Not fringe, but main elements of the Hindutva brigade: Assaduddin Owaisi on attack

“I am Lalit Kumar, area in charge from Hindu Sena. We have come to Jihadi Assaduddin Owaisi’s house to teach him a lesson. At every speech and rally, he and his brother say wrong things about Hindus and Hindu gods and goddesses. His brother  says ‘remove police for 15 minutes, we will destroy Hindus’. If he can stand up alone and threaten 100 crore, then we six seven can teach him a lesson,” says the man who later was identified by the police as a resident of Mandoli in North East Delhi. He is not wearing a face mask but flaunting an orange/saffron gamcha or scarf around his neck. This kind of a scarf, is often worn as an identifier by members of many Hindutva groups who carry out such attacks of vandalism, and harassment in various areas. They make sure the attack is filmed, and the clips shared along with their threats and hate messages calling for more violence. Some of these goons eventually become local leaders, and a select few even join the political party they idolise. 

Often such goons target and assault poor Muslims, and at other times choose ‘VIP targets’ for greater visibility. This time they chose to vandalise the official residence of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, in the heart of New Delhi in one of the most high security zones. According to news reports, the accused also allegedly assaulted Owaisi’s aide Raju, who was at the venue. Delhi Police have detained five members of the right-wing organisation Hindu Sena for their alleged involvement in the incident. A clip of the attack was shared by journalist Asad Ashraf.

Owaisi has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding them responsible for the “radicalisation’ that leads to such attacks. He took to social media and posted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “preaches to the world how we must fight radicalisation,” and asked him to “please tell who radicalised these goons?” Owaisi added that his residence was attacked even though it is in a high security zone and is near the Election Commission, Jantar Mantar and Parliament Street Police Station.

He told The News Minute that he was not in Delhi when the incident happened adding that “earlier also, they always came with a camera and protested outside. Earlier too, they damaged my nameplate, broke some flowerpots and banged at my gate. That time also, Raju, the caretaker of the house, was assaulted. So I wrote a letter to authorities to open the back gate and the front gate was closed, and open only when people come to meet me.”

According to a report in The Indian Express, DCP (New Delhi district) Deepak Yadav said that the men were arrested from the spot. He said, “They claimed during initial questioning that they were agitated with his (Owaisi’s) comments. We are questioning them further.” The IE added that Owaisi has said he will write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla drawing his attention to the repeated attacks at his official residence.

He told the NewsMinute that the attack was “shameful” and an example of “classic radicalisation sailing in the face of the government.” He said that those who vandalised his house and allegedly assaulted the caretaker “were not ‘fringe’ elements but mainstream elements of the ‘Hindutva brigade.” Owaisi said that the goons are emboldened and “if an MP’s house can be targeted and vandalised today, they can go one step further tomorrow.”

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