Saffron hued India is influencing how minorities may and can commemorate their cultural and religious moments. So it has been with Moharram the ten day mourning followed by the traditional Tazia procession all over India. There were clashes in 12 spots in Adityanath ruled Uttar Pradesh, Bihar under Nitish Kumar (now with the BJP) and also in Gujarat. In Uttar Pradesh it is Balia, Kanpur, Kaushambhi.
Image: Twitter
The Deccan Herald reports how 12 persons were injured near the textile town of Kanpur According to police sources here, the trouble began when a ‘Ram Barat’ (a ritual during Dasara) procession was passing by a mosque in the Rawatpur locality in the town.Sources told the newspaper that members of the two communities indulged in heavy stone-pelting injuring several people, including a few police officers. Other reports say that it was six people were injured in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, in a clash during a Muharram procession says the Hindu , that saw members of two communities throwing bricks at each other and setting vehicles on fire, the police said. The incident occurred when the procession deviated from its fixed route. Perturbed, some members of another community started throwing stones at the procession in Parampurva, Inspector General of Police (Kanpur zone) Alok Singh said.Two cars and four motorcycles were set ablaze during the clash, he added.The police resorted to baton-charge to control the situation, the Inspector General said. In a similar incident in Ballia, nearly half-a-dozen people were injured, after members of two communities clashed over a petty dispute in the Sikandarpur area, an official said. The incident occurred on Saturday evening at a Durga Puja fair, District Magistrate (DM) Surendra Vikram said.
The depiction in the Asian Age is graphic: In Kanpur, two communities clashed over the route of a Tazia procession and the police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse the mob. Nearly half a dozen vehicles were set on fire and police outposts in Kalyanpur and Juhi localities were vandalised. Senior police officials rushed to the riot-hit areas and additional companies of RAF have been deployed.In Kaushambhi, an altercation between those taking the Durga idol for immersion and those taking the Tazia on Moharram took place and youngsters belonging to a community entered the house of a member of the other community and stabbed a brother and sister inside the house.
Additional security has been deployed in Manjhanpur area where the incident took place in the early hours of Sunday.In Ballia district, a small dispute in the processions between children took an ugly turn when the elders of two communities joined in and provoked a violent clash. The incident took place on Saturday night in Sikandarpur area in Ballia district at a Durga Puja fair.
15-year-old electrocuted: A 15-year-old boy was electrocuted and four others injured when a ‘tazia’ touched a high-tension wire in Kusaldeh village in Manikpur area here during a Muharram procession on Sunday.
In Kaushambi district, seven persons sustained burns when a tazia touched a high-tension wire in Manjhanpur area.
In Bihar, the Indian Express reports that A clash broke out between two communities after a group of people returning from a religious procession was attacked by members of another community in the district, the police said today. Five persons were arrested in connection with the clash that erupted at Akbarpur Bazar locality late last night in which one person was injured, Superintendent of Police Vikas Burman said.
The trouble began when one group of people belonging to a particular community was attacked with stones by members of another. Members of the first group then retaliated leaving one person seriously injured, Burman said.
The Times of India reports that communally sensitive Vadodara also saw violence break out between mobs of two communities in the sensitive Panigate area of the old city during Tazia procession late on Sunday night, leaving two persons injured in police firing. On Monday, 13 persons from both communities were arrested for rioting. The police had to open fire at the rioters who went on a rampage.
The incident occurred when a Tazia procession was passing from the Panigate police station road. “Some of the members in the procession were showing aggression and wielding sticks. Soon it sparked tension among the locals and those participating in the procession, leading to stone pelting,” said a senior police official.
“It seemed to be pre-planned. Some residents of Ektanagar, who participated in the procession, have an old enmity with Bavchavad residents. They tried to create disturbance near Bavchavad but we had tight police security there. So when the procession reached Panigate police station, some participants showed aggression and it snowballed into rioting,” the police official added.
The police had inputs of trouble being planned in the old city during Taziya processions but the location was different. “We had inputs that some trouble may occur near Mehta Pol so we deployed tight security there. However, riots occurred near Panigate police station,” said a senior police official. Though only Panigate and Wadi saw stone pelting, rumours of trouble in other areas kept the police on toes till late on Sunday night.
In Benal, the Telegraph reports that the Bengal government notably maintained peace further commenting that “… Yet West Bengal achieved this difficult task, not just in the city, but in the districts as well, although incidents were reported from a few other states, Uttar Pradesh being one of them.
What West Bengal has done is to show that peace is possible if everyone is determined enough. People stood up quietly against unreasoned violence; they trod gently, so as not to step on their neighbour’s toes. The police were at there best: everywhere, but not intrusive, just efficient. But it was possibly not just fear of penalties that prevented disruption. The people of West Bengal wanted to make a point; they would not let anyone destroy their peace and amity. Perhaps they have taken some lessons from the Dhulagarh violence of 2016 and the lethal potential of fake news. And they did not stop at simply doing nothing, which was, in any case, effective enough. Organizers and participants in the events of both communities made visible gestures of amity so that those waiting in the wings would not get even a toehold. In some places in the districts, processions of the minority community carried none of the traditional weapons. Members felt that if the weapons made other communities uncomfortable they would not be carried. Puja committees ritually greeted Muharram processions in one place, while another gave prizes for the best game of sticks the processions are famous for. There was also cooperation about the timing of immersions on that day so no one got in anyone else’s way. Wisdom, cooperation, administrative fairness and discipline and an overriding love of peace and amity can still stop communal disruption in its tracks.”