Need trust-building, long-term solutions: Gandhian organisations on Delhi violence

There is a need to build trust among the affected people and long-term efforts will be needed to heal their deep wounds, a peace committee of city-based Gandhian organisations working in the riot-hit northeast Delhi said on Saturday.

The Gandhi Peace Foundation, the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and the National Gandhi Museum along with Khudai Khidmatgar and some students have come together to form the committee.

A 40-member delegation of the committee visited Khajuri Khas, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh, some of the worst-hit areas in the violence, on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

"We visited the places and met with the locals across communities. There is a situation of distrust post violence and the problems, wounds are deep. They will take time to heal and so the efforts have to be long-term and consistent," committee member and National Gandhi Museum Director A Annamalai told PTI.

"If it were a spontaneous communal riot then restoring normalcy would have been easier, but not (in) a situation like this, as we have seen it," he said.

Annamalai said when the peace committee members approached the people, they were met with distrust, with locals in some pockets even denying entry to the delegation members into their areas.

"Though they agreed with what we discussed with these people, they have faith in the Gandhian way of restoring normalcy but suggested we come later as the situation was tense. Trust-building is very important at this stage," he said.

He added that the peace committee would hold a meeting on Monday to figure out the resources required to work among the affected people and the way ahead.

"We believe as Gandhian organisations we have a role to play in helping out the people in a situation like this. If need be, we are also considering roping in other Gandhian organisations from across the country," Annamalai said.

Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Yamuna Vihar, Chand Bagh, Mustafabad, Shiv Vihar and Bhajanpura areas are among the areas affected by the violence that broke out earlier this week in northeast Delhi.

At least 42 people have been killed and over 200 people injured in the violence.

The riot-hit areas showed some signs of normalcy on Saturday as more vehicles and people were seen on the roads, and shops, including general stores, pharmacies, milk dairies reopened.