Months of religious tension surrounding the highly controversial citizenship law ignited on Sunday, Feb 23, spiraling into clashes of mob violence that have devastated parts of Delhi and its Muslim population. The death toll stalled at 47 people on Monday, March 2, with hundreds injured. Local reports suggest the majority are Muslims.
The conflict had been simmering since the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed in December. The law, which has been criticized as antithetical to India’s secular constitution, officialized a new basis for Indian citizenship under the guise of protecting neighboring refugees: religion. Specifically, those religions whose ‘holy places’ lie in India such as Hinduism, Sikhism and more, a requirement that pointedly excludes Islam among others. While protests have been steadily rising in violence, none have been so brutal as the riots in Delhi last week.
While it would not be unfair to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the social instability following the blatant Hindu-nationalist agenda behind the CAA, the Delhi riots were sparked by other hands. Kapil Mishra, a local politician under the Prime Minister’s Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), appeared unexpected at a rally (populated mostly by women) protesting the CAA on Sunday. Mr. Mishra, who had recently lost an election, delivered an anger-fueled speech demanding that the police clear away the protesters or he and his followers would do it themselves.
Taking a cue from the politician’s open hostility, gangs of Hindus formed up and converged on the protesters. Within hours, Delhi was wracked by the worst Hindu-Muslim violence in years. The Hindus did not come out unscathed, having taken sizable property damage and physical trauma, yet the Muslim side was struck a much harder blow. The Muslim areas of the city were victim to severe arson, where entire markets were burned down.
Homes provided no sanctuary either for Muslim women or children. Where neither the nation’s leaders nor the men and women charged with the duty to protect the public could be trusted to intervene, and fear ran amok in the streets, some Hindus stood up to help.
It was not nearly enough to help stitch together the lives that have been ruined. Homes have been burnt down and all manner of crucial documents lost. Some escaped the mobs barefoot, finding themselves over the course of the week bereft of anything but the clothes on their backs, which might be catastrophic under the new citizenship laws.
The police, who on Wednesday, after days of intense riots, had been armed with assault rifles and reinforced by paramilitary troops, have been accused of paying a blind eye to the violence and in some cases, of joining in. It was only on Friday that any action was taken in earnest. Dozens of arrests were made in the search to pin the blame amidst the current roiling sea of social tension.
Prime Minister Modi’s efforts at enforcing a Hindu-dominated India have proved continually damaging, especially when considering the nearly 200 million Muslims who are at risk of being marginalized. Matters were not helped by the presence of President Donald Trump, who had touched down on Indian soil mere hours before the first conflicts broke out, or his stony silence.
