Tauqeer Raza asks for ‘martyr’ status for those killed in Batla House encounter

Elections in India are becoming a tool for communal leaders to insult law enforcement officers diligently doing their duty. As UP elections are nearing, the trend is getting repeated. Now, Tauqeer Raza, a Congress ally, has asked for giving martyr status to those killed in the Batla House encounter.

Maulana demands Martyr status for those dead in Batla House 

Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, chief of Ittihad-e-Millat Council, has stoked another controversy with his remarks on Batla House. Khan, who recently targeted Hindus with a warning, now said that those who were killed by Police in Batla House should be called martyrs.

Martyr status is reserved for those who sacrificed their lives in service of great principles. It is generally accorded to police and army personnel who gave their lives in service of the people of his country.

Claiming that he was promised of a probe in Batla House encounter, Raza said, “Congress had said to me that they would probe Batla House encounter if their government is formed in 2009. Had there been a probe, the world would have known those killed as terrorists should be given martyr status.”

Read more: Going by the venomous criticism of “Batla House” by Umar Khalid, this is for sure, the bullet has hit the right spot

BJP’s criticism forced Tauqeer to defend himself

Meanwhile, the statement did not go down well with BJP. Sambit Patra, BJP’s spokesperson, criticised Congress for allying with Raza for UP elections 2022. Patra stated that Congress allies with those who make communal remarks against Hindus. To substantiate his point, he said that Congress has allied with parties that draw support from Muslims in states like Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal.

After coming under fire, Tauqeer rushed in to defend his remarks. He claimed that all encounters and bomb blasts that took place during that period were fake. In a statement to Republic TV, he said, “That time, all the encounters and bomb blasts that took place were fake, they were executed to malign the image of Muslims and to create a sort of fear against the community in the hearts of the Hindus like they are terrorists, they are anti-nationals,”

He further added, “I am not just talking about Batla House, if there is an independent inquiry in all the cases, it would be proved that they were not terrorists, they were martyrs.”

Khan had warned Hindus

Recently, Khan had pledged his support to Congress in the upcoming UP elections. He had held a series of meeting with UP Congress Chief Ajay Lallu and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Khan has been anti-Hindu in his public stands.

Recently, Khan had claimed that it’s only because of him that Muslim youth are not attacking Hindus. Warning Hindus in his Bareily rally, he had said, “I see the anger in the eyes of my youth and I am afraid that one day this anger will burst out. I am afraid that the day I lose control over them, what will happen. I want to tell my Hindu brothers that I am afraid that one day when my youth take the law into their hands; you won’t find any place to hide in India,”

Batla House and dirty politics around it

After the 2008 serial blasts that rocked the national capital, a special team, under the supervision of encounter-specialist Inspector M.C. Sharma was formed to trace those involved.  On 19 September 2008, an encounter took place at L-18 Batla House in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar between a raiding team of Delhi Police Special Cell and the IM terrorists responsible for the blasts.

Inspector Sharma was leading the Delhi Police team and got grievously injured as the terrorists opened fire. Sharma was not equipped with a bulletproof jacket, which is another issue of the then government’s apathy towards India’s security forces.

Read more: Batla House encounter was Secular Parties’ and Left Liberals’ weapon to attack the Hindus for over a decade. Now the party is over

Yogi Adityanath’s record on improved law and order situation has left the opposition with little to no issue to contest elections. This is the reason why leaders like Raza, who have made their careers on communalism, are repeating old school hate-mongering stunts. Unfortunately, only honest police officers will become the biggest victim of this dirty game.