Tahir Hussain – the man who admitted to wanting to teach Kafirs a lesson during the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots is out on custody parole to canvass for votes. AIMIM – the Muslim party led by barrister Asadduddin Owaisi – gave him a ticket to contest the Delhi elections from Mustafabad.

The Mustafabad Assembly constituency is a fairly new addition. It was born during the 2008 delimitation exercise under the Congress government. In 2008, Congress admitted that the delimitation exercise helped the party win Delhi because of the addition of several Muslim voters to specific constituencies, as per a report in the Hindustan Times.

In 2025, ahead of the Delhi Assembly Elections, Muslims of the riot-scarred Mustafabad constituency turned up in mobs just to get a glimpse of Tahir Hussain – the man who is accused in the brutal murder of Ankit Sharma, an IB officer.

Delhi: AIMIM candidate and Delhi riots accused Tahir Hussain says, "After five years, I have had the opportunity to come out of jail, and I am very happy. When I was leaving jail, I was anxious and worried, but I am happy now because so many people came here to meet me, to see… pic.twitter.com/ZcxJpWCboi

— IANS (@ians_india) January 29, 2025

Gloating, Tahir Hussain under police custody parole said, “After five years, I have had the opportunity to come out of jail, and I am very happy. When I was leaving jail, I was anxious and worried, but I am happy now because so many people came here to meet me, to see me, to catch a glimpse of me. This shows that for the first time, a person from Mustafabad, a son, a brother from Mustafabad, is about to become an MLA…”

According to reports, Muslims of Mustafabad showered overwhelming support on Hussain by standing in long queues since morning just to get a glimpse of him. One resident said that Allah has given great success to Tahir and ‘Inshallah’, people would also vote for him. Another Muslim resident was asked about the appeal of Assam politician and leader AIUDF – Badruddin – to vote for AAP and not let the Muslim vote get divided in the upcoming Delhi elections. The Muslim resident promptly responded – “We don’t know Badruddin. We know Tahir. We will vote for him”. Another Muslim said the entire constituency is with Tahir Hussain. When asked about the statement of Badruddin, with a fair amount of certainty, the appeal was dismissed.

Delhi: Mustafabad's residents showed overwhelming support towards AIMIM candidate and Delhi riots accused Tahir Hussain and have been standing in long queues since morning

A resident says, "Allah has blessed him with a day of great success, and Tahir will receive the vote…" pic.twitter.com/IahQUo3t0u

— IANS (@ians_india) January 29, 2025

With the overwhelming support for Tahir Hussain among the Muslim population of Mustafabad, one must evaluate the charges against Tahir Hussain, which were found prima facie true by the judiciary.

Role of Tahir Hussain in Delhi anti-Hindu riots

From the 24th of February to the 25th of February, Delhi burnt with perhaps one of the worst anti-Hindu riots that the country has seen in recent times. As many as 53 people were killed and hundreds injured in the riots that were planned, organised, masterminded and implemented with clinical precision by the Islamists. One of the main protagonists of the sinister story is Tahir Hussain, the former AAP leader and current AIMIM candidate, who spearheaded the Delhi riots in which IB staffer Ankit Sharma was murdered brutally by his mob and several Hindu properties were burnt to ashes.

In the chargesheets filed by the police against Tahir Hussain, his role in the riots has been meticulously demonstrated. In brief:

1. Tahir Hussain had planned the riots with Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi back on 8th January during a meeting at Shaheen Bagh 
2. Several transactions from shell companies were suspicious. The chargesheet details several such transactions from Tahir Hussain’s account that indicate that he had started receiving money to organise the riots. Some of the money was even routed through shell companies
3. Umar Khalid had assured Tahir Hussain that financially, Islamist outfit PFI (Popular Front of India) was ready to help in organizing the riots. 
4. Police say that Hussain, who had deposited his licensed pistol with 100 rounds in the Khajuri Khas police station in January, got it released only on 22 February – that is, just before the riots broke out. The chargesheet says that during the investigation, Hussain failed to give a satisfactory reply to the police regarding the release of his weapon. The chargesheet says, “Only 64 live cartridges and 22 empty cartridges were recovered at his instance. During interrogation, he could not give an account of the remaining 14 live cartridges and 22 empty/fired cartridges, when and where the same were fired/used.”
5. During the intervening night of 24 and 25 February, Hussain had shifted his family to his parental house in Mustafabad citing safety, but continued to stay at his building “so that he could keep an eye on the whole situation and stand with the Muslims against the Hindus on the next day as per plan and criminal conspiracy”.
6. Tahir Hussain made several PCR calls as a decoy, to ensure that his involvement in the riots was not revealed.
7. Tahir Hussain had ensured that the CCTV cameras were turned off so the evidence was not recorded.

In Chargesheet Number 114/20, for example, his role in burning the shops of Hindus and instigating the Muslim mob to attack Hindus is clearly made out.

In the two chargesheets, 114 and 59, there are disclosure statements by Tahir Hussain as well which reveal the truth depths of depravity that he went to in his campaign of specifically targeting Hindus.

In one of the disclosure statements signed by Tahir Hussain on the 5th of May 2020, he reveals how he planned the riots to ‘teach kafirs a lesson’.

Tahir Hussain confesses that during the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, he got the information that there were going to be some rallies in support of CAA as well. After receiving this information, he met with others and hatched a conspiracy to “teach them a lesson”. Further, Tahir Hussain confesses in the Disclosure Statement that per this conspiracy that he had hatched, he chose his own house as a launchpad for the riots since it was a high-rise in the area. Tahir Hussain says that he also chose his own house as a launchpad because, in his house, construction was already being done and hence, his collecting stones and bricks for the riots would not raise suspicion.

He confesses that he and his co-conspirators had started collecting stones, bricks and other ammunition, well in advance so that they could teach those who were in support of the CAA a lesson when the time was right. To that end, 2-3 days before the riots broke out, he had also got his licensed pistol released from the police station. While gearing up for the riots and collecting ammunition to teach Hindus a lesson, Tahir Hussain says that he had instructed his supporters to be “ready for anything and in every manner” and also ensure that all the CCTV cameras, private and government-installed, in the area, were broken so the evidence of the riots could not be captured. It is to be kept in mind that all of this was done well before the anti-Hindu riots broke out in Delhi.

Tahir Hussain admits that he, along with his brothers Shah Alam, Arshad, Abid, Shahid, Irshad and several others were present at his residence. His office space is also in the same building where the riots were launched. Tahir Hussain then discloses that on the 24th afternoon, his mobs started chanting ‘Allah Hu Akbar’ and ‘Maaro Maaro Kaafiro Ko Maaro’. Tahir then says that on his instruction, his supporters reached the terrace of his house and started specifically targeting Hindus and their properties by hurling stones and shooting and throwing petrol bombs. Hussain had told his supporters that since his building is a high-rise in the area, they would not be hurt or put in harm’s way by any retaliation by the Hindus either. He further said that his brother, Shah Alam, Gulfam and others were also firing a pistol at Hindus.

Interestingly, it was in this disclosure statement that Tahir Hussain admitted that during the violence, he kept going back to his house to make calls to the PCR, pretending to be a victim of the violence, because he wanted to create a decoy for himself.

The details of this disclosure statement can be read here.

In another disclosure statement, Tahir Hussain admitted to violence in which he was an active participant in December 2019.

Tahir in the supplementary disclosure statement narrated how he, after the 15th December Jamia protests and the subsequent police action against the rioters, had grown increasingly angry and decided to talk to the Muslims of his area about how the Citizenship Amendment Act is a law against the Muslim community and how because of it, Muslims would lose their citizenship and will have to flee India eventually.

On the 16th of December, he started speaking to the Muslims in his area and asked them to assemble near Farukhia Masjid, Brijpuri Pulia at noon that day. Tahir Hussain himself reached Farukhia Masjid at about 12:30 PM and he says that by 1 PM, at least 1,000 Muslims had assembled to hear him talk about how CAA was anti-Muslim.

In his Supplementary Disclosure statement, he says that suddenly, while he was talking to the crowd on the 16th of December, the police arrived. Thereafter, many people went inside to Masjid to hide, making the excuse of reading Namaz and the others receded into several lanes and by-lanes.

Tahir Hussain says in his disclosure statement that after the police went away, Muslims assembled in Lane 10 of Jama Masjid and the meeting about how CAA is ‘anti-Muslim’ started again. 50-60 people were present for these meetings, and then at 8 PM, Tahir Hussain said that they decided to meet at Al Hind Nursing Home to discuss the future course of action with one Dr. MM Anwar.

He then makes a shocking revelation. He says, to “mark his presence”, he got his men to pelt stones at a bus in Bhajanpura.

Further in the disclosure statement, Tahir Hussain says that on the 17th of December, along with Dr Anwar, he had planned to take out a rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act. During the rally, in front of the Farukhiya Masjid, Tahir Hussain spoke to 70-80 Muslims saying that under PM Modi and Amit Shah, if CAA is passed, then all Muslims would have to leave India and run away. He also told them that if they don’t want to run away from India, they should be ready to “bring them down to their knees”.

Tahir Hussain discloses that at that time, the police again showed up and the plan for the rally was cancelled with the crowd dispersing in different directions. However, he says that due to the rally being cancelled, he was enraged. At around 8 PM on the 17th of December, he assembled 200-250 people near the Tirpal Factory and taking advantage of the electricity being gone, got the mob to start pelting stones against the Hindus. He admits that for over 30 minutes, they kept attacking Hindus and at that time, the police had also fired tear gas at the Muslims attacking Hindus. When a larger police force reached the spot, the crowd dispersed and Tahir Hussain ran away.

The full details of this disclosure statement can be read here.

In March 2023, the Karkardooma court in Delhi framed charges against Tahir Hussain for the brutal murder of IB staffer Ankit Sharma. While framing the charges, the court observed, “Tahir was continuously acting in a manner of supervising & motivating this mob. All these things were done to target Hindus. Every member of the mob assembled there participated in achieving the objective of targeting Hindus.” The court further remarked, “Such conducts of the members of this mob, show that they were acting out of the meeting of their minds and with a ‘clearcut objective in mind, to kill and harm Hindus’. Thus, a ‘criminal conspiracy to indulge in a riot and to kill Hindus and harm properties of Hindus’, is well reflected from the evidence on the record.”

Specifically for Tahir Hussain, the court had observed, “Tahir Hussain also played the role of instigator to kill Hindus. and exhorting this mob so as not to spare Hindus. He instigated the mob when Ankit came forward towards this mob.”

As recently as March 2024, the court had denied bail to Hussain observing that he had not only funded the anti-Hindu violence but also actively participated in it.

With Tahir Hussain being celebrated, the Muslims community should be ashamed

The role of Tahir Hussain in the violence against Hindus is not shrouded in ambiguity. He is not the victim of the state and certainly, motives have not been attributed to him owing to the whims of the state. Tahir Hussain actively funded and instigated the mob to ensure the victimisation of Hindus and it was his mob, funded, instigated and led by him, that murdered Ankit Sharma – who was stabbed 51 times. His body was later found in the drain – with his intestines lying out of his body.

The riot-hit Mustafabad was a hotbed of violence against Hindus and served as an important area for the mobilisation of Muslims. The mob at the time, mostly Muslim youths, approached from Mustafabad and gathered on the bridge of Chand Bagh. From there, they reached Tahir Hussain’s building. They went to the terrace, from where they started throwing stones and petrol bombs. Further, even in the case of Dinesh Kumar Khatik, one of the individuals killed in anti-Hindu riots in Delhi, his brother had clearly said that Dinesh’s life had been taken by jihad – the jihad of Islamic fundamentalists. He said that the whole of Mustafabad killed his brother. 

In fact, a lot of the violence in other areas like Shiv Vihar Taraha in 2020 also saw mobilisation of Muslim mobs from Mustafabad. The Shiv Vihar Tiraha lies in the jurisdiction of three police stations – Karwal Nagal, Dayalpur and Gokulpuri. One road in the Shiv Vihar Tiraha leads to Mustafabad, which is a largely Muslim-dominated area and saw massive mobilisation during the violence specifically targeting Hindus.

From the 2020 violence against Hindus to 2025, where Muslims are standing in long queues just to get a glimpse of Tahir Hussain, it would not be unreasonable to conclude that the local Muslim population – at least a large majority of the population – harbours animosity towards Hindus and unbridled affection for anyone who would show the will to “teach Kafirs a lesson”.

If one were asked to identify 5 years from the long, illustrious contemporary history of Bharat where Hindus were not actively being “taught a lesson” by the Muslim population, it would prove to be an impossible task. Every year, every month and almost every day, Hindus are brutalised by those who believe that being a Hindu, in and of itself, is reason enough for violence to be unleashed. By those who believe that they have the exclusive right to be aggrieved by the mere existence of those who refuse to follow their religious doctrine. By those who believe that non-Muslims are sub-human and their murder, should they fail to convert, is a well-deserved outcome, guaranteeing that the believers who delivered that outcome, find a place in heaven.

While the hordes, dreaming of killing “Kafirs” and thereafter finding a place in Islamic heaven, go on a rampage, their aggression is justified by concocting an offence, that they then claim gave them the right to indulge in murder and arson. The aggressors then swiftly become the victims by claiming that their incarceration, if at all, after their ‘justified’ rampage, was an act of aggression against them and their community – born out of the world’s hostility towards the ever-so-peaceful Islam.

Staying true to the Islamic playbook, Tahir Hussain, surrounded by doting Muslims, delivered a stirring speech to his constituency. He spoke about how difficult the last 5 years were for him when he was caged by the prison high walls.

Cameras out, affection and devotion in their eyes, the local Muslim population of Mustafabad, presumably swore to avenge the injustice that Tahir Hussain – the slayer of Kafirs – continues to endure at the hands of the Kafir state.

More often than not, Hindus are told that their scepticism of a vast majority of Muslims is misplaced and a result of internalised Islamophobia. From Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who told Hindu victims of the Malabar genocide that they were being massacred because they failed to make Muslims feel like their brothers to the contemporary flock of wannabe Mahatmas – who regularly claim that Hindus are marginalising and offending Muslims because of majoritarianism – the onus of the scripturally sanctioned aggression by sections of Muslims is placed squarely on the shoulders of Hindus.

Hindus are also told that those who indulge in religiously motivated violence against Hindus are outliers, unworthy of representing Islam and the larger Muslim community. The ones who display aggression towards Hindus are those who follow “Mullah ka Islam” and not “real” Islam- which supposedly propagates peace, love and brotherhood, or so Hindus are told.

Hindus, on their part, are a people desperate to believe such tropes. Falling victims to Islam for centuries, Hindus truly wish to believe that those who have historically massacred them are misguided and have, somehow, strayed from the path of true Islam and had they abandoned “Mullah ka Islam”, they would have never harmed their Hindu brethren. The delusion is, perhaps, mainly, a coping mechanism – an effort to hold on to the last shred of hope that the Muslim community is capable of change – capable of coexisting peacefully – capable of love and affection towards Hindus – capable of displaying the brotherhood the Hindu community has so desperately sought for hundreds of years.

And perhaps they are. It would be misplaced, however evident and statistically likely, to claim that all Muslims – every single one of them – want the annihilation of Hindus. All Muslims and the community as a whole certainly cannot be branded as hostile towards Hindus. It would be terribly politically incorrect to do so. And if that is true, the scenes from Mustafabad and the ensuing silence of the section of the Muslim community that follows “Allah ka Islam” as opposed to the “radicals” who follow “Mullah ka Islam” certainly raise alarm.

Decades, nay, centuries have been spent by Muslims convincing the world that they are not all bad and those who reach that conclusion are horrible, Islamophobic, hateful individuals. If one is to believe them, one would expect the followers of “real” Islam to come out in droves condemning the display of support for Tahir Hussain, distancing themselves from the horde which presumably, according to their own logic, follow “Mullah ka Islam”.

Their collective silence is indicative of the harsh reality from which Hindus wish to shield themselves – a reality that is too uncomfortable to talk about, let alone accept.

A part of that truth is that Tahir Hussain got a ticket from AIMIM as a reward for his campaign of teaching Kafirs a lesson and the mob which gathered to support him are the norm, not the exception. It is unthinkable that the locals of Mustafabad who saw the violence and the mobilisation of Muslim youth from the area are unaware of the targeting of Hindus. It is unthinkable that they are unaware of the role played by Tahir Hussain himself, given that radicals from the very area mobilised and reached Tahir Hussain’s house to pelt stones at Hindus. It is therefore not unreasonable to believe that the support extended to Tahir Hussain is not just because they follow the same faith, which would be understandable, but because he displayed the “courage” to “teach Kafirs a lesson”.

If that is indeed true, then the Muslim community is confronted with two options.

The first – Tahir Hussain and the mob supporting him follow a twisted version of Islam that propagates hate and violence against non-Muslims. If they wish for the world to believe that those indulging in hate and violence are outliers, Muslims following the “real”, peaceful version of Islam must denounce the scenes emerging from Mustafabad.

The second is to admit that Tahir Hussain’s actions and the actions of the mob supporting him are not in conflict with Islam and that there is, indeed, scriptural sanction for violence against non-Muslims.

With the Muslim community losing its voice when it comes to offering condemnation either against Tahir Hussain being given a ticket by AIMIM to contest elections or the ocean of support he has found, one has to assume that they are either too scared or subscribe to the obscenity being played out in Mustafabad. Either way, it is time for them to look within and be very, very ashamed of their own conduct – again – an unlikely expectation that perhaps could be branded a part of the broader Hindu coping mechanism.