On 3rd June 2022, an Islamist mob in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, went on a rampage, pelting stones against ‘Kafir’ Hindus. According to reports, Hindus were singled out by name before the mob attacked them brutally. In one such instance, a rickshaw driver was stopped and asked his name. When he identified himself as Mukesh, a Hindu, he was assaulted by the Muslim mob with a stick landing on his head, injuring him critically.

The irate mob went on a rampage because they were “protesting” against the statements by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. In a TimesNow debate, she had responded to Islamist panellists insulting the Shivling found at the Gyanvapi complex by repeatedly calling it a “fountain”. She asked them to stop mocking her faith. She then asked them how they would feel if she proceeded to mock Islam. In doing so, she quoted two facts as mentioned in Islamic Hadiths. This was taken as an affront, and as we saw with Kamlesh Tiwari, Muslims across India started dog-whistling against her. In an all too familiar cacophony, we started hearing and reading the chants of “Gustakh-e-Rasool ki saza, sar tan se juda” – on social media and on the streets.

There were two fatwas issued against Nupur Sharma – one from Pakistan and one by AIMIM (Inquilab) India – that announced a massive reward to any “believer” who would behead her.

In Kanpur, news has now emerged that the authorities are probing the role of PFI in the violence and would be taking appropriate action. Bulldozers are still in play and the cops say that once identified, their properties could be demolished.

The visuals from the Kanpur violence that emerged showed a mob of hundreds of Muslims pelting stones with all their might. The sheer force of the stones and bricks that landed on the road was evident from the cloud of dust that emerged from the impact.

Here is a still from that violence.

While the wrath of the intolerant minority hardly surprises anyone anymore, what was interesting to notice in some of the videos that emerged was the hint of careful pre-planning.

In a video tweeted by a Navbharat Times journalist, one could see that the Muslim mob was picking up the stones they were hurling from a hand-cart (thela).

कानपुर में ठेले (खोमचे) में भरे पत्थर बरसाए जा रहे थे। #Kanpur @NBTLucknow https://t.co/qJFjgBGrl7 pic.twitter.com/IsnGx79T8A

— Praveen Mohta (@MohtaPraveenn) June 4, 2022

Here is a still from the video where one can see a cart, laden with bricks and stones, being used by the Muslim mob to cart their weapons around.

In another visual posted by the same reporter, one Muslim man could be seen handing out bricks to other members of the mob. It seems like the cart laden with stones and weapons was hidden at the side of the curb.

कानपुर #Kanpur @NBTLucknow pic.twitter.com/A0x15zqX9J

— Praveen Mohta (@MohtaPraveenn) June 4, 2022

Often, when such violence erupts, the Islamist and Left lobby that acts as the ideological shield of the foot-soldiers actually pelting stones, claim that the violence was spontaneous. The mob’s feelings got hurt, and they, overnight, simply decided to come out on the streets to display their ire. Not just that, they go a step further most times to claim, despite video evidence to the contrary, that it was the Hindus who started the violence and the poor Muslim mob was merely defending itself by pelting stones – stones that they apparently just find lying around on the side of the road at any given point of time.

In the Kanpur case as well, an attempt is being made to blame the Hindus for violence that the Islamists initiated after protesting against innocuous remarks by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who has 2 fatwas against her to behead her, by the way.

The dog-whistling came from a “journalist” of Maktoob Media. He claimed that it was a “Hindu mob” that pelted stones when poor Muslims were merely shutting shops to protest against “blasphemous” statements by Nupur Sharma. Of course, because history shows us just how innocent these mobs are, his assertions are completely ‘believable’.

Violence broke out in #Kanpur during shutdown called by Muslim community protesting against @NupurSharmaBJP blasphemous comments against Prophet Muhammad SAW. When Muslim shopkeepers were closing their shops after Friday prayers, the Hindutva mob started pelting stones at them. pic.twitter.com/MdEfRuQBwr

— Meer Faisal (@meerfaisal01) June 3, 2022

To put things into perspective, a report has revealed that after Friday prayers, the Muslim mob began forcing Hindus in the Beconganj district to close their shops. When they objected, the enraged mob began throwing stones at Hindus. The Islamists insisted on knowing the names of the people, and those who were Hindus were attacked.

While these attempts to put the blame on the Hindu community succeed in the international media, the video evidence proves, beyond doubt, that the Muslim mob initiated the violence, angered by the mere presence of Hindus, who did not want to shut their shops to partake in a violent protest against a fellow Hindu.

Coming back to the visuals, something far more sinister could be seen in the visuals of the violence. There seemed to be a coordinated effort to ensure that the weapons they would need when violence erupts, were easily accessible for the mob that would go on to indulge in violence.

The cart that is seen in the video is laden with stones. Now, the important question that must be answered is whether people are expected to believe that the bricks and stones magically appeared on the cart, to be made accessible to the riotous mob. One has to remember that the violence erupted after Jumma Namaz on Friday.

This is not the first time that we have seen this phenomenon. In several cases of violence, we have seen violence erupt after Namaz, where the Islamist mob becomes irate after coming out of the mosque. During the Delhi riots, there was an image of a mosque in Northeast Delhi where bricks and stones were clearly seen lying around on the roof.

In this particular video, not only mosques but large heaps of stones were stored on the terraces of various residences, which can be clearly seen in the video indicating that the Muslim mobs had meticulously planned for the anti-Hindu riots by strategically placing arms and ammunitions to unleash violence against the Hindus. Interestingly, with the media playing the shield for the Islamists, NDTV craftily cropped the image of bricks atop the mosque to shield the Islamists from scrutiny.

It is rather evident that Islamists are almost always ready with bricks, stones and other weapons in case they need to indulge in violence against either the police force or the Hindu community at large.

Even in the Kanpur violence, the fact that bricks and stones were laid out on the hand cart for the mob to use only indicates that there is a high chance that Islamists seem to have collected enough weapons, stones and other tools that they can use to cause damage in the event of a riot. These would especially happen in areas that “liberals” declare as “Muslim areas” from where if Ram Navami processions pass, they are met with unbridled violence. While the Islamists seem to get away with this with the help of the Left and the media, playing the part of their ideological shield, Hindus appear woefully unprepared to defend themselves from this Islamist onslaught.

With the Islamists seeming to be prepared for violence and the Hindu community unprepared to even defend themselves, the role of organisations like Bajrang Dal and VHP cannot be underscored. It is a fact that when Hindus come under attack, it is indeed these organisations that come to their defence. For example, during the Hauz Qazi violence or the several cases of Grooming Jihad where Hindu girls were abducted and raped, it is these Hindu organisations that rise to the occasion to defend the honour of Hindu women and the lives of Hindu men.

Hindus need to be aware of the demographic challenge that India is facing, perhaps for the first time in the post-partition era and that violence from the Islamists is seldom spontaneous and often planned. The question that remains is how the Hindu community plans to defend itself.