A Right to Information (RTI) application asking ‘what is the origin of Tukde Tukde Gang? Why it is not banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and who are its members?’ has left the Union Home Ministry officials confused.
The RTI is filed by activist Saket Gokhale, a former foreign correspondent. Officials who responded, requested anonymity and said that the term ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ (TTG) did not find mention in any report by intelligence or law enforcement agencies.
Gokhale in a tweet said that since Amit Shah in a rally had said that the ‘tukde-tukde’ gang of Delhi needs to be punished the people have the right to know who are members of this ‘gang’.
MHA deals with the ban on unlawful organisations and individuals under the UAPA.
Gokhale, in his RTI, had asked the Home Ministry to ‘please state what penal action/punishment (and specifically under which sections of the IPC and/other Acts) is the Ministry of Home Affairs planning against the members of the ‘tukde tukde’ gang as declared by the Union Home Minister in his speech.’
In a follow-up tweet, Gokhale said, ‘PS: Now I hope they don’t say it was just an ‘election jumla’ by Maanyavar. That’d look not very comfortable. This bullying of people by the Home Minister needs to stop outright & cannot go unquestioned.’
‘During the 2016 JNU protest, Delhi Police had reported students raising anti-I.dia slogans, but they were not part of any gang or group. Neither the government nor any of its agencies have any record so far,’ an official was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.
The term was used to label JNU students after the 2016 incident but has been used by BJP leaders to refer to political opponents recently.
PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have mentioned it in their speeches during rallies to lash out at the opposition, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi. Home Minister Amit Shah had said at an event last month that people of Delhi should ‘punish the Tukde Tukde gang responsible’ for violence in Delhi.
An alumnus of JNU, external affairs minister S Jaishankar had said recently that when he was studying, ‘there was no Tukde Tukde Gang.’
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