Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been at the target of Opposition parties for allegedly not doing enough to control Delhi riots

Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been at the target of Opposition parties for allegedly not doing enough to control Delhi riots, on Wednesday gave a detailed reply on all queries raised in the Lok Sabha. Amit Shah answered burning questions surrounding the cause, scale, prevention and probe of Delhi riots, which ripped through the northeast region of the national capital in February last week.

Replying to debate on Delhi riots in Lok Sabha, Amit Shah condoled the lives lost during the violence and assured the families of the victims that no one behind the violence will be spared.

The home minister applauded the Delhi police for its efforts to contain the ‘pre-planned’ violence from spreading any further than it had. He also gave an account of the number of arrests made and the technologies used to identify culprits.

Here are the 10 pointers of Home Minister Amit Shah’s reply on Delhi riots in Lok Sabha:

1) Home Minister Amit Shah defended Delhi Police, which has been receiving brick-brats from public, media and Opposition for its alleged inaction during the first two days of violence. The home minister said that the police did a great job controlling the riots within 36 hours. “These riots were taking place in a place which has a population of 20 lakh. They did a great job in controlling the riots from spreading any further,” Amit Shah told Lok Sabha.

2) Giving details of the probe undertaken by the Delhi Police so far, Home Minister Amit Shah said prima facie the violence appears to be a pre-planned conspiracy. He said that around 700 FIRs have been registered. Police have recovered over 150 arms and have registered 49 cases under Arms Act, he said.

“The spread of riots on such a big scale in such a short time is not possible without a conspiracy. We have registered a case of conspiracy to probe this angle. Three people have been arrested for financing the violence in northeast Delhi,” Amit Shah said.

Amit Shah informed the House that using a facial-recognition system, Delhi Police has been able to identify 1100 instigators of violence, out of which at least 300 came from Uttar Pradesh. He said the technology does not discriminate between communities and religions, “We entered Voter ID data, Aadhaar and driver license information to identify people who were involved in the riots.”

3) Amit Shah said that the riots, which took place between February 23-24 claimed 52 lives and injured 526 others. The home minister said that the rioters gutted 371 shops and 142 houses. He told the Lok Sabha that the government has written to the Delhi High Court seeking permission to claim compensation for the riot victims from the rioters. He said that the government is seeking HC permission to seize the property of rioters to ensure compensation for the riot victims.

4) Reacting to the questions raised on his absence from the riot-hit areas, Home Minister Amit Shah said that he did not want to visit the affected areas during violence as it would have diverted police resources. On the Opposition’s allegation that he was busy with Donald Trump visit during the riots, Amit Shah said that he has to attend the pre-scheduled event in his constituency, but he did not attend any events in Delhi.

“The US president’s program was pre-scheduled, it was in my constituency, my visit there was also pre-scheduled. The next day, when the US president visited Delhi, I wasn’t present at any event. The whole time I was sitting with police officials. I only requested NSA Ajit Doval to visit the area to boost the morale of the police officials,” he said.

5) During his reply to the debate, Amit Shah also trained his guns at the Opposition. Without naming Sonia Gandhi, Amit Shah claimed that her speech from Ramlila Maidan in Delhi in December incited violence. “Ek badi party ki rally hui, “Ghar ke bahar niklo”, “Yeh aar paar ki ladai hai” kaha gaya, yeh hate speech nahi lagti aapko? (A big party’s rally took place. Speeches like ‘come out of the houses’, ‘this a do or die battle’ were made. You don’t think these were hate speeches?),” he said. Amit Shah also slammed AIMIM leader Waris Pathan for a speech in which he said that 15 crore people can outweigh 100 crores in what was later perceived as a reference to religious divides in India’s population. Congress staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha during Amit Shah’s speech.