US President Donald Trump’s 36- hour visit to India was by far one of the most spectacular events laid out for any head of state. It was fast-paced from Ahmedabad to Agra to Delhi, yet everything went as planned from an overwhelming welcome in Gujarat in a packed stadium to photos at the Taj Mahal. His speech and subsequent press conferences confirmed his special chemistry with Prime Minister Modi, where, even when asked questions about religious freedom in India, he said that India had great diversity and 200 million Muslims, and he felt convinced that it would flourish under Modi.
It was quite amazing that his speechwriters had included all the strides that India had made in the last six years in sanitation, electricity, infrastructure development, and other major areas. His words that America loves you and we will always be loyal to you took the strategic partnership to another level. It was, by all measures, a successful trip even though a major trade deal was not signed, India’s special relationship with the US was notched up to another level.
Delhi riots and dark forces
In another area of the capital, however, darker forces were at play that used ordinary people as weapons to polarise society. It is not missed by many that the riots that took place in Northeast Delhi were planned in advance, to coincide with a Presidential visit when our police forces and security apparatus would be stretched to its limits and the world media would be present.
The riot spread like wildfire to many colonies in Northeast Delhi, where it is alleged that one of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s right-hand men had an arson factory in his home. Several TV and media reports have shown how this Councilor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was caught on video with more than three hundred rioters, on the terrace of his home, throwing Molotov cocktails, bricks and acid at the police and buildings in the neighbourhood.
His terrace was found with sacks of bricks, crates of Molotov cocktails, and packs of acid. It would take a stretch of the imagination to think all this was a last resort measure. Today, the AAP Councilor, Tahir Hussain, has a murder charge against him and after being absconding for quite a few days and is now finally under police custody.
It is alleged that rioting mobs dragged a young Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma into the councilor’s home and killed him brutally. He was living in the area. The autopsy report of the slain IB officer reveals that he was stabbed more than 400 times; stab wounds all over the body; stabbing over a period of 2-4 hours. Doctors were in a state of shock since they had not witnessed such a mutilated body ever.
Ask yourselves, could this have been done in the heat of the moment?
The madness continues
Head Constable Ratan Lal died due to massive injuries to his head due to stone-pelting. Amit Sharma, DCP, was pulled out of his vehicles and pelted with stones and bashed and was in critical condition as was Anuj Kumar, another constable. In all, 56 policemen were injured apart from the deaths, yet political parties in the opposition actually questioned the alacrity of the police!
The photograph of an unarmed policeman, Deepak Dahiya, walking up to a gunman Shahrukh Khan, who was pointing a gun at him and saying I will kill you, will go down as a fearless act of courage in the face of extreme danger. When interviewed, he merely said he was doing his job and trying to tell Sharukh to put down his gun. He was alone and Sharukh escaped and was absconding for some time, till finally nabbed by the police. The fact that many have died of bullet injuries proves the dangerous proliferation of unlicensed arms. Sharukh is alleged to belong to a deadly gang.
Nobody in their right mind can even suggest that all of a sudden, several areas of Delhi came under attack without having been instigated and riled up by some dark forces that wanted to show India in a bad light.
The police were clearly overwhelmed and taken by surprise as was almost everybody in India. After seeing the huge crowd of mobs that took to the street and even attacked media personnel, it is difficult to imagine that locals living peacefully, with all communities for years, suddenly took it into their heads to come out in the streets in hordes and pelt tons of stones and Molotov cocktails that were just lying around—in addition, to burning shops and homes and whole marketplaces.
Nobody in their right mind can even suggest that all of a sudden, several areas of Delhi came under attack without having been instigated and riled up by some dark forces that wanted to show India in a bad light. When one sees the sheer amount of bricks and stones lying strewn, mile after mile, and the number of places vandalized and vehicles burnt, it is obvious that it took a lot of planning to collect sacks of bricks, petrol, acid, and bottles to actually weaponize mobs to create injury and destruction on a large scale.
For the sake of the country, I hope our Intelligence Bureaus and police are going to arrest the real culprits and put them away for a long time. The Courts and judiciary have to fast track this as we cannot allow such evil to escape. Our laws too, need to be strengthened to bring perpetrators to justice soon, without endless bails and appeals.
India will be united and I urge every citizen not to allow themselves to become a pawn in what can only be a sinister game to break up India.
