How These Hindus and Muslims in Delhi Are Waging a United Battle Against Violence

The death toll in the deadly violence that has rocked parts of Delhi for the last three days has risen to 34 as of now. While an eerie calm settled over parts of riot-hit northeast Delhi on Wednesday, tales of kindness and humanity gave us hope in these dark times.

As the national capital burned and brought back haunting memories of similar incidents of violence in 1992 after the Babri Masjid demolition, stories of unity, brotherhood, harmony and love in troubled times have also emerged.

The one kilometer stretch of road which connects Muslim dominated Jaffrabad to Maujpur bears a desolate look, as roads remain empty and shops, some of which have been ransacked and burnt, stay closed. Distressing images of streets littered with blackened bricks, injured men and women, and black smoke filling the sky have been widely circulated on social media.

Yet, Delhiites have proved that in the face of extreme violence and hatred, kindness finds a way, with instances of Gurudwaras offering shelter to Muslim families and Hindu-Muslim unity rallies being organised to restore peace.

On February 25, a religious structure in Ashok Nagar was set on fire by a mob. The next day, people, both Hindus and Muslims, were spotted collecting burnt pages of a holy book in a video that has gone viral on social media.

A peace march was also organised in Shashtri Park, while another Hindu-Muslim unity rally was held in Brij Puri, as tweeted by AAP's social media leader, Ankit Lal. "At one end there are those propagating violence, at the other end there are those propagating Hindu-Muslim unity in riot affected areas of North-East Delhi," Lal said.

Gurdwaras in North East Delhi, including that in Majnoo Ka Tila, also stayed open and allowed Muslims to take shelter from mobs as violence continued raging in the national capital.

A video that went viral on Twitter showed that the locals in Yamuna Vihar in northeast Delhi made a human chain to escort schoolchildren to safety as violence over CAA protests continued in the district on Tuesday.

As tweeted by a News18 reporter, Hindu residents in Ramesh Park came out in large numbers to aid their Muslim neighbours, and assured them that they would stand by them and defend them, should the violence reach their locality.

Several tweets and posts on Facebook also called for volunteers, doctors, journalists, lawyers or people willing to help those escaping from aggressors commute to safer locations, to sign up on Google Docs with their contact numbers.