Questions smolder in the wake of the riots in protest of Assam riots

Van set on fire by angry Muslim protesters in Mumbai

Who were the rioters?

Was the violence planned?

Why was the security establishment caught sleeping yet again, in spite of clear warnings like:

  1. Asad Owaisi’s speech in Parliament. Whether a warning of trouble possible, or a threat, the subject HAD come up in the Parliament and got noticed. Why was it not taken seriously?
  2. Pakistani extremists propaganda with false provocative images of atrocities on Muslims in Burma was widely circulated on the Internet and printed and distrubuted in India too. Why was it not debunked by exposing the images as false? The one of the Tibetan student was ridiculously easy – it was not easy to forget!
  3. Muslim protest planned over a bloody riot that lasted a month in Assam.
  4. Crowds at protest swelled rapidly.
  5. Reports of speeches during the protest targeting police and media. Did the few police at the protest not realize the potential for violence STILL?

What, if anything at all are security agencies doing? We have new ones mushrooming everywhere. Why was there no inkling of the anger among the protesters or the size of the protest?

Muslims were radicalized by the actions of Bodos, propaganda promoted, anger incited, and we had the riot. Now Hindus are being radicalized by assumptions and propaganda about the riots, anger is incited, what is being done to defuse it? Or are we waiting for them to burst into violence too?

Also, how long will communities alone (any religion or other group) be blamed for violence that shows clear governance failure? When will the government address concerns *before* they reach flashpoint? Who is responsible for this repeated failure of governance?

Why was the media attacked by the police? Were they being violent? Reports of police attacking media at Azad Maidan and lathi charge on media near Press Council. Are they true? If so, why? One reporter at the very least, Atul Kamble of MidDAY was beaten by the police and his camera broken. Why was the camera broken? What did the camera do? Would images from the camera not be useful to arrest people?

There are reports of police being lax on protesters. Was there a plan which explains ignoring the cues for a break out of violence, avoiding violence against protesters as well as attacks on media?

Raza Academy apologizes for the violence, claims innocence. How is it possible that a “few” mischief makers were not stopped by the strength of the mob, if the protests were indeed innocent?

Also, is the possibility being considered that Raza Academy may have been used by extremist organizations? Are there investigations into that, or are police content with slapping the murder charge?

We have unprecedented erosion of the rights of Indians on the internet. Several organizations are authorized to intercept internet and mobile communications. Censoring content that can be inciteful has never been easier. All these erosions of our rights are being done by raising the bogey of security. What efforts were made by CERT or any other organization to:

  • Limit access to propaganda designed to create a sense of victimization among Muslims? Factually incorrect propaganda, I may add.
  • Collect intelligence on the plans for the protest.
  • Get intelligence on size of protest as well as possible intent to create unrest?

Let me make it clear here that the propaganda was not hidden in any way and flagged as fake to raise awareness by many of us. So it is near impossible that if anyone was gathering intel at all, they didn’t notice.

Given the repeatedly demonstrated utter failure of the government to create safety for citizens as claimed while encroaching their rights, what right does the government have to claim right to breach privacy in the name of security or impose arbitrary censorship in the name of preventing communal offense?

Lastly:

Will RR Patil resign over this failure in basic security?

Will Asad Owaisi be forced to explain his comments in a manner that diffuses religious tension (if not a threat), or forced to resign (if a threat, or refusal to call for calm)?

Will Anyone at all resign (ideally Sibal) over the repeated violation of internet rights in the name of safety, which has repeatedly failed so far?

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2 thoughts on “Questions smolder in the wake of the riots in protest of Assam riots”

  1. Wondering what this security systems of the nation is doing? Are they just sleeping comfortably eating away the public’s money. It seems government is always interested in a postmortem rather than keeping the peace and order. Or are they busy after new scams and covering the old ones? I am not blaming Congress, all are in the same shoes. Why never government thought of using these medias to tell the truth?

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