Communal clashes mar Eid celebrations in India's Jodhpur city

[MenInG]

Eidul Fitr celebrations in the Jodhpur city of India's Rajasthan state have been marred by communal clashes, attributed to a discord on the hoisting of a "religious flag".

According to Indian publication Scroll.in, the fresh round of clashes first erupted on Monday night as "members of the Hindu and Muslim communities threw stones at each other over hoisting of a religious flag in the Jalori Gate area".

The report quoted Additional Director General of Police Hawa Singh Ghumaria as saying that the incident took place around 11pm.

“There were flags of [Hindu deity] Parashuram near the area where namaz is offered,” Ghumaria said. “There was a dispute about removing the flags as the local Muslim community puts up a flag [every year] on the occasion of Eid.”


Ghumaria added that since there is a mosque near the Jalori Gate area, the police did not allow a mob to gather. “But while dispersing [the mob], tension escalated and there was stone pelting.”

According to Indian news agency ANI, loudspeakers installed in the area for Eid prayers were also taken off during the violence.

Reports from the Indian media said at least five policemen, among several others, were injured in the episode.

Later, following Eid prayers on Tuesday morning, another round of clashes erupted between the two communities in Jodhpur "after some men hurled stones near the Jalori Gate", the Scroll.in report said.

According to The Quint, the rioters also broke window panes of several vehicles, and vandalism was reported in several ATMs as well.

As a result of the clashes, curfews have been imposed in several parts of the city, and the district administration has suspended internet services since 1am on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot termed the clashes "unfortunate" and said the administration had been directed to maintain peace and order "at all costs" in the city.

"Respecting the tradition of love and brotherhood of Jodhpur, Marwar, I make a touching appeal to all the parties to maintain peace and cooperate in creating law and order," the chief minister posted on his Twitter.

According to Scroll.in, the chief minister has directed "state Home Minister Rajendra Yadav, Minister in-charge of Jodhpur Subhash Garg, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Abhay Kumar and Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Hawa Singh Ghumaria to travel to Jodhpur and take cognisance of the situation".

This episode is the latest in a spate of communal clashes that have taken place in India in recent weeks.

Earlier on April 16, six police officers and several others had been injured during violent communal clashes that marred the procession at a festival in Jahangirpuri, a suburban section of New Delhi. Indian police had arrested 14 people in connection with clashes.

On April 2, communal clashes had broken out in the Karauli area of Rajasthan "after stones were pelted at a motorcycle rally taken out to celebrate the Hindu new year, prompting authorities to clamp a curfew, suspend the internet and deploy 600 police personnel.

Around 35 people were injured in the violence, 46 people were initially taken into custody by police for interrogation and a case was registered against 13 people. According to the Indian media, houses and shops were set on fire during the episode. The reports, however, had not specified to whom the properties belonged and the number of properties vandalised.

For its part, Pakistan had strongly condemned the "senseless vandalisation and burning of more than 40 houses of" the Muslim community by "Hindu zealots" during those communal clashes.

The rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has emboldened hardline Hindu religious groups in recent years to take up causes that they say defend their faith, although his party has denied any rise in communal tensions during Modi's reign.

DAWN

 

[Hextro]

This kind of stuff happening in India isn't surprising at this point.

 

[kumjsr]

1. Hindu groups put up a flags on Jalori gate square on ocassion of 3 day Parshuram Jayanti.

2. Some members of other group objected to this, and administration requested Hindu community to remove flags.

3. Hindu community removed all flags except on at Jalori gate roundabout which has statue of freedom fighter Balmukund Bissa.

4. Members of other community climbed the statue and removed the flag. They also covered face of statue with tape.

5. Relatives of freedom fighter requested other community to remove their flags considering it disrespectful.

6. Other community attacked them Hindu community by pelting stone.

 

[IMMY69]

1. Hindu groups put up a flags on Jalori gate square on ocassion of 3 day Parshuram Jayanti.

2. Some members of other group objected to this, and administration requested Hindu community to remove flags.

3. Hindu community removed all flags except on at Jalori gate roundabout which has statue of freedom fighter Balmukund Bissa.

4. Members of other community climbed the statue and removed the flag. They also covered face of statue with tape.

5. Relatives of freedom fighter requested other community to remove their flags considering it disrespectful.

6. Other community attacked them Hindu community by pelting stone.

So what is the solution to all this?

 

[kumjsr]

So what is the solution to all this?

I don't think there is any solution. Such clashes can't stop in such a big country, especially when some religions are highly incompatible.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

1. Hindu groups put up a flags on Jalori gate square on ocassion of 3 day Parshuram Jayanti.

2. Some members of other group objected to this, and administration requested Hindu community to remove flags.

3. Hindu community removed all flags except on at Jalori gate roundabout which has statue of freedom fighter Balmukund Bissa.

4. Members of other community climbed the statue and removed the flag. They also covered face of statue with tape.

5. Relatives of freedom fighter requested other community to remove their flags considering it disrespectful.

6. Other community attacked them Hindu community by pelting stone.

With incidents such as this, I don't believe the "other community" got much to do with it.
It's always these trouble making sanghies

 

[kumjsr]

With incidents such as this, I don't believe the "other community" got much to do with it.
It's always these trouble making sanghies

There is nothing to believe there about what happened there. Sequence of events are already there in media.

Only thing that differs from person to person is which side they blame for events and which ones they consider as right or wrong.

Of course you may choose to believe that other community pelted stones, injured policemen, attacked market because they were provoked by sanghies.

 

[Varun]

BIMARU gonna BIMARU.

 

[MenInG]

Jaipur: Rajasthan police has so far arrested 52 people after clashes erupted between two communities on Eid and its eve in Jodhpur, the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Besides, 45 others have also been detained in connection with the violence.

Curfew continues in parts of Jodhpur, including Udai Mandir and Nagori Gate, while internet remains suspended to stop the spread of rumours.

The clashes erupted over the putting up of Eid flags on the Jalori gate circle, which led to stone throwing that injured at least five policemen on Monday night. Police used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd on Monday night.

The incident happened when a three-day Parshuram Jayanti festival was in progress in Jodhpur.

Chief Minister Gehlot has alleged a BJP role in the violence. He told NDTV yesterday, "This is the agenda of the BJP because inflation, unemployment has gone so far up, they cannot control it. So, they are doing this deliberately to divert attention."

The clashes are the latest in a series of communal violence reported from across the country in the past few weeks, including in Delhi, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.

NDTV

 

[Itachi]

So what is the solution to all this?

There is no solution. In a multi religion country, local clashes like this will always exist. It's futile to think it has happened only recently.

Humans are prone to identify themselves with some symbols (religion as the case here). Once they feel rightly/wrongly about threatening, there is no coming back.

Its a chain reaction which will create a loop.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

So what is the solution to all this?

This seems like quite a minor incident in all honesty with the muslim side more to blame (from what I have read).

I know the headline says communal violence but from a UK perspective its the equivalent to the weekend fights between two sets of football fans.

Nothing you can do, some people will just want to fight

 

[MenInG]

The United Nations (UN) has expressed disquiet over the Hindu-Muslim clashes in the Indian city of Jodhpur on the festive occasion of Eidul Fitr.

“I think the basic point is our hope that the various communities will work together and that the government and the security forces will ensure that everyone can go about their activities, including their celebratory activities, peacefully,” said Farhan Aziz Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

He was responding to a question about Tuesday’s violence in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, at the regular noon briefing at UN headquarters in New York.

The tensions resulting from the clashes prompted authorities to suspend mobile internet services and impose a curfew in parts of the city.

Late last month, clashes broke out during a Hindu religious procession in New Delhi, injuring several people, including policemen, days after similar religious violence in three states.

Eyewitnesses told Reuters that the violence erupted between Muslims and Hindus during the procession in Jahangirpuri, a suburb of New Delhi.

In the same month, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said that religious freedom had deteriorated "significantly" in India under the Hindu nationalist government, and recommended targeted sanctions over abuses.

It was the third straight year that the commission recommended putting India on a list of "countries of particular concern" -- a recommendation that has angered New Delhi and is virtually certain to be dismissed by the State Department.

(With additional input from Reuters)

 

[KingKhanWC]

There is no solution. In a multi religion country, local clashes like this will always exist. It's futile to think it has happened only recently.

Humans are prone to identify themselves with some symbols (religion as the case here). Once they feel rightly/wrongly about threatening, there is no coming back.

Its a chain reaction which will create a loop.

You can bury your head in the sand but since Indians elected Hindu extremists into power, Hindu extremists have been clashing with Muslims and Christians. Sooner or later, this will blow up in Modi's face but I guess he is licking his lips at the chance of helping to butcher more Non-Hindus.

 

[cricketjoshila]

You can bury your head in the sand but since Indians elected Hindu extremists into power, Hindu extremists have been clashing with Muslims and Christians. Sooner or later, this will blow up in Modi's face but I guess he is licking his lips at the chance of helping to butcher more Non-Hindus.

Christians? The largest christian state is Kerala and church there is complaining about muslim extremism.

This is only blowing up in the face of the opposition. Their appeasement to get muslim votes has reached a limit where hindus are openly opposing it.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Christians? The largest christian state is Kerala and church there is complaining about muslim extremism.

This is only blowing up in the face of the opposition. Their appeasement to get muslim votes has reached a limit where hindus are openly opposing it.

Perhaps this is something which is not talked about in India news or by the BJP but we are reading many western articles of Christians being persecuted.

Arrests, Beatings and Secret Prayers: Inside the Persecution of India’s Christians

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/world/asia/india-christians-attacked.html

 

[Itachi]

You can bury your head in the sand but since Indians elected Hindu extremists into power, Hindu extremists have been clashing with Muslims and Christians. Sooner or later, this will blow up in Modi's face but I guess he is licking his lips at the chance of helping to butcher more Non-Hindus.

Hindu extremists clashing with Islamic extremists.... then Islamic extremists clashing with Hindu extremists....

This will exist as long as there is groupism in the basis of religion. And natural human tendency prefers groupism.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

Hindu extremists clashing with Islamic extremists.... then Islamic extremists clashing with Hindu extremists....

This will exist as long as there is groupism in the basis of religion. And natural human tendency prefers groupism.

How is frantically screaming and jumping up n down like wild monkeys in front of a masjid, constitute to Hindu extremists clashing with “Muslim Extremists”?

Or how is throwing offensive stuff in front of masjid in the darkness of the night (and shameless getting caught on cctv camera) by Hindu fanatics, put any “Muslim extremist” in the equation?

 

[Itachi]

How is frantically screaming and jumping up n down like wild monkeys in front of a masjid, constitute to Hindu extremists clashing with “Muslim Extremists”?

Or how is throwing offensive stuff in front of masjid in the darkness of the night (and shameless getting caught on cctv camera) by Hindu fanatics, put any “Muslim extremist” in the equation?

Are we talking about this incident in OP or as a whole?

 

[MenInG]

Internet services were on Thursday suspended for 24 hours in Bhilwara city of Rajasthan, informed district collector Ashish Modi, following an incident of violence in Sanganer area of the city last night. At least two persons were attacked by some unknown people while having food, news agency ANI reported quoting the district collector.

“Their bike was also set ablaze. We are investigating the matter,” he said. It is not clear as of yet if it was an incident of communal violence.

Over the past few weeks, several incidents of religious clashes have been reported across India, including in Rajasthan. Clashes broke out on Eid in Jodhpur, following which the authorities imposed a curfew in the district and also shut down the internet.

Several parts of the town were under curfew till Wednesday and the mobile internet service remained blocked, police said.

Rajasthan police have arrested nearly 100 people in connection with the Eid violence in Jodhpur. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for violence.

Last month, section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was imposed in the Karauli district of Rajasthan after incidents of stone pelting during a religious procession. 35 people were reportedly injured in the clashes, one of whom suffered critical injuries.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/citi...city-after-fresh-clashes-101651724102635.html

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Similar incident happened in Jahangirpuri few days ago. This is how hindus and muslims in Jahangirpuri replied.

What a slap on the faces of andhbhakhts.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Hindu extremists clashing with Islamic extremists.... then Islamic extremists clashing with Hindu extremists....

This will exist as long as there is groupism in the basis of religion. And natural human tendency prefers groupism.

As an atheist, you seem regularly upset when Hindu extremism is bought up. As an atheist do you have some kind of confused identity because your family are Hindus or are you just making this up to help your poor usual arguments?

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

As an atheist, you seem regularly upset when Hindu extremism is bought up. As an atheist do you have some kind of confused identity because your family are Hindus or are you just making this up to help your poor usual arguments?

He is not an atheist. It is pretty obvious.

 

[Itachi]

As an atheist, you seem regularly upset when Hindu extremism is bought up. As an atheist do you have some kind of confused identity because your family are Hindus or are you just making this up to help your poor usual arguments?

How does my post differentiate between hindus and Muslims? Can you show?

 

[Itachi]

He is not an atheist. It is pretty obvious.

Whether I am athiest or not is irrelevant to the thread I suppose.

 

[MenInG]

Sitting in an office lined with books overlooking a giant prayer hall, Mohammed Ashfaq Kazi, the main preacher at the largest mosque in Mumbai, checked a decibel meter attached to the loudspeakers before he gave the call to worship.

“The volume of our azaan (call to prayer) has become a political issue, but I don't want it to take a communal turn,” said Kazi, one of the most influential Islamic scholars in the sprawling metropolis on India's western coast.

As he spoke he pointed to loudspeakers attached to the minarets of the ornate, sand-coloured Juma Masjid in Mumbai's old trading quarters.

Kazi and three other senior clerics from Maharashtra where Mumbai is located said more than 900 mosques in the west of the state had agreed to turn the volume down on calls to prayer following complaints from a local Hindu politician.

Raj Thackeray, leader of a regional Hindu party, demanded in April that mosques and others places of worship kept within allowed noise limits. If they did not, he said his followers would chant Hindu prayers outside mosques in protest.

Thackeray, whose party has just one seat in the state's 288-member assembly, said he was merely insisting that court rulings on noise levels be enforced.

“If religion is a private matter then why are Muslims allowed to use loudspeakers all 365 days (of the year)?” Thackeray told reporters in Mumbai, India's financial hub and capital of Maharashtra.

“My dear Hindu brothers, sisters and mothers come together; be one in bringing down these loudspeakers,” he said.

Leaders of India's 200 million Muslims see the move, which coincided with the holy festival of Eid, as another attempt by hardline Hindus to undermine their rights to free worship and religious expression, with the tacit agreement of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In recent weeks, a senior BJP leader began pushing for swapping marriage and inheritance laws based on religion with a uniform civil code, taking aim at rules that allow Muslim men, for example, to have four wives.

The BJP did not respond to a request for comment on Thackeray's initiative. It denies targeting minorities, and says it wants progressive change that benefits all Indians.

Police step in
At the Juma Masjid, Kazi said he complied with Thackeray's demands in order to reduce the risk of violence between Muslims and Hindus.

Bloody clashes have erupted sporadically across India since independence, most recently in 2020 when dozens of people, mostly Muslims, were killed in Delhi following protests against a citizenship law that Muslims said discriminated against them.

While hardline Hindu leaders were seeking to undermine Islam, Kazi said, “we (Muslims) have to maintain calm and serenity.” The state took Thackeray's initiative seriously.

Senior police officials met religious leaders including Kazi earlier this month to ensure microphones were turned down, as they feared clashes in Maharashtra, home to more than 10 million Muslims and 70 million Hindus.

On Saturday, police filed a criminal case against two men in Mumbai for using loudspeakers to recite the early morning azaan and warned workers of Thackeray's party from gathering around mosques.

“Under no circumstances will we allow anyone to create communal tension in the state and the court's order must be respected,” said V.N. Patil, a senior Mumbai police official.

A senior official for Thackeray's party said the initiative was not designed to single out Muslims but aimed to reduce “noise pollution” created by all places of worship.

“Our party does not appease the minority community,” said Kirtikumar Shinde, adding that police had issued warnings to 20,000 party workers this month.

The issue of calls to prayer extends beyond Maharashtra. BJP politicians in three states asked local police to remove or limit the use of loudspeakers in places of worship.

The deputy chief minister of the country's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, said over 60,000 unauthorised loudspeakers had been removed from mosques and temples.

DAWN

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Lol Raj Thackeray is running out of ideas to stay relevant these days. Unfortunately this is what India has come to in 2022 under Modi.

 

[MP2011]

We have imbeciles ruling us. We have so many problems plaguing us and all these bloody politicians care about is use of loudspeakers at mosques or temples.

 

[Champ_Pal]

At this point, it looks like an even match between Hindus and Muslims in India. I am waiting to know which side is causing Genocide on the other side?
Any residents of the areas where these clashes are happening can educate us?

 

[pillionrider]

As long as both communities are forced to tone down their public demonstrations of affection for their Almighty, I won't be complaining.

When I was a kid, there was a temple down the road. And while I was fairly religious then, there's only so much of M S Subbulakshmi's suprabhatham that you want to wake up to

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemned on Tuesday “deeply disturbing” anti-Azaan measures taken in India’s Karnataka state.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office in a statement said that, “Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the highly deplorable incidents involving playing of Hanuman Chalisa and other Hindu devotional songs on loudspeakers as a counter to the Muslims’ call to prayer (Azaan) at various mosques in Karnataka.”

He said the disturbing incidents occurred only a day after the head of Sri Ram Sena, a right-wing Hindu group, made a despicable call for “drowning” Azaan through the provocative playing of Hanuman Chalisa and other Hindu religious hymns.

“It is condemnable that a reprehensible so-called “Azan se Azaadi’ campaign has been launched by Hindu fanatic groups in Karnataka which lays bare the new level of religious radicalism in the BJP-ruled India,” the spokesperson added.

He noted with deep regret that loudspeakers were being removed from mosques across various states in India under the pretext of ensuring ‘communal harmony’. “The ‘othering’ of Muslims in India and exclusionary policies aimed at denying their fundamental right to profess and practice their religion, only expose the deep-seated anti-Muslim prejudices in the Indian state and society,” he maintained.

The spokesperson called upon the Indian government to transparently investigate the incidents of widespread violence against minorities, particularly Muslims, and their places of worship and take measures to stop such incidents from recurring in the future.

“The Government of India must ensure the safety, security and well-being of minorities,” he added

ARY