New Delhi: The “anger was spontaneous but the violence was predominantly organised”, reveals the state intelligence’s assessment report on violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) across Uttar Pradesh, leaving at least 21 dead and over 400 injured in India’s most populous state. The report also uncovers the role of the Popular Front of India (PFI), alleged to be the new avatar of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, in inciting mobs and executing incidents of arson, firing and even hurling bombs in communally-sensitive pockets of the state. On the ground, the “wild west” of Uttar Pradesh appeared to be the most violent where 318 persons have been arrested on charges of arson, firing and damaging state property.
“There is evidence against PFI leaders in several incidents. Over 20 PFI members have been arrested including Noor Hasan, state President of the Social Democratic Party of India (the political wing of PFI). The hot spot of violence was in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Bulandshahr,” says Prashant Kumar, Additional Director General of Police, Meerut zone. According to the ADG, who commands over 10 districts around Meerut, the role of PFI in engineering a riot-like situation in western Uttar Pradesh is being investigated. Around 140 km away from Meerut, in the state’s densely-populated Rohilkhand region, the protests also had the footprints of rioters who triggered large scale violence in Muslim-dominated areas of western Uttar Pradesh. Here, Bijnor, Sambhal and Rampur were the worst-hit.
“We suspect that violence, primarily arson on state property, was organised,” Superintendent of Police, Rampur, Ajay Pal Sharma said. Asked why they suspect so, the IPS officer said: “It was surprising to note that where protesters gathered in large numbers, the place was comparatively peaceful than those areas where number of protesters were very less, but violence was seen on a large scale. For example, at Idgah, me and the DM were monitoring a large crowd of 15,000 protesters (who were peaceful), but a few hundred yards away at Hathikhana, a small number of protesters had indulged in arson, opening fire on police and hurling country-made bombs. It was clear that a small group of rioters, operating at a different place, had a totally different agenda.”
Rampur has a border with Sambhal which further shares its boundary with Aligarh, one of the most volatile districts where violence erupted during anti-CAA protests. The intelligence reports says that the Aligarh Muslim University is the new hub of the PFI’s activities which ostensibly turned the campus into a battlefield as police and students clashed throughout the day on December 15. Police alleged that PFI and other local Muslim organisations played a key role in inciting violence. In a bid to prevent more violent clashes engulfing a communally-sensitive town, the AMU has been closed till January 5, and all hostels have been ordered vacated. Defending the students, the AMU Teachers Association has now sought a judicial probe on December 15 clashes. However, AMU authorities are silent on the role of PFI’s student wing, the Campus Front of India.