Leading web news portals recently reported on the role of the right-wing WhatsApp group ‘Kattar Hindu Ekta’, the members of which are accused of being involved in the killings of at least nine Muslims during the Delhi Riots. BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s alleged mention in the group was also widely reported.

However, now, Kapil Mishra has put out a tweet - ‘Truth of Delhi Rios that Rajdeep (Sardesai), Ravish (Kumar), The Print, Scroll and NDTV will never tell you’ where he has hurled wild accusations against these leading journalists saying that they will never tell the public that the Delhi Riots were funded by radical Islamist Zakir Naik.

Truth of Delhi Riots that Rajdeep, Ravish, Print, Scroll, NDTV will never tell you

दिल्ली दंगो का वो सच जो राजदीप, रविश, NDTV आपको कभी नहीं बताएंगे

दंगो का पैसा जाकिर नाइक ने दिया #ZakirNaikFundedDelhiRiots pic.twitter.com/SpoFhOniBh

— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) July 8, 2020

In the video he says, that the media portals like The Print, The Wire and The Scroll and journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai and Ravish Kumar who work to ‘save’ Khalid Saifi, Tahir Hussain and Safoora Zargar and address them as ‘activists’, the truth of such people has been revealed in the chargesheet of the Delhi Police. He says that Khalid Saifi, who was booked by the Delhi Police in connection with the riots, was in Malaysia to meet with Zakir Naik before the violence. Mishra adds that on returning from Malaysia, Saifi met with Umar Khalid, purportedly one of the founders of United against Hate (UAH) and Tahir Hussain, suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councilor.

Mishra also adds that the Special Cell of the Delhi Police investigating the matter allegedly found a register at the residence of Meeran Haider, a member of the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) who has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), showing that he had received money from accounts in Singapore, UK and Oman and how that money was reportedly used to fund the riots.

Mishra also said that the Delhi riots were an international conspiracy and that ‘jihadis’ who wished to see India taken over by Islam, funded and trained people for the violence. In the video he asks those who side with Khalid Saifi, Tahir Hussain and Safoora Zargar whether they too were funded by Zakir Naik and whether the campaigns in their favour were being run by taking funds from terrorists.

Kapil Mishra who describes himself on Twitter as a “New Delhi based Hindu, Nationalist Politician”, had led a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally on February 23, two days before the riots, at Maujpur, close to the site of the anti-CAA protest near the Jafrabad metro station. At his rally Mishra was seen standing next to a uniformed police officer and had said, “We will remain peaceful till Trump leaves. After that we will not listen to you.”

In what sounded like a blatant ultimatum to the Delhi police, Mishra, a serial hate offender, had addressed his supporters and said, “DCP sahab is standing nearby, I am saying this… till Trump leaves we will go from here peacefully, after that we will not even listen to you… if the roads are not cleared. By the time Trump leaves we request you to clear Jafrabad and Chand Bagh. After that we will have to come onto the roads.”

In the  chargesheet investigating the killing of Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal, an eyewitness account had stated that the “policeman's killing was the result of a mob attack after a crowd at Chand Bagh heard about BJP leader Kapil Mishra's supporters setting fire to the site of an anti-CAA protest.”

Though there had been a call by many activists and organizations, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) had started an online petition calling for Mishra’s arrest, the omission of his name has raised many questions about the authenticity of the investigation.

In 2016, when Mishra was associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in Parliament, he had said that even the ‘snakes of ISI were fed milk by Modi’ and had questioned whether Modi was an ISI agent himself.

pic.twitter.com/5Ayo1VddyG

— Prem Kumar (@PremKumar2690) July 8, 2020

Our Take: Does it bode well for someone like Kapil Mishra with a chequered past in politics, a repeat hate offender and  Islamophobe to question the authenticity of a renowned journalist like Ravish Kumar who has won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award?

During the pro-CAA rallies that Mishra led, he chanted slogans calling for ‘shoot the traitors’ which were used days after the riots. The Students’ Union of the Delhi School of Social Work (DSSW), the alma mater of tainted BJP leader Kapil Mishra, too had distanced itself from the party’s political candidate in a statement that reads after Mishra made the incendiary speech before the Delhi Violence.

And yet, given all the evidence, Mishra's continuous attempts to insult the keepers of the Fourth Estate with impunity only go to show that he is in fact shielded by those now in power who are trying to deepen the communal divide in the country.

Related:

SC directs Delhi HC to hear plea of riot-affected people for FIRs in hate speech cases on Friday

Kapil Mishra remains invisible and unnamed in Delhi Police charge sheet

Videos of hate speech by Kapil Mishra played before Delhi HC

Delhi violence: Is Kapil Mishra the villain of the story?  

BJP’s Kapil Mishra says ‘shoot the traitors’ at pro-CAA rally