No communal violence in last 10 years, says Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev; NCRB data tells otherwise

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of the Isha Foundation claimed recently in an interview that in the last six years or possibly 10, he has not heard of a single instance of communal violence. However, the data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) proves that he is incorrect. There have been 5,417 communal riots reported in the country in the last six years from 2014-2020.

According to the last released data on ‘Crime in India’ by NCRB, communal riots registered an increase of 96% in 2020 over the previous year. Similarly, caste riots increased by almost 50%, agrarian riots 38% and riots during ‘andolan/morcha’ increased by 33%.

This comment comes close on the heels of US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s statement that there are rising attacks on people at places of worship in India.

In 2019, there were 438 cases registered on communal violence, but in 2020, it increased to 857. Several of the 2020 cases were because of the Northeast Delhi riots of February 2020 as the Delhi Police alone registered 520 cases of communal riots in the year. Bihar came in second with 117 cases, Haryana and Jharkhand at 51 each, followed by Maharashtra (26) and Gujarat (23). Uttar Pradesh did not record a single case of communal violence in 2020, according to the data.

The ministry of Home Affairs, which also keeps a record of communal violence incidents, stated in 2015 that 1,491 cases of communal violence took place in the two years of 2012 and 2013, bringing the total instances of communal violence in the last 10 years to 6,908.

When it comes to deaths related to communal violence, 616 people were killed between 2012 and 2017. Data for deaths caused due to communal riots is not available after 2017.

One of the biggest instances of communal violence was recorded in February of 2020, when a carnage broke out in north-east Delhi in the aftermath of the protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register for Citizens. In these riots 53 people were killed and more than 500 were injured.

In October 2021, homes of Muslims and mosques were targeted in Tripura. Though the police maintained that no “used” mosque was damaged or attacked, local journalists confirmed that at least 10 mosques across the state were attacked and damaged.

In April-May of this year, several instances of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims were recorded in Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal during the Ram Navami processions. In April, violence was also witnessed in Delhi's Jahangirpuri on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.