Starting during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami, which was celebrated on Thursday, there have been communal clashes across India, including in Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, New Delhi, and Gujarat.
Bomb Explosions in Bihar, Home Minister Cancels Visit
Early on Monday, India Today reported an explosion in Mochi Tola in Bihar. This occurred shortly after a similar bomb blast on Friday, which injured six in Sasaram, Rohtas.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an investigation into the explosion, given that it occurred close to Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Sasaram, which he cancelled given the security situation.
The blasts occurred following clashes beginning on Friday, in Rohtas and Nalanda, where one died, and several others were injured.
On Sunday, the police arrested 77 in connection with the Nalanda riots. The Hindu reported that a mob of at least 1,000 vandalised and set ablaze the library of a madrasa in the district.
On March 31, Madrasa Azizia was set ablaze by Hindutva mob during Ram Navami violence in Biharsharif, Nalanda, Bihar. At Madrasa, there were about 4500 books. pic.twitter.com/3kT4ajsswD
— Meer Faisal (@meerfaisal01) April 1, 2023
West Bengal Riots Turn Political
Clashes broke out in West Bengal’s Howrah during the Ram Navami processions on Thursday evening.
According to an organiser of a procession in Shibpur, participants were attacked with glass bottles, bricks, and stones while passing through the Sandhyabazar region. One organiser also said that the attacking group burned a police vehicle when it tried to intervene. Meanwhile, another organiser accused the police of using baton charges against the procession’s participants instead of the alleged attackers.
The situation calmed in Howrah by Friday. However, skirmishes broke out in other parts of the state. On Sunday, two groups brawled in Hooghly, which Governor CV Ananda Bose called an incident of “mobocracy.”
The riots took a political turn, with the region’s parties accusing each other of instigating the violence. The BJP and Indian National Congress said the communal brawls were evidence of the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government’s failure.
A BJP MP who attended the Ram Navami procession said that the participants were attacked with stones, with the police being unable to control the vandals. The MP demanded strict action against the “miscreants, hooligans, and thugs.”
#WATCH | Stone pelting happened during Ram Navami's procession in Howrah. Mamata Bandopadhyay (Banerjee) gave a clean chit to stone pelters. The question is how long will Mamata Bandopadhyay keep attacking the Hindu community…: Union Minister Smriti Irani pic.twitter.com/mg6wp8uCgy
— ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2023
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP’s “goons and right-wing goons” of causing the clashes.
In another back-and-forth of accusations, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh called the incident an attempt by the BJP to “disturb the peace.”
Brawls Through Thursday, Friday
Two similar incidents of communal clashes occurred in Vadodara, Gujarat. The police arrested 24 for stone pelting and assured that the situation was “completely under control and normalcy was restored.”
In Maharashtra, clashes broke out during Ram Navami celebrations on Wednesday and Thursday in Aurangabad and Malad. Over 12 were injured in the violent incident involving over 500 people in Aurangabad.
New Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area also witnessed an incident of communal clashes during a Ram Navami event organised by Akhil Bharat Hindu Yuva Morcha, the Bajrang Dal, and Hindu Sena. Although the area had seen similar brawls in April last year, the procession was undertaken without authorities’ permission.