PRESS RELEASE 21st November 2014
Since just before Baqar-id, began a series of communal incidents in Delhi beginning with Bawana and followed by Trilokpuri, then Madanpur Khadar, Gonda (Seelampur) and Kichripur. Such a series is not at all the routine in Delhi which is a city of mixed population with Hindus and Muslims coexisting since years.
A joint team of Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan (PMS) and Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) had visited Bawana J.J. Colony on 5th October, spoken extensively with the residents, went to the venue of the shapath (oath) ceremony of the Hindu Krantikari Sena, interacted with participants and released its report. (Appendix) Subsequently teams of both organizations went there again on the day of the mahapanchayat, and spent the day with the residents on Muharram. In Trilokpuri a joint team went to the area on 26th October and released its report documenting especially the Hindu communal rally organized from the office of ex BJP MLA Sunil Vaidya on 24th Oct. night in Trilokpuri and the police brutality on Muslim (especially women) residents of Sanjay Camp adjacent to Block 27 Trilokpuri. PMS leaders have gone to the area several times since. This report of 26th Oct. is also appendixed.
In Gonda, Madanpur Khadar and Kichripur, a cow’s head or pig meat was thrown in a public place and an attempt made to galvanize a community around it. In Madanpur Khadar and in Kichripur alert residents prevented any untoward incident and called the police to remove the offending material. In Gonda too the issue was similarly handled. Next day a mobilization was announced by Hindu communal organizations at Durgapur chowk. Though police prevented the collection at the chowk itself but it did not stop the Hindu communal forces from marching rallies with virulent anti-Muslim slogans through the galis. Most of the Muslims had fled their homes and spent the night with their relatives in other parts of Delhi. This was especially so of the Kardampuri area.
These communal incidents are the direct result of the communal conspiracies of the Hindu communal forces including the ruling party BJP against the people of Delhi. In Bawana ‘city’ the youth was organized as the Hindu Krantikari Sena and one of their leaders was a nephew of BJP MLA Pawan Sharma. The mahapanchayat at Bawana demanding that the tazia procession be kept out of its traditional route through Bawana village was addressed by BJP MLA and the Councillor of Congress. In Trilokpuri the rally from Sunil Vaidya’s office in Block 22 raised slogans “If you want to stay in Hindustan you must behave like Hindus”. Even recently, the women of the side of Sanjay Camp facing Block 22 told us that his followers throw empty bottles towards the camp at night and boast that they are free to do as they choose. The AAP also, despite all its claims of being ‘different’, behaves just like the two major ruling class parties. People in Sanjay Camp told our team that the AAP MLA refused to come to their aid. He has been dropped, but the truth is that even the leading lights of AAP did not visit the residents. Neither did the leaders, either local or central, of the Congress.
All these incidents show that rumours are being deliberately spread, small incidents deliberately created and attempts are made to escalate the same to a level where communal polarization sharply takes place. The idea is to communally polarize the city and the target is the impending Delhi Elections.
The role of the police is communal and anti-Muslim. The tazia procession in Bawana was ‘peaceful’. Why not, when police had totally given in to the demands of the Mahapanchayat and squeezed the procession into the JJ colony? It did not take the route of the past few years. The route was curtailed in Trilokpuri too. In Trilokpuri, on 25th Oct. night police beat up residents of Sanjay Camp including many women, broke locked doors and broke open homes in ‘search’ of young men. Our team recorded this fact and several injuries the next day. Several journalists of leading papers have also subsequently visited the Camp and even published names and photos of the injured. Yet all papers carried without comment the police handout of 10th October stating how well they had behaved with the Muslim women and not beaten them at all. This is a lie. The FIR of 25rd October (673 of 14 25/10), with Section 147,148,149,307, 353, 186 IPC and 34 accused, names 25 Muslims. On 26th Oct., we requested ACP Trilokpuri, wrote to DCP Trilokpuri. We wrote to the latter again and a third time after the police handout requesting that those injured in Trilokpuri by bullets should be named, their injuries should be made public and the public must be told whether the bullets have been sent for examination to determine whether they are police bullets. We also requested that we be allowed to meet the injured policemen to understand their version of the events. No one in Trilokpuri was able to tell us where and when firing took place or by whom. The police FIR of 24th October night states firing was by police to control an assembly and that people of both communities were injured. It makes no mention of the rally by Hindu communal forces and there are several other discrepancies in this FIR and other FIRs. The police is systematically creating cases against the Muslims in Trilokpuri to explain away its own role.
The Govt. has to come clean on the facts and place them before the citizens of Delhi. We had requested the Lt. Governor for a meeting. Neither the Police officials nor the LG even bothered to acknowledge our requests. Do they think there is police raj in the city and that the people must simply accept what they do? We condemn the police handout that ex BJP MLA had no role in the violence in Trilokpuri. The police is openly anti-Muslim in this area. The real situation is that Muslim meat shops on the side of Sanjay Camp facing Block 22 are not being allowed to open even now by the police while the shops of Hindu meat sellers are opening.
These fact indicates that Hindutva forces are bent upon inciting communal tension in the capital, and are using tested methods of Gujarat and Muzaffarnagar- like inciting people on false pretext, then mobilizing people and mob on communal lines. If possible go ahead otherwise keep the communal polarization. Administration and police thoroughly communal and thus aid and abating these forces. In Delhi these incidence have instilled sense of grave terror and insecurity in the minorities.
On the other hand we have seen that the people of Delhi have in the main acted sensibly to maintain peace and harmony. It is the people of Delhi who have come together in various areas to stop provocations from flaring up, the Hindus of JJ Colony Bawana and those Hindus who walked with the tazia procession of Trilokpuri are the heroes of Delhi.
Also glaring is the fact that no major parliamentary political party played any significant role in countering the Hindu communal force. It can only be inferred that for them the word secularism is only for garnering Muslim votes. They are not even serious about safeguarding their right to live with dignity.
We demand that violence by police against Muslims in Trilokpuri must stop immediately. People must be protected and allowed to follow their normal livelihood. All the facts of the Trilokpuri violence must be made public and the Lt. Governor cannot run away from this responsibility. Policemen and their officers guilty of beating up Muslim women on 25th October night in Sanjay Camp in Trilokpuri must be punished. Finally, we call on the people of this city and all democratic forces to expose and defeat the communal conspiracies of the Hindu communal forces led by the ruling PARTY.
Poonam Kaushik Shobha Mrigank Rajesh
Gen. Secretary, PMS, Delhi President, PMS, Delhi Delhi Committee, IFTU Delhi IFTU Committee
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