Thread by @thewire_in

It’s been three years since 53 people were killed and hundreds of homes and shops damaged or destroyed in communal violence in Delhi. The victims were overwhelmingly Muslim.

The Wire spent months doing what the police refused to do.

#DelhiRiots2020

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The chronology established makes the nature of this actual conspiracy very clear.

This was not a riot planned by just one BJP leader who made just one inflammatory speech but had been worked on by many others since the second week of December 2019.

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And having created this foundry of hatred in which mainstream political leaders intersect with the so-called fringe and their dedicated media ecosystem, it is continuously being put to use to keep the communal pot boiling.

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On the morning of February 23, 2020 – the same day Kapil Mishra made his notorious speech at Maujpur chowk on north east Delhi, Deepak Singh Hindu took to Facebook to mobilise crowds there:

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“I am fighting this war alone but today I need your participation in this religious war. The whole of Delhi is being turned into Shaheen Bagh. And now Jafrabad in north-east Delhi has been made into a Shaheen Bagh," he said.

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"...but instead of [us] watching this like hijdas, it is better to die as men and I, Deepak Singh Hindu, will take this war to its conclusion. Please come to Maujpur Chowk at 2:30 Pm..."

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"...because if Deepak Singh Hindu goes there alone, it will be a moment fo you to die of shame.

My appeal to you is that you reach Maujpur Chowk in large numbers.

Note my number and call. [Mentions number] I will reach there with my supporters."

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The Delhi Police say the blocking of Maujpur Chowk was the trigger for the riots and that the anti-CAA activists were responsible for what happened.

But on January 23, 2020, a whole month before, Deepak Singh Hindu warned of the violence he was planning.

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If the BJP’s Kapil Mishra served as the political face of the real conspiracy and Deepak Singh Hindu helped the Hindutva organisations to mobilise a violent mob at Maujpur and other places in north-east Delhi, Ankit Tiwari was a willing footsoldier.

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An undercover reporter impersonated a woman in order to chat with Tiwari on Instagram.

In these chats, he claims to have killed many Muslims.

Ankit Tiwari says he did this in Maujpur one night. “We were all nationalist friends, with ammunition,” he says.
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He also claimed that some members of the RSS, Bajrang Dal and ABVP activists organised themselves into joint teams. Using coded language to signify violence against Muslims, he said, “We distributed prasad properly.”

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Watch the first part of our investigation here, by @alishan_jafri, @maknoonwani and @svaradarajan.