Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday praised the Delhi Police's role in the communal violence in the national capital last month, saying they did a great job in containing the riots to a few pockets of Northeast Delhi and in bringing the situation under control in 36 hours.
The police had come under criticism for their alleged inaction during the riots from February 24-26.
Replying to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday on the Delhi riots, Shah said prima facie the violence appears to be a pre-planned conspiracy. He said no incident of rioting was reported after February 25 and that a special facial recognition system was being used to analyse video footage and identify the rioters.
The BJP leader said initial investigations had found that 300 rioters had come to Northeast Delhi from outside.
"I am not undermining what happened in those 36 hours but I would like to praise the Delhi Police for bringing the situation under control in 36 hours and for preventing it from spreading further," Shah said, adding that enough police and paramilitary forces had been rushed to the affected areas soon after the first reports of violence were received on February 24 at 2 pm until the last distress call was made on February 25 at 11 pm.
Shah expressed sorrow for the families of those who died in the recent violence, which has claimed the lives of more than 50 people.
Vowing not to spare anyone involved in the riots irrespective of their religion, caste or party affiliation, Shah said it will be a lesson for the country on what befalls those who indulge in rioting.
Giving details of the casualties due to riots, Shah said, "Fifty-two Indians lost their lives during the violence."
Unlike the opposition, Shah said he does not want to name how many Hindus or Muslims died.
"I won't give figures in 'Hindu-Muslim'. Fifty-two Indians have died, 526 Indians have been injured. Shops of 371 Indians were set ablaze and houses of 142 Indians were burned," he said.
While Shah was speaking, the Congress walked out in protest.
Earlier on Wednesday, opposition parties came down heavily on the Centre over its "failure" to contain the violence in Delhi and demanded Shah's resignation.
Fending off charges from several MPs who accused him of neglecting his duties as the Home Minister while the law and order situation in Delhi worsened, Shah said he had got in touch with the top brass of Delhi Police as soon as he received information about the violence. The riots broke out when United States President Donald Trump was on a two-day visit to India.
Responding to the opposition's criticism on not visiting riot-affected areas, Shah said he did not want to divert the attention of the Delhi Police at such a sensitive time.
"I did not go to the ground because I did not want the police to get distracted and divert their resources for my security," he said.
Shah said he did not attend various events related to Trump's visit to Delhi as he was busy with the police in formulating a strategy to control the violence. Although Shah had attended Trump's event at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, as it was pre-planned and it was in his constituency.
"The programme of Mr Trump was pre-decided and since it was happening in my constituency, I had to go there. While I was there, no incident of violence was reported," said Shah. "I was back in Delhi on February 24 at 6 pm and remained with police officers the whole time to work out how violence could be contained."
Shah said he supervised many review meetings throughout February 24-25 with a number of officials to monitor the situation in the riot-affected places. He said it was on his request that National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval visited the areas and worked towards restoring normalcy.
Shah said 17 companies of police and 13 companies of paramilitary forces were rushed to Northeast Delhi areas on February 24, with 50 more companies of paramilitary forces sent in the following day. "As of today there are 80 companies of paramilitary and police forces deployed in the area," he said.
Shah said the localities where riots broke out are so densely spread that there is not enough space for passage of emergency vehicles. "The population is mixed and there is a history of rioting in that area. Many people with criminal antecedents also live there and it is adjacent to the border with Uttar Pradesh," he said.
Shah said more than 700 FIRs have been registered so far, 2,647 people have either been taken into custody or have been arrested, and that channels of illegal funding (including hawala) are being checked to trace sources from where resources were arranged to allegedly instigate the riots.
"Over 40 teams have been formed to arrest the culprits. At least 152 arms used in the violence have been recovered and we are using facial recognition system to identify the people who committed violence," he said. "I believe the story of Ankit Sharma (an Intelligence Bureau officer whose body was found in one of the riot-affected areas) will also be unravelled using those footage."
Shah assured the House that CCTV footage is being analysed using face identification software and took a dig at the opposition, saying the software does not discriminate on the basis of religion or clothes. He said details of voter identity cards and driving licences were fed into the software, which helped identify 1,100 people.
Shah said more than 650 inter-faith peace meetings have been conducted since the violence started in order to restore peace and harmony in the areas.
On questions of why the ruling party discussed the riots so late, Shah said the BJP had decided to have a discussion on the issue only after Holi "so that any statement made in this House does not further disturb the atmosphere in the area since in many cases communal violence has been observed in parts of the country around this festival". Opposition parties had been demanding a discussion on the issue in the Parliament's ongoing Budget session, with several sessions being adjourned after the BJP's refusal to discuss the riots.
(With inputs from PTI)
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