Khakhi terror in Baroda, uneasy calm prevails, over 200 arrested
“We saw the infamous 2002 riots in Vadodara, on the same pattern Muslims are being attacked by Hindus with the help of police said Abumiya in wadi area with tears in his eyes. This 72 year old man with stick claimed that this riot is actually planned well before and Muslims are facing the brunt of violence and police terror in walled city of Vadodara.
Today an uneasy calm prevails in the city though police keeps strict vigil but anything happens during late night, according to some effected people. Baroda police has arrested over 200 people after two men were stabbed during violence between Hindus and Muslims that left more than a dozen injured and was triggered by an image posted on Facebook, officials said on Monday. The violence in Gujarat coincides with a visit to the US by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to meet President Barack Obama later on Monday on a trip emphasizing India’s economic potential.
Baroda police has shown khaki terror last night. After a day long violence when people were sleeping in their homes suddenly police with some people, probably Hindus attacked them in Wadi and Taiwadi areas and broke many two wheelers, Autos, and atleast three cars . All of them belonged to people of Muslim community. Police also rammed into the house of Ayeshabibi and used very abusive and harsh language. The men in Khakhi took Abdul Rehman with them and arrested without any valid reasons.
Another old age lady Saidabibi told that police ransacked her fridge and looted Rs. 2000. She claimed that some people were with police. These people may be from Hindu saffron groups. The homes of Ismail Malek,, Ismail Lambawala, Samimbanu Mastan, Ismail fruitwala were attacked by police
Vadodara based well known activist and former professor of M.S. university DR. J.S. Bandukwala said that Gujarat is in the control of hardline RSS/VHP/Bajrang Dal fanatics. Modi used them to gain the Power. Now these saffron outfits are beyond his control. A complication factor is Modi’s inability to fulfill his lavish promise of development. The easy way is to encourage Muslim hatred .
All India Milli Council , Gujarat based vice President Munir Kheruwala and some other prominent people of city met the police commissioner and requested him to bring situation under control. JUH has also given memorandum to authorities and described police inaction to curb the violence.
Baroda based social activist and educationist Zuber Goplalani clearly told this correspondent on phone that the police acted in partisan and bias manner against Muslims in walled city. 90 percent people are enjoying Garba. no tension for them but for Muslim population there is fear and harassment from police. Why so? This is totally against civilised society ethoes and this is not the culture of Gujarat and India. In 2002 Hindus attacked Muslims with the help of police in the same way this time we experienced, he alleged.
For almost a decade Modi was unwelcome in the US after Washington revoked his visa in 2005 over accusations of religious intolerance stemming from riots three years earlier in Gujarat, when he was the state’s chief minister. Gujarat’s government deployed riot police to control the clashes in Vadodara over the weekend and appealed to religious leaders to intervene to curb them.
Mobile telephone Internet and bulk text messaging has been suspended for four days as a precautionary step. “We arrested 140 people on Sunday evening after two men were stabbed,” the city’s police commissioner, E. Radhakrishnan, said. “The injured are under medical observation and those who have been arrested are being interrogated.” Trouble was sparked by an image widely distributed on social media website Facebook that some Muslims considered offensive to Islam, said a senior administration official in the city. India has a dark history of religious violence, especially between the Hindu majority and Muslims, who account for more than 150 million people, making India the world’s third most populous Muslim nation.
Modi contested the 2014 general election from Vadodara but gave up the seat in favour of Varanasi, the Hindu holy city in north India, from which he had also contested. At least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died during a month of rioting in Gujarat in 2002. Critics say Modi did not do enough to stop the violence. Courts have found insufficient evidence to back that up. A US non-profit organisation filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday, timed to embarrass Modi during his trip to New York and Washington and seeking compensatory and punitive damages for alleged crimes against humanity over the 2002 riots.
Modi’s early training was in a movement that sees Indian culture as being primarily Hindu. Emboldened by his emphatic election victory in May, Hindu hardliners have been agitating across much of India against religious minorities. The latest violence has marred celebrations of the Navratri festival that involves men and women in prayer, music and dance. It follows a campaign by radical Hindu groups to bar Muslims and other religious minorities from taking part in the traditionally tolerant festivities. “The idea of banning Muslims from Hindu festivals has upset the minority but we are determined to keep the celebrations open to all,” Radhakrishnan said, adding that tension had begun to ebb. Police in Vadodara this month arrested a Muslim cleric who had labelled Navratri a “festival of demons”.
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