigns using their anti-CAA stand as a basis. Members of these groups penetrated the community and started campaigning in small groups, brainwashing, programming and whatsapping them to achieve their illegal, nefarious designs.

 

Muslim mobs ran amok in the northeast areas of Delhi. The riots caused huge losses to life and property. Organiser ground reports revealed how some Muslim women poured acid from the terrace and how slingshots were used to hurl petrol bombs. Eyewitnesses also said that the rioters were well-prepared, and well-organised and women and children were also well-armed to attack the Hindus.

 

According to a report of Fact Finding Committee on riots, to augment the hate speech narrative and map it with religious emotion and fear, these radical groups managed to get their narratives delivered from the Mosques in daily meetings through Imams and also through the Azaan broadcast through loudspeakers in these localities multiple times daily. After pre-planning and organising, these radical groups executed the attacks using large quantities of stones, petrol bombs, catapults, country-made guns, acids packets, etc.

 

The report further said that the timing of the attacks, starting from February 23, was meticulously planned in advance as was evident from Umar Khalid’s comments (dated February 17) in which he explicitly mentioned that the riots would take place during the visit of the US President. The radical groups decided the target date of the US President’s visit and accordingly mobilised the resources and mapped the anti-CAA narratives focused on executing attacks and achieving the desired impact.

 

The objective of the attack was to create a permanent atmosphere of hostility between the Hindus and Muslims. Since the entire CAA episode was painted as an anti-Muslim campaign, these radical groups had no choice but to exploit the Muslim community for their ulterior motive of dividing the country on communal lines. The Hindu community was unaware of the attacks while the attackers belonging to the Muslim community meticulously planned. The testimonies of a few of the witnesses/victims reveal that on February 24, Muslim schools were closed, and even the parents of Muslims children withdrew their wards from Hindu schools at around 10:00 a.m. prior to the attacks, the report added.

 

Over the course of the investigation, the role of radical Islamist organisations like PFI and others came to the fore. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had promised on the floor of the Parliament that a thorough investigation into the matter would be carried out and the guilty would be punished.

 

 

 

Now that the Delhi Police have begun an extensive probe into the riots, arrests are being made as the noose has been tightened against the villains of the violence—suspended Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain from whose house acid pouches, stones and slingshots were recovered, the main accused in Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma’s killing; Shahrukh who brandished a pistol in front of Delhi Police head constable Deepak Dahia; Khalid Saifi, the founder of United Against Hate, an organisation which led the anti-CAA protests in the country; JNU’s ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang activist Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, one of the faces behind the Shaheen Bagh protests, Faisal Farooque, owner of Rajdhani Public Senior Secondary School in Shiv Vihar, conspired with ‘fundamental Muslim clerics’, activists and Markaz members; and Safoora Zargar, media coordinator of the Jamia Coordination Committee, hatched a conspiracy to incite the riots in northeast Delhi.

 

On June 2, the Delhi Police Crime Branch filed two charge sheets in connection with the riots. Between the two charge sheets, one has been filed in connection with the Jaffrabad incident that took place on February 25 near the Metro station and names ten people, including two activists of Pinjra Tod Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, for allegedly “hatching a conspiracy to cause riots”. The other charge sheet has been filed against Tahir Hussain and 14 others for allegedly playing a “pivotal role” in “organising the riots”.

 

 

In the FIRs in Jafrabad riots case and Ankit Sharma murder case, the police observed that Tahir who had been involved in the violence in Khajuri Khas area, was in constant contact with Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi who were a part of a larger group of persons involved in inciting riots. The details mentioned in the charge-sheet filed in the Jafrabad riots case and Chand Bagh riots case assert that the anti-Hindu riots that convulsed the national capital were part of a deep-rooted, well-planned conspiracy to throw Delhi into a state of anarchy. The charge sheet also reportedly mentions that Saifi ran the ‘Shaheen Bagh control room’ to incite, organise and facilitate the anti-Hindu riots.

 

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has arrested Khalid Saifi, allegedly one of the key conspirators of the violence that took place in the Chand Bagh area, while Khalid has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Saifi has been named as an accused in the third charge-sheet filed by Delhi Police in connection with the riots. He is also said to have attended the January 8 meeting at Shaheen Bagh, where Muslims were holding an anti-CAA protest for almost a month. He is known to be the person who had facilitated the meeting between Umar Khalid and Tahir Hussain.

 

 

TAHIR HUSSAIN: According to the fresh charge sheet filed in the Karkardooma court, which runs into 1,030 pages, names Tahir Hussain, his brother and 15 others as accused relying upon the testimonies of over 75 witnesses. The charge sheet hints that Hussain had planned the riots well in advance because all the CCTV cameras installed near his house were shut. When the riots broke out in Chand Bagh on February 24 and 25, Tahir was present inside his house in Chand Bagh. He was clearly seen on the rooftop of his Chand Bagh house on February 24 and he was the one instigating people for the riots. Tahir, a sitting councillor in EDMC, Delhi, was the ‘‘mastermind” of the riots that broke out in the Chand Bagh area. The charge sheet states that the probe revealed that he had funded the violence for which he spent Rs 1.30 crore. Recovery of crates containing bottles with some liquid filled in them and their necks stuffed with pieces of cloth, which were as Molotov cocktails, large number of bricks and stone pieces and three catapults from the house of Tahir further point towards the conspiracy and the extent of preparation for causing riots in the area, the chargesheet said further.

 

 

 

FAISAL FAROOQUE: In another chargesheet, the police said that Faisal Farooque, owner of Rajdhani Public Senior Secondary School in Shiv Vihar, was in touch with radical Muslim clerics, Pinjra Tod to plan riots. He conspired with ‘fundamental Muslim clerics’, activists and Markaz members. The police claimed that Farooque had links with prominent members of the Popular Front of India (PFI), Pinjra Tod activist group, Jamia Coordination Committee, Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz and some other “fundamental Muslim clerics”, including those based in Deoband. This is what the police have cited as “evidence” in the case to “show the depth of the conspiracy”. It was on Farooque’s instructions that a mob torched and destroyed the adjacent and rival DRP Convent Public School, Anil Sweets building in the area and two parking lots run by the “other party”.

 

 

 

KHALID SAIFI: According to the police chargesheet, Khalid Saifi is associated with United Against Hate (UAH), “a campaign started in July 2017 in response to the series of lynchings that had taken place around that time.” Nadeem Khan, Banojyotsna and Umar Khalid are also the founders of the campaign. Saifi played a “crucial role” in arranging a meeting between Tahir Hussain and Umar Khalid. Earlier, a police charge sheet indicated that Khalid and Tahir Hussain met at Shaheen Bagh on January 8 before the riots in Chand Bagh and Jaffrabad. It also indicated that Khalid Saifi facilitated the meeting between Umar Khalid and Tahir Hussain and that the plan to organise protests in Delhi during US President Donald Trump’s visit.

 

 

 

SHARJEEL IMAM: In the charge sheet and sedition charges against former JNU student Sharjeel Imam, police have identified the events leading to anti-Hindu riots in north-east Delhi in February 2020. In the beginning, the charge sheet explains the details of violence that took place near Jamia Millia Islamia and around the New Friends Colony in December last year. Defining the role of Sharjeel Imam in the violence, it states that his inflammatory and provocative speeches “promoted enmity” between people that ultimately culminated in riots. Known for being a rabid Islamist, Sharjeel wanted to severe the ‘chicken’s neck’ and separate Assam and North East from India, had been involved in organising protests at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh but came into limelight after a video clip went viral wherein he could be heard making some controversial comments while addressing a gathering at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), following which he was booked under sedition charges. The Delhi police had also reportedly found foreign funding links in his bank accounts.

 

 

 

SAFOORA ZARGAR: According to Delhi Police counsel, Jamia Millia Islamia scholar Safoora Zargar hatched a conspiracy to incite communal riots planned weeks ago and delivered inflammatory speeches on February 23 at Chand Bagh, which led to violence and rioting. She was part of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in various parts of the national capital. In mid-February, she organised protests in various parts of northeast Delhi, including Jaffrabad area, where majority of the participants were women. Road near the Jaffrabad Metro station was also blocked. The Delhi Police has asserted that Delhi riots were the result of a larger conspiracy to disrupt the normal functioning of the city and to overawe the government machinery by resorting to violence and force.

 

Reacting to the Delhi Police filing a charge-sheet against Tahir Hussain, Delhi BJP President Adesh Kumar Gupta told Organiser, “Now the truth has been revealed that the mastermind of these riots is Tahir Hussain, the former councilor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Also, it has come to light that more than Rs 1 Cr was provided by Popular Front of India (PFI) to Tahir and Umar Khalid, which Tahir distributed among the people to carry out the riots.”

 

“Wasn’t anyone aware of such a big conspiracy in the AAP government? Has the Delhi government given its leaders a free hand to burn Delhi? During the riots, Tahir was constantly in touch with senior AAP leaders. Even after the riots, they kept trying hard to save Tahir. Did Tahir have the protection of the AAP for the riots? Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should apologise not only to Delhi but also to the people of the entire country that his own party’s councillor was behind instigating the horrific riots in Delhi,” Gupta added.