By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, Feb 26, 2020: Several Christian groups on February 26 joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appeal for peace and brotherhood as sectarian violence continue to rage in the national capital on the fourth day.
Catholic Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi, National Council of Churches in India, Evangelical Fellowship of India and the Christian member of the Delhi Minority Commission expressed grave concern over the situation and urged their people and institutions to help the victims of communal violence.
On February 26, reports of arson and unrest emerged from northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura, Maujpur and Karawal Nagar areas, hours after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited violence-affected areas to offer personal guarantees that the government would restore peace.
At least 27 people have died and over 200 wounded after four straight days of clashes over the citizenship law.
Amid the unprecedented violence, over which the Delhi High Court on February 26 reprimanded the Delhi Police, the prime minister made his first public statement, calling for “peace and brotherhood.” Home Minister Amit Shah, under fire for failure to control the violence, has held multiple review meetings.
Modi said he had held “an extensive review of the situation (and) police and other agencies are working to ensure peace and normalcy.” Calling for calm, he tweeted: “Peace and harmony are central to our ethos. I appeal to my sisters and brothers to maintain peace and brotherhood. It is important that calm and normalcy is restored at the earliest.”
The Delhi Police have filed 18 First Information Reports and arrested 106 people in connection with the violence, which they say is now under control.
The Delhi High Court asked the police to file cases against those making hateful and inflammatory speeches. The court’s observation came after speeches made by four leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party were played in open court, prompting Justice S Muralidhar to assert “the court would not allow another 1984 scenario.”
The court has given Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik time until February 27 to review the videos of the speeches and take a “conscious decision.”
Among the deaths reported on February 26 was that of Ankit Sharma, an Intelligence Bureau official whose body was found stuffed in a drain in Jafrabad. Sharma worked as a Security Assistant. He was allegedly attacked by a mob at Chand Bagh Bridge and beaten to death.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India condemned the “reprehensible violence” instigated by vested political interests and forces of hate.
“History has shown us all too often that hatred, especially polarization on communal lines have disastrous consequences,” the fellowship has stated.
While offering its prayers for the families that have lost their loved ones, the Christian Church appealed the people of Delhi to maintain peace, and not to give in to vicious vitriolic fed by rumors and spread through social media. “We must not let hate win,” said statement issued by its general secretary Reverend Vijayesh Lal.
Lal entreated congregations in Delhi affiliated with his Church to open their “hearts and facilities” for the afflicted and help the helpless and distraught. “This would be our act of service unto our Lord, this Lenten season,” he added.
The fellowship urged civil authorities to ensure the rule of law for the security of vulnerable people of Delhi. It also wants political parties to discipline their members not to make inflammatory remarks.
Earlier Archbishop Couto asked Catholic parishes and Church institutions in the archdiocese to offer relief to those affected by the communal riots.
“At this trying moment when communal riots have suddenly gripped Delhi let us come forward with our prayers and every possible effort to bring relief to the affected people in terms of shelter, food and clothing,” the archbishop said in a letter to parish priests and heads of Church institutions such as schools in Delhi.
The ongoing violence was condemned by the Christian member of the Delhi Minority Commission. Christians cannot remain mute witnesses when their Muslim brethren are attacked, asserted Sister Anastasia Gill, a Supreme Court lawyer and a member of the Presentation congregation.
“Innocent lives are lost and the wounded are not allowed to go to hospitals for treatment. Shops in Muslim areas burnt by unruly mobs who are allowed to destroy property and create Violence,” she regretted in a statement issued on February 26.
Sister Gill also visited Guru Teg Bahadur in East Delhi’s Dilshad Garden area to check the condition of the wounded.
Sister Gill told Matters India on February 26 visited Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in East Delhi’s Dilshad Garden area where she met families waiting to bodies of their relatives killed in the riots on February 24. “Some were beaten to death and others burned alive,” she added.
The NCCI general secretary Reverend Asir Ebenezer condemned the “dastardly attack on the vulnerable and the weak.”
“Humanity has been knocked down one more time. Our houses burnt. Our kindred killed. Our peace destroyed, and future betrayed. We have not learnt from our past. In what happened in parts of New Delhi, our national capital, we have been brought down to ashes once again,” bemoans a statement from Ebenezer.