A day after Islamists pelted stones at Hanuman Jayanti procession in the Jahangarapuri area of Delhi, liberals took to social media to whitewash the perpetrators and contextualise the orgy of violence.
Initially, the cabal of liberal journalists made ‘appeals’ for peace when video footage showed men in skull caps, pelting stones and brandishing swords. This bought them enough time to create a counter-narrative that downplays the nature of the anti-Hindu violence and evokes sympathy for the perpetrators.
“Please maintain peace, Delhi”, former RJ Sayema posted a cryptic tweet on Saturday night.
“Stay calm Delhi. Stay peaceful,” alleged journalist Rohini Singh tweeted, suggesting as if the city had turned violent on its own.
Meanwhile, liberals on social media began peddling conspiracy theories to shift the public discourse from the role of the Islamists in the Delhi violence to the Hindu community, which took out the ‘Shobha Yatra’ on Hanuman Jayanti.
Amit Pandey, who has bylines in Newslaundry, alleged that the Hindus who took out the procession not only pelted stones at the mosque but also tried to hoist a saffron flag atop the Islamic place of prayer. As mark of ‘evidence’, he had posted a video which showed a saffron cloth placed on the mosque’s boundary wall.
Hindustan Times journalist Hemani Bhandari gave a new spin to the Jahangirpuri riots. Citing one Sajid Saifi, she claimed that the clashes began after Hindu worshippers forcibly entered the mosque and tried to hoist saffron flags.
She also alleged the presence of ‘outsiders’ in the ‘Shobha Yatra’ by citing one resident named Wasim Qureshi. “Hindus and Muslims live in peace in this area. All these people were outsiders,” she tweeted quoting Qureshi.
Interestingly, her tweet was widely shared by the liberal cabal, including Sayema and Rohini Singh who had been asking ‘Delhi’ to keep calm until yesterday. They saw to it as as opportunity to tweak the narrative in favour of the perpetrators by portraying them as the victims.
Indian Today Deputy Editor Chaiti Narula claimed that the stone-pelting began exactly at the spot where Hindu devotees were seen brandishing shotguns and pistols.
Leftist propaganda website NDTV went a step ahead and published a ground report of the main accused Ansar. Instead of focusing on his role in the Jahangirpuri riots, the channel attempted to create a sympathy wave for the accused.
NDTV interviewed a Hindu neighbour of Ansar named Kamlesh Gupta who claimed that the accused or his family has no history of violence. “Ansar and family have been living here for 12 years and they have never indulged in any kind of violence. They have always helped us,” the news channel quoted Gupta as saying.
Former Radio Jockey Sayema, who was asking ‘Delhi’ to maintain peace until yesterday, seized the opportunity to cast aspersions on the objectivity of the investigation. While retweeting the NDTV ‘ground report’ on Ansar, Sayema claimed that the ‘clean character’ of her co-religionist makes one question the nature of the police probe.
While Sayema and NDTV have been desperately trying to paint Ansar as an ‘innocent man with a clean track record’, the Jahangirpuri accused is in fact a serial offender with multiple criminal cases pending against him.
While speaking to news agency ANI, Delhi police informed, “He (Ansar) was found to be previously involved in 2 cases of assault & was also arrested repeatedly under preventive sections & booked 5 times under Gambling Act & Arms Act.”
During probe of a case in Jahangirpuri violence, one of conspirators namely Ansar has been arrested. He was found to be previously involved in 2 cases of assault & was also arrested repeatedly under preventive sections & booked 5 times under Gambling Act & Arms Act: Delhi Police
— ANI (@ANI) April 17, 2022
While it is not a new phenomenon for the liberal cabal to paint aggressors as victims, the ‘usual suspects’ adopted a two-fold approach to whitewash the Jahangirpuri riots. First, they made vague appeals for peace without naming the perpetrators, thereby giving them enough time to create alternate theories and present them as the ‘post-truth’.
Later, when the misleading narrative was ready to be unleashed, they insinuated that the Hindu victims were apparently the provocateurs and also cast aspersions on the objectivity of the probe to paint the Islamists as the ‘perpetual victims.’
Jangipuri riots: Hindu face the brunt of Islamists during Hanuman Jayanti
On Saturday (April 16), a Hanuman Jayanti procession was attacked by Islamists in the Jahangarapuri area of Delhi. According to the FIR, the procession was moving peacefully. However, when it approached the Jama Masjid in C Block at 6 PM, a man named Ansar approached the procession with some of his companions and initiated an argument.
The dispute quickly escalated into stone-pelting, resulting in a stampede in the procession. According to the FIR, police attempted to take control of the situation, but a specific segment of the mob disregarded the orders and intensified the sloganeering and set ablaze some vehicles. The crowd kept pelting stones and glass bottles at the procession.
The mob also fired gunshots in which Sub Inspector Medha Lal Meena got injured after a bullet in his hand. Inspector Rajeev Ranjan, the key informant whose information was used to file the complaint, indicated that the entire programme was peaceful until some anti-social members interrupted the procession and began rioting.
A total of 14 accused were arrested in connection to the case:
- Zahid S/O Alfajuddin
- Anshar S/O Allauddin
- Shahjad S/O Ali Akbar
- Muktyar Ali S/O Samabul
- Md Ali Sheikh S/O Hasan
- Amir S/O Fazlurchaman
- Akshar S/O Sheikh Smaul
- Noor Alam S/O Hoshiyar Rehman
- Md Alsam alias Khodu S/O Smaul
- Zakir S/O Sheikh Rafiq
- Akran S/O Md. Shakil
- Imtiyaz S/O Md. Israil
- Md. Ali alias Jasmuddin S/O Israfil
- Ahir S/O Hanif Khan
The FIR has been registered under provisions 147 (Rioting), 148 (Armed rioting), 186 (Obstructing duty of public servant), 353 (Assault on public servant), 307 (Attempt to murder), 427 (damage to property), and 436 (Attack by explosives) of the Indian penal code along with section 27 of the Arms Act 1959.
