Harsh Mander: The betrayal of the survivors of the Delhi riots

“Five years have passed since my brother was burned alive. First, they pumped him with bullets. They then beat him with sticks. And finally, they set him on fire.”

Saleem Kassar was speaking in a solidarity gathering organised in Delhi by the Karwan e Mohabbat on February 26, the fifth anniversary of the communal carnage that had rocked the working-class enclave of North East Delhi from February 23, 2020.

“I was watching all of this unfold from a distance, on the third storey of a neighbouring building,” he continued. “I was helpless. I could do nothing to save the life of my brother.”

“My home, my factory, all of these were then looted. The crowds threw petrol on these buildings and set them all on fire. They burnt our vehicles as well. Everything we owned was reduced to ashes. We kept calling the police to come to our rescue but no one came.

“We were saved only because of our Hindu neighbour Abhishek. I salute him. We owe our lives to him. He put a tilak on my forehead to make me look like a Hindu. He took all nine members of our family into his home.

“Some days later, after the violence came down, I went with a group...

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