THE DELHI RIOTS: AN ORCHESTRATED ANTI-INDIA CONSPIRACY

The latter half of 2019 saw four major long pending issues in India’s polity being resolved. Article 370, a temporary provision in the Indian Constitution was finally rendered inoperative, a bill was passed to ban instant triple talaq, the Apex Court gave a verdict on the Ram Janambhoomi issue and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act became a law, after it was passed by both houses of Parliament. The closure to these four issues was truly an unprecedented development, which many had thought was an unachievable chimera. But it agitated a certain section of people who had a vested interest in keeping issues simmering and this lobby now got to work on derailing the government. It started off as a protest against the CAA, but gradually snowballed into a much larger orchestrated campaign to wreak havoc on the Indian State, through finances from external sources, creating a web of lies and deceit on the social media, and through inflammatory speeches.

Responsible political leaders added grist to the mill by making some very provocative and inflammatory statements. Sonia Gandhi called the protests “aar-paar ki ladai,” Rahul Gandhi told the protestors not to be afraid as the Congress Party was standing behind them, Mani Shanker Iyer said that he was ready to make whatever sacrifice was needed. “Now let's see whose hands are stronger”, he said. These statements were incendiary, but many more were made in the days leading up to the visit of President Donal Trump to India. And in response, some local leaders of the ruling dispensation too retorted in like fashion, with Anuraag Thakur, a junior minister in the Union government stating that such traitors will be taught a lesson and another local politician stating that the streets will be cleared after President Trump leaves. And so the upward spiral continued.

Radical Muslim groups spewed venom, with a whole range of such groups joining hands to create mayhem. Pinjra Tod, Jamia Coordination Committee, Alumni Association of Jamia Milia Islamia, Popular Front of India (PFI), etc., and the local politicians from the Delhi State government (AAP), all did their bit to accelerate misinformation and resorted to hate speech campaigns using Anti-CAA as a basis. Hate speeches were blared from mosques, with the hate mongers also moving from door to door, instigating people. And thus the Delhi riots took place.

That the riots in Northeast Delhi were orchestrated and planned is borne out by the fact that the inciters had assembled sticks, stones and incendiary material to carry out their dastardly attacks. The financing was done through the PFI, with Rs 120 crore being deposited to finance the Shaheen Bagh protesters and others. The riots that took place were not due to popular upheaval, but was a deliberate attempt to stoke a communal divide. The whole dastardly affair was well orchestrated and synchronised, pointing to a deeper conspiracy which shook the secular fabric of the nation.

It was a sad day in the nations capital when hundreds of people lost their homes, 53 people were killed among whom were one IB official and two Delhi Police personnel, shops were looted and burnt and women were raped. But it was not a simple communal flare up. It was a planned and executed attack by certain forces, with the underlying motive of breaking India and destroying its composite culture. These forces need to be uncovered and exposed. There was, in all likelihood, a foreign hand also in the events which shook Delhi in late February 2020. This too must be uncovered. If justice is delivered swiftly, and the perpetrators are given an exemplary punishment, then perhaps there would be a higher degree of assurance that such acts would not be repeated. In any case, the guilty, regardless of their political affiliation or their caste and religious identity, must be brought to book, soonest. In that lies India’s hope that such incidents will not occur again.

THE YEAR THAT WAS

In many respects, 2015 can be considered as a watershed year. Just two decades ago, in 1995, India suffered about 4000 fatalities, in incidents related to terrorist violence and insurgencies. That high dropped to 1212 fatalities in 2005, and further dropped to just over 700 fatalities in 2015, of which 379 fatalities pertained to terrorists killed by the security forces. This indeed is a remarkable turnaround by the security forces and the Indian state. From the previous year itself, the fatalities have declined by close to 30 percent, making 2015 by far the most peaceful year in India, in decades. There were 175 civilian fatalities in terrorist violence throughout the country in 2015, of which 88 were in LWE affected areas. This marks a turning point in the war against terror, which must be exploited through political means to bring about lasting peace.

The social media as a counterpoint to the mainstream media has resulted in democratising information at a scale never seen before, which can but augur well for the country. Information today is all pervasive, and thankfully, is no longer the sole preserve of the government or the big corporate, though they continue to exercise great influence on its content and disbursement. Just as the fourth estate acts as a check on the government and its functioning, the social media has levelled the playing field by putting into public domain, what the fourth estate is loathe to do. While the social media too has its pitfalls, over time, balance will set in which is a positive for the India growth and development story. We are living in the age of information, and information today is power. Democratisation of information has put that power, or at least a semblance of it, firmly in the hands of the people. This is a lesson the armed forces must take note of, as future conflict will have information at its core.

The change of government at the Centre in 2014, has heralded a change in decision making, which at last has picked up pace after a decade of inertia. The political authority has shown its intent in pushing through proposals for fast tracking growth, which has been reflected through 2015. That is indeed a cause for cheer. The instruments of governance however, continue to be a cause for concern, as India’s bureaucracy is wedded to its old slothful ways of delaying decisions and avoiding accountability. Reinvigorating the bureaucracy remains a challenge, which still remains rooted to working with twentieth century mindsets to confront the challenges of the twenty-first century.

On the defence preparedness front, the Make in India programme is making headway, albeit slowly. While the progress is slow, it appears that defence reforms are back on track, though resistance by certain self interest groups and the general inertia of the bureaucracy threaten to derail the system, with the old approach of licence-manufacture, continuing to find resonance in the corridors of power.

There is no alternative for India but to design and manufacture our defence needs at home, if we wish to see ourselves free from the clutches of foreign military vendors. Screwdriver technology, as showcased by the Defence Public Sector Units is not indigenisation, regardless of the spin put out on it by those heading such organisations. Indian design, development and manufacture must be the keystone for the defence sector, which by itself can improve the nations GDP by a point or two, besides enhancing the country’s technological base and providing employment to millions. The challenges are many, but a concerted effort by the political authority, in sync with the Armed Forces, the public sector and the private sector, can deliver the requisite end result. That will remain the defining challenge for 2016. Happy New Year and Happy Reading.

Published in SALUTE Dec2015-Jan2016