A year on, while no action has been taken against the controversial speech by BJP MP Kapil Mishra that many have claimed to be the flashpoint of the 2020 Delhi riots, he has said he did not regret the speech delivered on the day.
Speaking at an event at Delhi's Constitution Club on Monday, 22 February, Mishra said, as quoted by The Indian Express, "If the need arises to redo what I did on February 23, I would do it all over again."
“I have no regrets, besides the fact that we could not save Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma and constable Ratan Lal,” he added.
Mishra, who had led a pro-CAA rally in Northeast Delhi on 23 February 2020, had warned the administration that if they don't clear the anti-CAA protesters, Mishra and his men would themselves take to the streets.
The video of this speech at the Maujpur traffic signal, where he stood beside DCP (North East) Ved Prakash Surya, had gone viral on social media. Violence had broken out in the area soon after the speech, claiming 53 lives.
In the charge sheets that have been filed in connection with the Delhi riots, the Delhi Police has attached as much focus on the “chronology” that allegedly led to the riots, as to the communal violence that took place in February 2020.
Despite multiple complaints filed against Mishra, the Delhi Police, in July 2020, submitted an affidavit in Delhi High Court, claiming it has found no evidence indicating that Kapil Mishra and other BJP leaders like Anurag Thakur and Pravesh Verma had any role in instigating the North-East Delhi Riots.
“It’s been a year since Jihadi forces engineered the riots in Delhi. Exactly the same pattern is being seen even now, like what happened on Republic Day. The so-called fringe elements are trying to sabotage peace in the Capital, aided and funded by anti-India forces, both within and outside the country. And the ‘pradarshan se danga tak (from protests to riots)’ model is very much evident,” he said.
He was speaking at an event alongside authors of the controversial book, ‘Delhi Riots: The Untold Story’. The book has been published by Garuda publications after Bloomsbury pulled out of it facing criticism over certain facts and an invitation to Mishra at an event that would discuss the Delhi riots.
On Monday, Mishra also said, "This book has a lot on the conspirators of the riots. So you will not find much in the book about me."
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