Are the sentences reported in the news item (News page, “Delhi situation under control, says Amit Shah,” Feb. 26) incomplete, or is this really what was said? When parts of Delhi are burning and many people are running away abandoning their homes and all their worldly possessions, some bureaucrats and politicians are saying that everything is under control and there is nothing to fear? The question is: under whose control? Is it under the control of leaders who have been working for many years to create communal discord in the country; or is it under the control of the law enforcement personnel? A flag march took place on Wednesday, more than three days after the violence began. Was the police’s delay in action because of lack of personnel, considering that many were on duty because of the U.S. President’s visit?
Mathew Gainneos,
Thiruvananthapuram
The communal riots in Delhi have shown no signs of abating and the death toll too has been on the rise (Editorial, “A test of governance,” Feb. 26). Hundreds of people have been injured and looters, arsonists and anti-social elements have been having a field day targeting innocents and even the media. The Delhi police whose copybook has been blotted in recent times after they allegedly went on a rampage in Jamia, AMU, etc. have again been found wanting and their complacency in restoring law and order has only served to fuel the unrest even further. With the NCR’s administration led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Lt. Governor Arun Baijal wringing their hands in despair as they have no jurisdiction over the Delhi police which reports to the Union Home Ministry, things have only been going from bad to worse. The riots had been in the offing for quite some time as the kettle had been on the boil all along. The CAA has become a pretext to agitate but what Delhi is witnessing is a full scale communal riot and the localities that have witnessed unrest are those where either the Hindus or the Muslims are in a majority. Paramilitary forces should have been called in much earlier before the situation got out of hand. The seeds of this communal conflict had been sown during the election campaign itself with leaders spewing vitriol and venom and a bitter harvest is now being reaped. The Delhi police might well choose to guard their flanks and lay the blame squarely on their political masters for lack of direction but this can by no means absolve them of guilt as their inaction has been the principal reason for the riots not only spreading to several parts of the capital but also for the violence spiralling totally out of control.
C.V. Aravind,
Bengaluru
