According to local media, more than a dozen individuals were arrested in Bihar, India, on Sunday as raids continued in the state following two days of communal riots.
Communal confrontations were reported in West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Gujrat on Thursday and Friday during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami, which commemorates the birth of the Hindu deity Ram.
According to local media, vehicles, houses, and businesses were set on fire, and several people were injured.
On Saturday, ANI reported that new violence broke out in two to three locations in Biharsharif, resulting in one death.
Superintendent of Police Ashok Mishra said the man died in Biharsharif unrest and was autopsied.
Several arrests were then made. Mishra reported eight first information reports and over fifty midnight arrests.
Separately, the Indian publication Scroll. in reported that Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibits gatherings of four or more people in Sasaram and Biharsharif.
Due to the clashes, Union Home Minister Amit Shah cancelled his trek to Sasaram, Bihar, today.
According to a report on Scroll.in, Samrat Choudhary, the head of the Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party, blamed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the state’s deteriorating law and order.
“Even Bihar Sharif, which is located in the home district of the chief minister, Nalanda, is in pandemonium. Choudhary was quoted as remarking, “So are many other regions of the state.”
Kumar said Ram Navami communal tensions were unsettling and demanded punishment for the perpetrators.
Such occurrences were unprecedented in the area. It’s unnatural. Some people are misbehaving and trying to disrupt state unity. We will not allow this to occur, the chief minister was quoted as saying in the news article.
During the clashes, fatalities were reported in West Bengal.
Violence broke out between two parties on Thursday night in Howrah, a city in the eastern state of West Bengal. As the Ram Navami procession passed through minority community areas. Until Friday, the two factions clashed, burning cars and attacking shops, injuring many.
According to India Today, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee blamed the right-wing Hindu nationalist governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for orchestrating communal agitation and targeting a “minority community” with the assistance of “thug gangs.”
“They are the enemies of the citizens of the country,” she was quoted as saying.
“They [the assailants] were hired by the BJP and were carrying guns and petrol bombs,” she claimed. And they initially targeted members of minority communities.”
However, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari accused the police of being a “silent spectator.”
According to India Today, Sukanta Majumdar, the state president of the BJP, claimed that Mamata Banerjee “orchestrated” the violence to “retain her Muslim votes.”
At a Saturday news conference, Howrah Police Commissioner Praveen Tripathi revealed 38 arrests for city violence.
Over 100 additional arrests were made in various states for purported ties to violent incidents.
Not for the first time have communal conflicts erupted in India.
In recent years, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emboldened fundamentalist Hindu religious groups to take up causes that they claim defend their faith, although his party has denied a rise in communal tensions during Modi’s rule.
