STATEMENTS Campaign An Open Statement on the Flawed Investigation into the Delhi Riots, February 2020 September 10, 2020 THE FORUM FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS Image courtesy: Newsclick The Forum for Constitutional Rights and Democratic Freedoms (FCRDF) was constituted in August, 2020, after discussion among its Principal Members, comprising both individuals and organizations, all representing dierent constituencies. All were concerned with the erosion of constitutional rights and democratic freedoms in the last few years and came together on a common platform to stem the tide. The groups represented are a) several Armed Forces Veterans; b) the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) representing people’s organizations of the poor and disadvantaged; c) the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), made up of former civil servants; d)civil society organisations and concerned citizens; e) the Indian Cultural Forum, deeply involved with cultural issues. This is our rst statement on behalf of the FCRDF. We write to express our full support, in principle, for the statement ‘We will not be silenced’ made by Harsh Mander on September 4, 2020. We agree with him that the communal riots in Delhi in February 2020 have not been caused by any conspiracy as alleged by the Delhi Police. On the contrary, they have been caused by hate speech and provocative statements made by a number of political leaders of the ruling party. We stand with Harsh Mander, him, Professor Apoorvanand and their fellow activists. Neither their voices nor ours will be silenced as we speak for truth and freedom. The ringing words of Harsh Mander’s statement, especially those of the last paragraph, bear repetition and have our endorsement: “We declare here – and hope those holding highest oce in the country hear us loud and clear – that the government will never succeed in silencing us, and will never succeed in taking away from us the dream we inherited from our freedom struggle, the dream of together building a country which is just, and equal, and kind.” Admiral (retd.) L. Ramdas, former Chief of Naval Sta Aruna Roy, MazdoorKisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Deb Mukharji, IFS (Retd.), former High Commissioner to Bangladesh, CCG Dr. Ganesh Devy, civil society organizations and concerned citizens Githa Hariharan, writer, Indian Cultural Forum ************************************************************ “We will not be silenced” The Delhi Police believes that there was a conspiracy behind the communal violence in Delhi during the third week of February. We agree. But the actual conspiracy was a very dierent one from the one which Delhi Police is propagating. The truth is that not just the Delhi 2020 carnage; no major episode of communal violence is spontaneous: it is always planned, organized and facilitated. Such violence requires rst the systematic creation of hatred. In Delhi we saw the build-up during the Delhi elections of a climate of hatred spawned by hate speech by senior leaders targeting the protestors against CAA NRC NPR. This was led from the front by the union home minister, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and several other cabinet and BJP party leaders. The outcome was the spread of unprecedented levels of toxic communal venom, unmatched in any previous election in Delhi. But beyond the manufacture of hatred and the organization of the violence, the critical factor in any riot conspiracy is the role of the state, and particularly the police. No riot can go on for more than a few hours except if the government wishes for it to do so. There is massive evidence of the complicit partisan role of the police in the Delhi violence. I have spent a lot of time with the victim survivors of the Delhi carnage. I have heard hundreds of testimonies from them about the role of the police enabling, encouraging and actually indulging in hate violence. The video of policemen tormenting four young men lying on the ground, among who Faizan subsequently died, is telling. The police while beating the men prone on the ground are taunting them by asking them to sing the national anthem; it was clear that they are punishing them for the protests, in which the national anthem had become an iconic symbol of the protests, of resistance, of unity and of solidarity. This was the conspiracy behind the Delhi communal violence. It was a bid by the Indian state, aided by the Delhi police, to punish and crush the largest non-violent protests that independent India has seen. The police story is quite the opposite. According to them, it was the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests which were the conspiracy, and that the non-violence of the protests was only a facade. In pursuit of this story, every day the Special Branch of the Delhi Police, which normally investigates grave crimes like terror, is busy for the past months summoning mostly young people, and sometimes seniors, grilling them, intimidating them, and sometimes – as Umar Khalid has testied – forcing them create false evidence. Large numbers of young people are today languishing in prison for months without bail in the name of this so-called conspiracy. We are gathered here today above all in the defence and solidarity with all of these young people. Yes, they and we did participate in the non-violent movement against CAA NRC NPR, and we are proud to have done so. During the protests some WhatsApp groups were made. Now every word exchanged in these groups are being examined with a defective microscope by the police, their meaning and context deliberately and mischievously misinterpreted, the truth ripped into shreds and reimagined to create the mythology of a conspiracy of hate, violence and insurrection. There were signicantly other WhatsApp groups that the police themselves admit to, wherein indeed people are actively calling for and organizing the violence on those dates. None of these are being the subject to any investigation of a conspiracy. Our protests, and those of the young people now in our prisons, were to uphold the Constitution, and the idea of an inclusive and humane country of equal citizenship, which is the proudest legacy of our freedom struggle. The young people and we protested because we love our country dearly, and we seek to make this country better for all its citizens, of every religion, caste, class and gender, by holding the state accountable to stand by its duties to the constitution. It is a travesty to describe this as a crime against the nation. Those who are seeking to create divisions and hate among us are those who are committing crimes against our country. The objective of the government is transparent; to destroy the basic guarantees and freedoms of our constitution. The eort of the Indian state, facilitated by the Delhi Police, is to crush our voices, our dissent, and our struggles to uphold our constitution. We declare here – and hope those holding highest oce in the country hear us loud and clear – that the government will never succeed in silencing us, and will never succeed in taking away from us the dream we inherited from our freedom struggle, the dream of together building a country which is just, and equal, and kind . Harsh Mander 4 September, 2020 ************************************************************ Endorsed by: 1 A M Khan, Jt Sec, LIC Retired Employees' Asso & Sec, Chitra Film Society 226 Mathew Padayatty S.J. 2 A Selvaraj, IRS (Retd) 227 Mazher Hussan, COVA 3 Abha Bhalya 228 Meena Gupta, IAS (Retd) 4 Abha Dev Habib, Assistant Professor, Miranda House, Melanie P Kumar University of Delhi 229 5 Abha Sur 230 Mendonca Edward 6 Abhay 231 MG Devasahayam, IAS (Retd) 7 Abhay Shirekar 232 Mira Shiva, Public Health Physician 8 Abhijit Dasgupta, Retired Teacher, Delhi University Mohan Rao, former professor at the Centre of Social 233 Medicine and Community Health, JNU 9 Abhijit Sengupta, IAS (Retd) 234 Mohan Sharma 10 Abhilash, Secretary, Gram Seva Sangh 235 Mohan Trivedi, Professor 11 Abinash Dash Choudhury, Jadavpur University 236 Mridula Garg, Writer and Freedom Lover 12 Achin Vanaik, Retd Professor, University of Delhi 237 Mridula Mukherjee 13 Achuthan Palat 238 Mrigank, Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) 14 Aditi Mehta, IAS (Retd) 239 MS Chahal, IAS (Retd) 15 Aditya Mukherjee 240 MT Ansari, Professor, University of Hyderabad 16 Aditya Nigam Muralidharan, General Secretary, National Platform for 241 the Rights of the Disabled 17 Admiral LRamdas, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM 242 MY Rao, IAS (Retd) 18 Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, PVSM, AVSM 243 N P Chekkutty, Senior journalist 19 Aftab Seth, IFS (Retd) 244 Nagesh Hegde 20 Ahana Rao, Architect 245 Najeeb Jang, IAS (Retd) 21 Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, AVSM, VSM 246 Najid Hussain, Scientist 22 Ajai Kumar, IFoS(Retd) 247 Nandita Das 23 Ajay Skaria, Historian 248 Nandita Narain, Delhi University 24 Ajit Singh Yadav, convenor, Lok Morcha 249 Naomi Magh, St Xavier College Jalukie 25 AK Samanta, IPS (Retd) 250 Narendra Sisodia, IAS (Retd) 26 Albert Longley Dkhar, Principal, St Anthony's College, Naseeruddin Shah Shillong 251 27 Alok Perti, IAS (Retd) 252 Natasha Bhadwar 28 Alok Rai 253 Navaroze Contractor, Artists & Film Maker 29 Aloke B Lal, IPS (Retd) 254 Navrekha Sharma, IFS (Retd) 30 Amanulla Khan, Former President, AIIE Association 255 Nayana Trivedi, Physician 31 Amita Baviskar, Ashoka University 256 Nayantara Sahgal, Author 32 Amita Buch 257 NC Saxena, IAS (Retd) 33 Amita Joseph 258 Neera Chandoke 34 Amitabh Mathur, IPS (Retd) 259 Neeraj Jain 35 Amitabha Pande, IAS (Retd) 260 Nikhil Dey 36 Amiya Kumar Dev, former vice chancellor of Vidyasagar Niranjan Pant, IA&AS (Retd) University 261 37 Anand Archak, President, Insurance Employees' Union, 262 Nisha Shiurkar, Writer 38 Anand Arni, R&AW (Retd) 263 Nitin Desai, IES (Retd) 39 Anand Patwardhan, Film Maker 264 NK Raghupathy, IAS (Retd) 40 Anbarasan P, Department of Mass communication, Tezpur Noor Mohammad, IAS (Retd) University 265 41 Angana Chatterji, Scholar Noor Zaheer, National Secretary, Indian People's Theatre 266 Association 42 Anil Bisht Nuzhat Kazmi, Professor, JMI and Ahmar Raza, retd 267 Scientist 43 Anil Sadgopal 268 Ordetta Mendoza, Co-ordinator of Programmes, XB 44 Animesh Das, Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) 269 P.