In yet another incident of gun-violence at New Delhi’s Jamia Milia Islamia University (JMIU), two gunmen opened fire outside gate number 5. Luckily the men only shot in the air and no one was injured, but it is clear that their intention was to spread fear.

At 11:50 PM, the Jamia Coordination Committee issued the following sort statement:

“Firing has been done at Gate No.5 of Jamia Millia Islamia right now by two unidentified persons. As per report, one of them was wearing Red Jacket and driving a Red Scooty having Vehicle no. 1532. No injury as far now.”

DCP (Southeast) Gyanesh Kumar told India Today, “SHO Jamia Nagar along with his team went to the place and searched the area. No empty bullet shells were found there. Also, there were different versions regarding the vehicles on which the alleged miscreants were. Some saying it was a scooter, others saying it was a four-wheeler. Meanwhile, many people, including students, have gathered outside the police station. They will be asked to give their complaint. We will conduct an enquiry and accordingly take action as per law.” Kumar has just replaced Chinmoy Biswal who was shunted out after the latest case of firing.

This is the second such incident at Jamia. On Thursday, a youth who is said to be a minor, opened fire at protesters who were planning to march to Raj Ghat on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary. One young man was injured in the firing. However, the Hindu Mahasabha sprung to his defense saying they would not only felicitate the gunman, but also bear his legal expenses.

Earlier there were two separate incidents involving gunmen at Shaheen Bagh, the location of a sit-in protest by women. In the first instance a man brandished a firearm but was quickly subdued by bystanders before he could open fire. In the second, yet another gunman opened fire after making deeply communal statements. This man identified as Kapil was taken into police custody, and luckily nobody was injured in the incident.

It is noteworthy, that these instances of gun related violence all began after BJP leader Anurag Thakur gave a virtual clarion call to arms encouraging people attending his election rally to “shoot the traitors”. What is truly chilling though is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s complete silence on the issue. He is yet to utter one word condemning the violence, something that could be viewed by some as a tacit act of complicity.  

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The Hindu Mahasabha’s State Vice President Gajendra Pal Singh Arya has declared that the organization is going to honour the gunman who opened fire at the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters near Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMIU) yesterday. He said they will also provide legal assistance to him and bear all the legal costs for the same.

Sachin Sharma, Harishankar, Rajeev, Abhishek Gupta, Jiten Thakur Brijesh Parmar and Manoj Saini among others were present at the meeting.

Hindu Mahasabha will felicitate Jamia firing accused, calls him a true nationalist like Nathuram Godse, Disgusting. #JamiaShooting pic.twitter.com/KtXajAmUUF

— Sanjay विश्वकर्मा (@SanjayV_INC) January 31, 2020

Amar Ujala reported that the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha instead celebrated Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary, January 30, Martyr’s Day as Shaurya Diwas (day of bravery) and garlanded his assassins Nathuram Godse and Nana Apte and lit lamps and distributed rice pudding at the ceremony.

Ashok Pandey, a spokesperson for the Hindu Mahasabha said, “He is a true patriot just like Nathuram Godse. We’re proud of him. He has tried to stop the anti-nationalists,” reported Sangbad Pratidin.

He also said, “Those who carry out anti-national activities like Sharjeel Imam or students of AMU, JNU or Jamia, deserve to be shot dead.”

Making a controversial statement Gajendra Pal Singh Arya said that it was because of the policies of Mahatma Gandhi that the country had become a dharamshala (inn) and not a Hindu rashtra (nation). He also said that in areas like Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Millia Islamia University and Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were witnessing talks of partition with people there praising Gandhism by waving Gandhi’s flag.

He also added that had Gandhi not been there, the Partition might not have taken place. Had the partition been done on religious lines, India would’ve been a Hindu nation. He also added that all workers of the Hindu Mahasabha would be as ready to attend to his call of duty as Godse was.

On Thursday, an armed gunman, allegedly a minor, had opened fire at people protesting against the CAA outside Jamia University injuring one. Many questions have been asked about the action of the Delhi police who did nothing to apprehend the assailant in time.

Related:

Gunman fires at protesters near Jamia, injures one

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On Thursday afternoon, a gunman whose identity cannot be revealed as he is a minor, opened fire on a group of protesters near Jamia Milia Islamia University (JMIU). The group of people, including JMIU students, who were protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and demanding a return to Gandhian values of peace, inclusion and tolerance, were planning to march from the university to Raj Ghat when the incident occurred.

Shockingly, the events unfolded in front of the police and security personnel deployed on the spot as well as in full view of media persons who had gathered to cover the march. The young man reportedly said, “Kisko chahiye azaadi, yeh lo azaadi,” (Who wants freedom? Here’s your freedom!) before he fired his gun. One young man identified as Shadaab was injured in the firing. His hand was covered in blood when he was rushed to the hospital. A video of the incident went viral on social media.

This incident comes just days after BJP’s Anurag Thakur encouraged people attending an election rally in Delhi to shoot traitors. He chanted “desh ke gaddaron ko…” to which the crowd responded with “goli maaro s****n ko” (Gun down traitors to the nation). Another man brandishing a gun had recently entered the site of the sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. A vast majority of the protesters at Shaheen Bagh are women and there were also many children present at the venue. Luckily people were able to overpower the gunman at Shaheen Bagh and confiscate his weapon before he got a chance to fire it.

At the site of today’s incident though, the police and security personnel made no attempt to stop the gunman. An eyewitness told NDTV, “We were standing near the barricades when suddenly this outsider, whom none of us recognised, tried to disturb the peace of the march. He marches forward with a revolver in his hand. We were all trying to stop him and calm him down. The policemen were standing there. We tried to approach them to stop that guy. But they just kept standing there simply. When we tried to take the revolver from his hand, he shot one of our friends.” 

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