13000 SOS calls made over 4 days of communal violence raging in some parts of Delhi, and no response from 85000 strong Delhi Police force to come to the aid of the victims. The result: 42 lives snuffed out. Over 350 injured. Property worth thousands of crores destroyed. And relationships ruptured, may be, beyond repair.
Reminds one of 1984 when thousands of Sikhs made frantic calls without any response from police. The result, over 10,000 lost their lives. Hundreds of women were raped. Thousands were injured.
Had the police done their duty in 1984, the barbaric and tragic incident could have been avoided, and precious lives saved.
The pattern was repeated in 2002 when in Gujarat, communal violence erupted taking a heavy toll of life and property. Police even there preferred to look the other way while the arsonists and perpetrators of violence continued to loot and kill without a finger being raised by the police.
It has happened again, in Delhi where over three to four days, goons went around, beating and killing, damaging property right under the nose of the police. Reports say, at places, police actively connived with the goons.
So, the 1984 and 2002 pattern were repeated in 2020. Is it a coincidence that the police in Delhi in 1984 and in 2020 conducted itself in a similar fashion as police did in Gujarat in 2002? Are the police all across the country trained that way? Or, is it the dharma of the police to obey, not the law, but those who control political power?
Is it a coincidence that 2002 Gujarat communal violence took place under the duo of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah when they were Chief Minister and Home Minister respectively of the State, and the 2020 Delhi communal violence took place under the same team with one being the Prime Minister and the other being the Home Minister? It is an interesting coincidence.
However, getting back to the conduct of police in Delhi, it is quite strange that the High Court had to pull up police to move forward in cases of hate speech which surely provoked people into violence. Those who make provocative statements and instigate people to communal violence are guilty of creating conditions of civil war and destabilizing the nation, and as such, should be treated as traitors.
India has suffered enough. Indians have suffered enough from 1947 through 1984 and 2002. Already, another wound has been inflicted in the body of the nation in the form of recent Delhi Communal clashes. Every time there is a communal clash it is a stab in the heart of Mother India. Let those who love Mother India desist from any further crimes against their mother.
Let us pledge today: “No more 1947; no more 1984; no more 2002 and no more 2020.”