A firefighter walks past damaged shops at a tyre market after they were set on fire by a mob in a riot affected area after clashes erupted between people demonstrating for and against a new citizenship law in New Delhi, India, on 26 February 2020. Reuters/Adnan Abidi
By Devjyot Ghoshal and Manoj Kumar
NEW DELHI, India, 26 February 2020
Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm on Wednesday after days of clashes between Hindus and minority Muslims over a controversial citizenship law in some of the worst sectarian violence in the capital in decades.
Twenty people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in the violence, a doctor said, with many suffering gunshot wounds amid looting and arson attacks that coincided with a visit to India by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Police and paramilitary forces patrolled the streets in far greater numbers on Wednesday. Parts of the riot-hit areas were deserted.
“Peace and harmony are central to our ethos. I appeal to my sisters and brothers of Delhi to maintain peace and brotherhood at all times,” Modi said in a tweet.
Modi’s appeal came after a storm of criticism from opposition parties of the government’s failure to control the violence, despite the use of tear gas, pellets and smoke grenades.
Sonia Gandhi, president of the opposition Congress party, called for the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah, who is directly responsible for law and order in the capital.
The violence erupted between thousands demonstrating for and against the new citizenship law introduced by Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.
The Citizenship Amendment Act makes it easier for non-Muslims from some neighbouring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship.
Critics say the law is biased against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has denied it has any bias against India’s more than 180 million Muslims.
Reuters witnesses saw mobs wielding sticks and pipes walking down streets in parts of northeast Delhi on Tuesday, amid arson attacks and looting. Thick clouds of black smoke billowed from a tyre market that was set ablaze.
Many of the wounded had suffered gunshot injuries, hospital officials said. At least two mosques in northeast Delhi were set on fire.
On Wednesday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said in a tweet that it was alarmed by the violence and it urged the Indian government “to rein in mobs and protect religious minorities and others who have been targeted”.
You reap what you sow so goes the saying and it is proving deadly true. The communal Party led by Modi and Shah sowed discord, division and hatred against those they perceive as undesirables. The undesirables are also human beings who are born and bred in India for centuries. India belongs to Indian Muslims as much as it belongs to the Hindus. When the majoritarian Government deliberately discriminates the Muslims for no apparent reason than for being who they are, there will be consequences. Where ever there is injustice there will be resistance. This is not about liking Muslims and hating Hindus or vice versa. It’s about justice and fairness. All citizens of a country expect their leaders to treat them equally without favouring any specific group. The BJP has a history of anti-Muslim bias. It’s now tearing the country apart by its policies which runs counter to the constitution and the interest of the nation. This divide between the two communities will finally spread across India and the hatred against each other will finally become irreconcilable that will result in another dismemberment of India. We saw this in the erstwhile Yugoslavia when the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic stripped Kosovo of its autonomy (like Kashmir) by using mass rallies to force the local leadership to resign in favour of his own candidates. He brutally deployed the use of Serbian ultra-nationalism to fan the flames of conflict to gain legitimacy just like Modi & Shah are doing to gain legitimacy by using Hindu nationalist RSS as a centrifugal force to ram home its Hinduva agenda. The result was after much bloodshed and millions displaced, Yugoslavia ceased to exist by 1992. In 2008, Kosovo declared independence and was recognised by the United States and EU. India may head the same way.