BJP leaders’ speeches against anti-CAA protesters find mention in Delhi riots report

Two "communal" speeches by Karnataka MLA G Somasekhara Reddy and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya against anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (anti-CAA) protesters find a mention in the report of the Delhi Minorities Commission-appointed fact-finding team on riots in the national capital in February.

The remarks of Reddy and Surya find mention in a section where the fact-finding team elaborates on the sequence of events immediately preceding the riots in which the panel said that several developments – a “combination” of nationwide developments as well as Delhi specific events – "must be reiterated to situate the build-up to a sharply divisive atmosphere" in the capital.

Reddy, who is the brother of mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, and Surya are known for aggressive, high-pitched speeches and had faced trouble earlier too.

In the section ' Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections 2020: Incendiary campaign speeches and the fanning of communal sentiments in Delhi', the report said that the riots were "clearly preceded by a number of speeches by BJP leaders openly maligning anti-CAA protestors and questioning their motives with no basis, making derogatory remarks laden with communal undertones and open threats and to cast the Shaheen Bagh protests, particularly, in a negative light to build an 'anti-Shaheen Bagh' narrative".

It went on to say that Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh among others made "provocative, threatening speeches against the protestors".

The nine-member panel's report, which was released on July 16, said that the riots were "planned and targeted" and not spontaneous while there was a "deliberate inaction over several days" from the part of police, which also "abetted the attacks".

The report referred to Reddy's January 3 speech in Bellary where he "cautioned" Muslims against participating in anti-CAA protests and warned of serious repercussions in "blatantly divisive and dangerous terms".

"It’s just a caution for those who are protesting against the CAA. We are 80% per cent and you (Muslims) are 18%. Imagine what will happen if we take charge…Beware of the majority when you live in this country. This is our country. If you want to live here, you will have to, like the Australian Prime Minister said, follow the country’s traditions…So, I warn you that CAA and NRC are made by Modi and Amit Shah. If you will go against these acts, it won’t be good…If you wish, you can go to Pakistan. We don’t have any issues. Intentionally, we would not send you… If you will act as enemies, we should also react like enemies," it quoted Reddy as saying.

The report also quoted Surya's February 5 speech in Lok Sabha during which he said, "what is happening today in Shaheen Bagh in Delhi is a stark reminder that if the majority of this country is not vigilant, if the patriotic Indians do not stand up to this, the days of Mughal Raj coming back and revisiting Delhi is not very far away. Sir, what is happening in Shaheen Bagh is fanatic Islamism, masquerading in the garb of constitutional secularism. Sir, and therefore, we must exercise vigilance to ensure that this country is on the path to true secularism.”

It also mentioned the campaign speeches of Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, BJP's West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma and former BJP MLA Kapil Mishra, who faced wrath of the Election Commission.

Referring to Mishra's speech on February 23 in which he openly called for forcefully removing the anti-CAA protesters at Jafrabad, the report said violence started immediately after that but the police failed to take the "first and foremost immediate preventive step" needed to avoid violence by arresting him.

It noted that the Delhi High Court had on February 26 asked Delhi Police to take a “conscious decision” to register an FIR in 24 hours against Mishra, Thakur and Verma with Justice Muralidhar questioning the delay and lack of acknowledgement of the speeches themselves as crimes.

Appearing for Delhi Police, the report said, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta repeatedly asserted that FIRs will only be “registered at an appropriate stage”. However, the matter reverted to a different bench for the hearing on February 27 and the court gave the Centre four weeks time to file a counter-affidavit in response, it said adding, “to date, no FIR has been registered against the BJP leaders.”

"While the Election Commission initiated some steps to acknowledge and penalise the harmful content of the speeches pointed to, the initial decisive actions of the Delhi High Court did not materialise into the initiation of prosecution against the BJP leaders for inciting violence through their speeches.

In the preface to the report, Delhi Minorities Commission Chairperson Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan and members Kartar Singh Kochhar and Anastasia Gill said the violence "continued unabated for the next few days and was seemingly planned and directed to teach a lesson to a certain community which dared to protest against a discriminatory law."

"Seemingly, to crush the (anti-CAA) protests, with support of the administration and police, a retaliatory plan of pro-CAA protesters was worked out to trigger violence at a large scale which led to loss of lives and damage to hundreds of properties owned mainly by the Muslim religious minority," fact-finding team Chairman M R Shamshad, a Supreme Court lawyer, said in the 'Foreword' to the report.