Hindu-Muslim clashes leave one dead in Indian Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Clashes between Hindus and Muslims have been reported from four Indian states as Hindu hardline groups took out processions to mark a religious event. In Gujarat, one person died in the clashes. In Madhya Pradesh, while the home minister said that 77 people have been arrested, on social media claims have surfaced that most held are Muslims. Police imposed curfew in a Gujarat city on Monday.

Violence in Gujarat was reported from Khambhat town of Anand district in Central Gujarat and Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha district of North Gujarat. An unidentified body was found in Anand on Sunday evening, police reported. Stone-pelting and arson were reported from both towns. The state of Jharkand additionally suffered communal violence.

In Madhya Pradesh, the procession was taken through a Muslim-majority neighbourhood while playing religious music on loudspeakers. Four houses were set on fire and a temple was vandalised, a TV channel reported.

“We now have detained seven folks after the clashes and tight safety preparations have been put in place to forestall additional pressure,” mentioned M J Chaudhari, a police official primarily based in Khambat city of Gujarat’s Anand district, the place one incident came about.

Authorities in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s house state, additionally imposed a curfew in components of Himmatnagar city.

In 2002, Gujarat was gripped by lethal, giant scale communal violence for round a month. Rights teams say about 2,000 folks, largely Muslims, have been killed. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat at the moment and a rising star within the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP). Clashes were reported during a Ram Navami procession in West Bengal. Police said that they havetaken steps to ensure peace and the situation is under control. The BJP, which is in the opposition in the state, claimed that the police had attacked the procession.

The pageant on Sunday marked the start of the Hindu Lord Ram, a bodily incarnation of the god Vishnu. Last week police imposed a curfew within the desert state of Rajasthan after the same assault on a non-secular procession.