As a shop was set ablaze in Delhi’s Maujpur area on Monday afternoon, a middle-aged man with a saffron tikka on his forehead repeatedly ask...
As a shop was set ablaze in Delhi’s Maujpur area on Monday afternoon, a middle-aged man with a saffron tikka on his forehead repeatedly asked reporters to stop filming the arson. “Bade dinon ke baad Hindu jaaga hai,” he said. “Hindus have woken up after long.” He did not wish to identify himself, other than as a supporter of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Since December, India has seen nationwide protests against the amended law, which introduces a religious test for citizenship. Many fear it could be used with the proposed National Register of Citizens to harass Indian Muslims. To counter the protests, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has organised rallies in support of the CAA.
On February 23, on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s arrival in India, Kapil Mishra, a leader of the BJP who contested and lost the recent assembly elections in Delhi, organised a rally in Jaffrabad in the northeastern part of the city. The group ended up clashing with anti-CAA protestors.
To understand what had sparked the clashes, I travelled to the area on Monday, February 24 – only to find myself caught in a more deadly spiral of violence. At the end of the day, five people were dead, including...
