The Jodhpur Police has arrested 141 people in connection with communal clashes in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur ahead of Eid celebrations that left several people injured on Tuesday. Several parts of the town continued to remain under curfew and the mobile internet service remains blocked, police said on Wednesday.
Rajasthan director general of police, ML Lather said the situation was under control and no fresh incident of violence has been reported. In all, Lather said 12 first information reports (FIRs) have been filed by the police including eight cases registered by individuals. “Nine policemen were injured in the violence, of them three are admitted in hospital and out of danger,” said Lather.
Tensions broke out the night intervening Monday and Tuesday over putting up of Islamic flags on the Jalori gate circle ahead of Eid celebrations. The situation was brought under control in the early hours on Tuesday with heavy deployment of police but tensions escalated again in the morning after prayers at a mosque close to the Jalori gate circle. Shops, vehicles and houses were pelted with stones near the Jalori gate area.
Technical education minister Subhash Garg, who was sent to Jodhpur by chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the situation is under control. “We called a meeting of representatives of different sections of the society, BJP leaders, religious heads and prominent people of the city to settle the issue but they were not ready for talks and in a planned manner boycotted the meeting in half an hour,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Technical education minister Subhash Garg, who was sent to Jodhpur by chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the situation is under control. “We called a meeting of representatives of different sections of the society, BJP leaders, religious heads and prominent people of the city to settle the issue but they were not ready for talks and in a planned manner boycotted the meeting in half an hour,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Garg blamed the BJP for the violence, saying the party was trying to polarise society ahead of next year’s state elections.
Gehlot made a similar point earlier in the day. The opposition party is nervous, he said. “If they have any target in the country, it is Rajasthan. That is why you are seeing riots.”
Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia countered the government. “Why do incidents of violence happen on such a large scale only when the Congress government comes in power? It is clear that Congress looks at these matters from the point of view of majority and minority. They do politics of appeasement and as a result of this, the anarchic elements get motivated,” he said.
Poonia continued the chief minister was more concerned about the Congress’s brainstorming session, Chintan Shivir, planned in the state.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Rajendra Gehlot and BJP workers held a protest outside the Jodhur circuit house where senior civil and police officers are camping to restore normalcy. They claimed that the police were registering cases against the victims, a charge trashed by police officers.
Gehlot recalled that he had commented that they had come to “set fire” when BJP chief JP Nadda visited Sawai Madhopur. “... and [communal] tension broke out in Karauli.” But he stressed the government stopped the situation from escalating. “That is why there was no casualty, and no big incident or accident.”