Delhi Riots: ‘We know who attacked us’ – By Sanjay Kapoor
The riot victims of Delhi are finding it difficult to reconcile to the brutal manner in which their homes, schools and shops were torched with the Delhi police mostly watching silently, and that they were forcibly forced out from them. “We know who attacked us,” said a carpenter stoically who lost his shop in the ravaged Shiv Vihar located in Northeast Delhi.
Much of their decisions about their uncertain future would be determined by the attitude of their tormentors from the other community, who, bizarrely, move with great freedom and swagger. “That person in that yellow shirt was firing from the rooftop at us,” nudged a member of the minority community at a tough-looking young man who was browsing the riot-hit street. “He was shooting from the rooftop and our friends were falling all around us. We had to take them to the nearby Al-Hind hospital,” he said. This view demolishes the belief that outsiders initiated the violence.
Visibly, the riots and the organised killings were meant to break the stoic resolve and the peaceful sit-in of these brave Muslim women…. Inspired by the brave women of Shaheen Bagh, who have been non-violently protesting over the discriminatory nature of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) since December 17, 2019, (and against the National Register of Citizens -NRC), the women of Northeast Delhi converged rather suddenly on the night of February 22-23. The speed at which the women organised their sit-in surprised the police.… Much of this violence that unfolded after February 23 had its origin in the sustained and negative campaign unleashed by the BJP.
SEE ALSO
Delhi’s shame is India’s shame – By M.K. Narayanan (Mar 13, 2020, The Hindu)
Harmony humiliated as violence erupts – By J. Felix Raj (Mar 11, 2020, The Telegraph)
Break in India: How Muslims’ Businesses Built Over Years Were Destroyed in a Day – By Anjali Puri (Mar 13, 2020, The Wire)
‘Cow Protection Ideologues Are Destroying Livelihoods’ – Sagari R Ramdas with Prachi Salve (Mar 10, 2020, India Spend)
