Turkman Gate violence: BJP's Naqvi cautions people against 'communal conspiracy syndicate'

New Delhi: In the wake of violence at Delhi's Turkman Gate during an anti-encroachment drive, senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said people must remain cautious of the "communal conspiracy syndicate" which tries to take political advantage of such incidents.

Naqvi denounced the efforts of some elements to instigate communal violence near Turkman Gate during a demolition drive aimed at encroached areas.

The anti-encroachment drive near the Faiz-e-Elahi mosque in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan area on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday triggered violence as many people pelted stones at police personnel, injuring five of them, including the area's station house officer.

Police used force and lobbed teargas shells to quell the protest. Four people were arrested and a juvenile was apprehended. Police also said 10 to 15 people have been detained.

Naqvi said those instigating violence are a part of a "congregation of conspirators" which is trying to hijack harmony through communalism.

"Wiping out such criminal syndicate which has taken contracts to concoct communal frenzy is a must to ensure safety and harmony of the society," the former minority affairs minister told reporters here.

Naqvi also hit out at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's for his jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over US President Donald Trump's recent comments.

He said the "arithmetic" of BJP's election victories has disturbed the "mathematics of dynasty" which considers power as its inheritance.

Instead of performing in political ground, the Congress is blaming the electoral system and has become a "laboratory of losers", the BJP leader said.

In the backdrop of Trump's recent remarks on his ties with Modi and tariffs, Gandhi on Wednesday took a swipe at the government and posted an old video in which he had talked about how in 1971 then PM Indira Gandhi had withstood pressure from America.

Trump on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Modi is "not that happy with me" because of the tariffs imposed by Washington on Delhi for its purchases of Russian oil.

Trump, delivering remarks at the House GOP Member Retreat, also claimed that “Prime Minister Modi came to see me, ‘Sir, may I see you please’. Yes."