‘This is state-sponsored terrorism’: Deadly clashes between Hindus and Muslims overshadow Trump’s India trip

The deaths of at least 10 people in the worst Hindu-Muslim violence to hit Delhi in decades overshadowed the second and final day of Donald Trump’s state visit to India on Tuesday.

As Trump returned to the US without a significant breakthrough to ease tariffs on trade, horrific scenes shared across TV and social media showed crowds pelting each other with stones, Muslims being dragged through the streets by mobs shouting Hindu slogans and a mosque set on fire in the northeast of the city.

The clashes were the bloodiest in Delhi since protests began in mid-December against a change to the law that grants a route to Indian citizenship for migrants of most South Asian religions, but which excludes Muslims.

Critics say that law – the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA, combined with other recent measures by Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, are threatening India’s secular constitution and further marginalising its minority Muslim population.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a day of high-level talks that appear to have borne little fruit, Trump said he had seen reports of the unfolding religious riots no more than 15km away across the city, but that he “didn’t discuss that with him (Modi)”. When repeatedly pressed on the issue, he said: “I don’t want to discuss that and I want to leave that up to India. I hope they are going to make the right decision for the people.”

The Delhi violence began with two peaceful protests against the CAA on Sunday night and Monday evening. By Monday afternoon, however, hundreds of men described as “pro-CAA” had gathered, chanting “Modi, Modi” and “Jai Shri Ram” (glory to Lord Ram, the Hindu deity) and wielding sticks, petrol bombs and other weapons.

Suyash Tripathi, 22, told The Independent he was struck on the head by a piece of brick thrown by the pro-government mob, and that it took 30 minutes for him to reach medical assistance.

A student at Jamia Millia Islamia University and volunteer coordinator for the anti-CAA protests, Tripathi said he tried to escape but was grabbed by a group of Hindus and “they saw my name and that I am a Hindu and that’s why they let me go … if they had seen my JMI (university) ID, I think they would have killed me”.

The running clashes began on Monday shortly after a tweet by a prominent BJP politician, Kapil Mishra, who had urged people to “give an answer” to a peaceful anti-CAA sit-in. “In support of CAA, we will hit the streets. You are all invited,” he posted.

Tripathi pointed to this as “clearly inciting” the violence. But he also expressed concern that police appeared to sit by and allow the mob to carry out attacks, saying repeated calls to the emergency services for assistance in Muslim-majority neighbourhoods were ignored.

“You can’t call them [the rioters] Hindus. This is not Hinduism. This is state-sponsored terrorism, supported by the police, incited by the (ruling) BJP,” he said.

Delhi’s policing is the responsibility of the Modi government, not the capital’s devolved assembly, and on Tuesday the city’s chief minister met with the ruling BJP home minister, Amit Shah, to discuss the unfolding situation.

Shah said the police were committed to a return to calm and ruled out bringing in the army. In his own press conference, the Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik rejected criticism of alleged police inaction during the violence, saying he “does not have adequate forces” to respond to all incidents.

The city’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, appealed for a return to peace. “Whatever problems people have can be resolved peacefully,” he said. “Violence will not help find a solution.”

Gautam Gambhir, a BJP MP in Delhi, expressed concerns about Mishra’s posts before the violence erupted. “No matter who the person is, belonging to any party, if he has given any provoking speech then strict action should be taken against him,” he told the ANI news agency.

Schools in the northeast part of the city were shut and at least five metro station closed, as emergency orders banning public assembly in the area were extended to last one month.

As of Tuesday evening, two northeast hospitals were reporting 135 injured, although many more wounded were understood to be sheltering at home for fear of venturing out to seek medical attention.

Officials at the Guru Tag Bahadur hospital told the NDTV news channel that up to 50 per cent of those hospitalised due to the violence had received gunshot wounds.

Of those killed, nine were civilians – both Hindus and Muslims. A police head constable, Ratan Lal, was killed on Monday, becoming the first member of the security forces to die during the citizenship protests crisis. Witnesses said they expected the toll to rise further.

“There are all kinds of injuries - many pellet injuries and some from sharp weapons, too. There is a flow of injured people still coming in,” said Dr Rajesh Kalra, the hospital’s additional medical superintendent. NDTV, a channel known for being more critical of the government than most in India, said five of its journalists were among those injured.

Before Trump’s trip to India, a senior White House official said that given the backdrop of months-long, nationwide protests against CAA, the issue of religious freedoms would be brought up during Tuesday’s talks.

And the president told reporters he did so “for a very long time, in front of a large group of people”, saying he was satisfied that Modi told him he “wants people to have religious freedom, and very strongly”.

But Trump appeared to also admit that, when he brought up the issue of religious freedom, Modi responded by repeating a trope associated with Islamophobic rhetoric around the world – the idea of a Muslim population growing disproportionately quickly.

The president said: “And as far as Muslims are concerned, he (Modi) told me they have 200 million Muslims in India and a fairly short while ago they had 14 million ... and he said that they are working very closely with the Muslim community.” Trump described Modi’s response as “very powerful”.

For the US, this trip was always going to be about talking up Trump and Modi’s personal rapport, regardless of the troubling backdrop to the talks. Trump referred to his visit as “fantastic” and his host Modi as “such a nice man”, “a terrific leader” and “very religious ... but actually very tough”.

While a finalised list of signed deals and memoranda of understanding was yet to be released, the headline agreement was the sale of £2.3bn ($3bn) of American defence equipment, including 24 helicopters, to the Indian military – a deal which was already more or less confirmed some weeks ago.

On wider trade issues, Trump emphasised the gulf that remained when he repeated his accusation that India “is the highest tariff-charging nation in the world”. He added: “We have to stop that, at least where the US is concerned.”

Despite some “great meetings”, he said: “If a deal happens with India it’ll be towards the end of the year. The United States has to be treated fairly. I want reciprocal (tariff arrangements).”

In the end, this trip will be remembered not for any concrete progress made on paper, but for the spectacle of Monday’s “Namaste Trump” rally to 125,000 spectators, for Donald and Melania’s smiling photographs in front of a deserted Taj Mahal – and for the backdrop of deeply troubling communally-charged violence that he failed to address.