Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been seeking an elusive achievement for a decade in New Delhi. A few months after leading the Bharatiya Janata Party to a resounding victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, it lost the 2015 assembly polls in the national capital to the then-new Aam Aadmi Party. The same story was repeated in 2020. However, the party finally ended its 27-year dry spell with a landslide victory in the 2025 assembly elections in Delhi.
This election added a much-awaited feather to the saffron party’s magnificent cap of victories, however, it isn’t only an electoral success but a testament to the sheer will and resilience of the party’s candidates especially in light of the violent incidents that marred Delhi in 2020. One such person is Kapil Mishra who won from Karawal Nagar with 23,355 votes and defeated AAP’s Manoj Kumar Tyagi. Notably, it has been a BJP stronghold since 1993 except for the 2015 election, when Kapil Mishra won as the AAP candidate. He was sacked from the party in 2017 for speaking against Kejriwal, and was disqualified from the house in 2019, after which he joined the BJP.
On 20th February, Mishra was administered the oath of office by Delhi lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena at a grand event in Ramlila Maidan and will now serve in the cabinet of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta handling Water, Tourism and Culture ministries. Notably, the journey to success was fraught with challenges for the 44-year-old, whose reputation was dragged through the mud in the wake of the anti-Hindu riots that transpired in Delhi.
His victory in Karawal Nagar is hence particularly significant, as the region was one of those most adversely impacted during the unrest. The lieutenant governor also visited and spoke with residents Karawal Nagar and other affected areas in 2020.
What happened in Karawal Nagar during 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi riots
Anti-Hindu riots broke out in multiple areas in the national capital in the guise of protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the situation was similar in Karawal Nagar. Notably, the residence of ex-AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, the man responsible for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma is situated in Karawal Nagar. His body was brutally stabbed over 400 times and then thrown into a nearby drain. Hussain also accumulated stones, acid and petrol bombs, among other things.
He reportedly confessed that he collected these weapons easily and without suspicion because his building was multi-story and still under construction. The rioters then began attacking Hindu temples, residences and businesses while yelling “Allahu Akbar” and “Maaro Kaafiro Ko Maaro” (Kill the infidels) from there. He had even urged his followers to be prepared for anything drastic as they wanted to “teach a lesson to the Hindus.” Hussain contested the Delhi assembly polls from Mustafabad constituency on All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) ticket but BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht emerged victorious from there.
People stuck in Karawal Nagar began making distress calls in a panic amid dense smoke plumes and stores being looted. The main road was “captured” by rioters and stone-pelters, leaving residents of Karawal Nagar and Khajuri Khas without a way out, reported The Times of India.
“A mob was outside my house and even policemen weren’t allowed entry. We were stuck at home for two days. I could hear firing. I gave first aid to a man who was hurt in stone-pelting,” reported Vikram Pandey from Karawal Nagar. “I don’t think the situation is going to change. I’m not going to put myself or my family in harm’s way. I have applied for leave and I’d rather give my resignation than remain here,” voiced a terrified member of a family of four.
The riots claimed the lives of at least 53 people and many were wounded. The paramilitary personnel in Karawal Nagar, where they were stationed to maintain order were also attacked with acid by the miscreants. Notably, the areas hardest hit by the violence were Karawal Nagar and Chand Bagh.
Delhi violence: A conspiracy against Hindus and India
The history of the Hindu-Muslim conflict in India dates back to colonial times that has shook the nation from time to time. Likewise, India was shocked by the devastation and bloodshed caused during the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu Riots. An intricate scheme was hatched by some Muslim and Left groups, which led to rampant violence in Delhi. The investigation revealed the multiple layers and the conspirators behind the bloodbath. However, many other who were directly or indirectly involved are yet to face the music of the law.
Not only was the violence motivated by anti-Hindu prejudice or an aversion to CAA, but it was also a deliberate attempt to damage India’s reputation abroad during President Donald Trump. A meeting was conducted in a basement in Jangpura with many conspirators including Yogendra Yadav, Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others, on 8th December 2019. According to a chargesheet, a plan for implementing the Chakka Jam was developed during this time.
It was agreed that Sharjeel Imam would be in charge of organizing and guiding students from different institutions and universities in and around Delhi. Interestingly, it was also resolved that groups like “Swarajya Abhiyaan” and “United Against Hate” would support one another in whatever manner they could. Swara Bhaskar, a small-time actor, was in close touch with Umar Khalid who had instructed her to fabricate a story in support of Dr Kafeel Khan during their conversations. He had informed her in a previous conversation that the demonstrators from Shaheen Bagh in Kolkata’s Park Circus wanted her there.
The aforementioned information demonstrated how the riots weren’t spontaneous but that there was a deliberate intention to commit violence in the capital. “I promise that when Donald Trump will visit India on 24th February, we will show how the Indian government is trying to divide the country and tarnish the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. We will come out on streets in huge numbers to tell (the US President) that people of India are fighting to bring everyone together. Will you come out,” Umar Khalid’s speech also pointed towards the same.
This is indicated by the careful preparation to destroy CCTV cameras, conceal oneself behind CAA agitation and use the demonstrators to carry out violent acts. Sharjeel Imam’s 2019 appeal to his co-religionists to “cut-off chicken neck (Siliguri corridor)” is ample evidence of the true intentions and wicked mindset of these people. Sharjeel Imam started a WhatsApp group named Muslim Students of JNU. This occurred immediately following the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) into the Parliament.
A chargesheet disclosed that Sharjeel Imam was in close communication with Arshad Warsi, a Jamia student. He was also in contact with the Students of Jamia (SOJ), a “radical communal group.” The Delhi Special Cell detained Arshad Warsi in 2023 in relation to the Pune ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) terror module. The Muslim Students of JNU (MSJ) group distributed pamphlets written by Sharjeel Imam himself across the Jama Masjid region, according to the retrieved conversations between Sharjeel Imam and Arshad Warsi.
The pamphlets were communal in nature and used the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Ram Janmabhoomi case to basically foment hatred within the Muslim community. The Delhi High Court already ruled that the riots were a thoughtfully orchestrated plot to incite unrest in the national capital. “The Delhi riots of 2020 were a conspiracy, planned and executed. They evidently did not take place in a spur of the moment,” stated Justice Subramanium Prasad when denying bail to accused Mohammad Ibrahim.
Additionally, even Delhi Police confirmed that the initial evidence showed that the anti-Hindu riots in February 2020 were a “well thought of conspiracy to destabilize the harmony in the society” rather than an act of spordiac or spontaneous violence.
How Kapil Mishra was vilified
Meanwhile, the perpetrators and their allies in and outside the media attempted to shift the blame after the riots by blaming BJP leaders including Kapil Mishra as it is not hard for them to turn a gun-wielding Mohammad Shahrukh into Anurag Mishra or conceal his identity. Kapil Mishra was accused of making aggressive remarks during the anti-CAA protests prompting the violence.
In reality, he urged the authorities to remove the protesters who were obstructing the road and causing problems for commuters and others in the vicinity by calling a pro-CAA rally at the Maujpur traffic light, near Jaffrabad Metro. “They (protestors) want to create trouble in Delhi. That’s why they have closed the roads. That’s why they have created a riot-like situation here. We have not pelted any stone,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Afterwards, despite police using tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, a stone-pelting incident was recorded in the evening near the Maujpur-Babarpur Metro Station, which is near the location of anti-CAA rallies. If this is the threshold for accusing people of violence, then many vocal anti-Hindu individuals including Swara Bhasker, Harsh Mander and others gave far more communal and problematic speeches during the protests without any opposition.
More importantly, in 2020, the Delhi police told the Delhi high court that they had not discovered any “actionable evidence” during the investigation that pointed to any involvement of prominent political figures, such as BJP leaders Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur in “instigating and/or participating in the riots.” The submission followed several Public Interest Litigation (PIL) requests to register formal complaints against a number of political figures, including Anurag Thakur and Kapil Mishra.
The Delhi Police accused the petitioners of selective outrage over certain incidents while disregarding other violent events, terming the pleas “motivated.” “In case, during investigation, the role of aforesaid persons in commissioning of the offences in the respective FIRs would surface, then Delhi Police would be duty bound to take statutory steps as mandated under the law against the aforesaid persons. However, no fresh FIR is warranted at this stage,” the affidavit conveyed.
Notably, Mishra also received death threats as a result of the unfounded charges, with one Mohammad Amanatullah warning that no one could save him from his imminent demise. Another messaged him on WhatsApp, threatening, “Many will kill you” in all caps. Someone declared that he wanted to kill him in another WhatsApp conversation. Furthermore, an impleadment case contesting the maintainability of a plea requesting the filing of a formal complaint against a number of BJP officials for allegedly using hate speech to stir up the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots was dismissed by the Delhi High Court in 2022.
Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq submitted an intervention application on behalf of a lawyer in a pending case, asking the court to register a formal complaint and conduct an investigation against Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma, Abhay Verma and Anurag Thakur. However, it was junked by the Delhi High Court bench, composed of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani.
NDTV, India Today, The Quint, Congress leader Ruchira Chaturvedi, anti-India journalist Sreenivasan Jain and others even called him a “whistlerblower” in the Delhi Riots chargesheet. However, they conveniently omitted an important part of the same section. “Indicative chats corroborating the fear of conspirators from being exposed. Conspirators resorted to shifting blame by creating a false narrative and threatened the whistleblowers,” it informed. Additionally, it stated that protected witnesses have confirmed the same.
The Delhi Police stated “creating false narrative and threatened whistleblower.” This consisted of two parts. The fabrication of a false narrative came first followed by threats against whistleblowers. The Delhi Police initially posted screenshots of conversations from the “Delhi Protest Support Group” (DPSG) with Khalid Saifi, Rahul Roy and other members discussing filing a formal complaint against Kapil Mishra under this section. It should be noted that the DSPG group discussion occurred at 1 am on 24th February, after the violence had already broken out.
However, the media conveniently focused on this portion and overlooked the more than 700 pages that describe the full conspiracy. The police’s quotation of the conversations about Mishra showed how the riot engineers, including Khalid Saifi, who had even acknowledged their involvement in the conspiracy, were trying to use him as a means of deflecting attention away from themselves and inventing a “story.” Mishra had no part in the conversations that occured later in the same segment where “whistleblowers were being threatened.”
Moreover, a year after Siddique Kappan, a Kerala-based “journalist” accused by the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was released on bail after more than two years in prison, a report emerged detailing how he ordered the Popular Front of India (PFI), a banned Islamist terror group, to kill BJP leaders Parvesh Verma and Kapil Mishra after the 2020 anti-Hindu riots in Delhi.
Infuriated by their efforts to stop PFI members from targeting Hindus during the 2020 anti-Hindu riots in Delhi, Siddique Kappan reportedly ordered PFI’s hit squad commander Kamal KP, a Malappuram native, to kill Kapil Mishra and Parvesh Verma, according to a report published on 19th March 2024 by the local Malayalam media outlet Janmabhumi.
Conclusion
Kapil Mishra left AAP after differences with its national convenor and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and grew as a significant voice for Hindus in the saffron party. His political career has undoubtedly not been a pleasant one due to his strong resistance to anti-India and anti-forces which was brought to light during the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi. They intended to create a bogus narrative, and punish him for their crimes but instead he became a minister in Delhi. There could not be a better end to their nefarious designs.
Mishra has consistently supported the Hindu community, whether through organizing donations, raising funds or providing assistance in various capacities. His recent success and appointment to the Delhi cabinet reflect the achievements of his dedicated efforts. Additionally, this development highlights the BJP’s commitment to recognizing merit and the importance of unwavering hardwork in the party.
Now, a new chapter has begun for Delhi, BJP and the winning candidates specifically Mishra after the assembly polls. There primary focus should be on fulfilling the promises, making Delhi what it was intended to be and fixing the mistakes made by the AAP. The current administration should further ensure that there isn’t any place for violence in Delhi. Mishra himself witnessed the horror firsthand and was even wrongfully held accountable for it by the usual suspects. It is time for him and his party to make sure that such a evil never rear its head ever again.
