Riot police deployed and mobile internet services interrupted in parts of Bihar state after a person was shot dead in Bihar Sharif city.
Authorities deployed hundreds of riot police and shut down mobile internet services in parts of eastern India after violence broke out in several states during a Hindu religious festival.
Police said at least one person, a minor according to local media reports, was shot dead in Bihar Sharif town in Bihar state’s Nalanda district on Saturday as Hindus set out in a procession to mark Ram Navami.
This came a day after mobs set fire to homes and shops during sometimes frenzied public celebrations of the festival in the city.
According to local reports, a prominent Muslim school was set on fire in Bihar Sharif during the festival.
On March 31, Madrasa Azizia was set on fire by Hindutva mob during Ram Navami violence in Biharsharif, Nalanda, Bihar. In Madrasa there were about 4500 books. pic.twitter.com/3kT4ajsswD
— More Faisal (@meerfaisal01) April 1, 2023
I have spoken to many people from the riot-affected area of #BiharSharif . The situation was quietly tense yesterday, but today it is calm so far.
1) The most affected area is Gagandiwan, a Muslim-majority area where the Madrars Azizia was burnt to ashes. The most of… pic.twitter.com/LIpE2sFK5f— Aasif Mujtaba (@MujtabaAasif) April 2, 2023
During the Ram Navami festival in different parts of India, large processions are usually held by people brandishing swords, sticks, tridents and even guns.
In recent years, the demonstrations have provocatively marched through Muslim neighborhoods with religious — and often hate-filled — music pulsing through powerful sound systems.
Nalanda Police Chief Shibli Nomani said nearly 100 people have been arrested over violence that erupted Thursday as thousands of Hindus gathered in the streets and paraded through Muslim-dominated areas.
“The situation is under control. We are patrolling the area and making sure gatherings are not allowed,” he told AFP news agency, adding that the unrest is being investigated.
Similar communal flare-ups were reported in two other cities in Bihar, where authorities shut down mobile internet services in some areas and restricted public traffic.
In Rohtas, another violence-hit district where police arrested dozens, six people were injured in an explosion at a house where two men were reportedly making a bomb.
Bihar police tweeted that at first glance it did not appear that the blast was related to the recent unrest. Homemade explosives are sometimes used in mining in the area.
Violence also hit at least seven other Indian states following the Hindu festival in recent days, with dozens injured and hundreds arrested in at least 13 towns and cities.
This included Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal, where gangs torched and set fire to vehicles and shops in Howrah district on Thursday.
Fact: No temple has been burned in Howrah. A viral video shows that from a balcony during filming, someone suspected the temple was on fire and saw black smoke billowing from the main road. That black smoke was due to the burning of these plastic fruit carts that belonged to poor vendors. pic.twitter.com/mJq5cGUCKA
— Tamal Saha (@Tamal0401) April 2, 2023
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said violence in her state began after a procession was diverted from its route to an unauthorized area in the district’s Shibpur area.
A senior police official said stones were hurled at the procession as it passed through the area. Banerjee said mistakes had been made by the police and tough action would be taken.
Banerjee also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating the violence. The BJP accused her of targeting Hindus.
Similar violence was reported on Thursday in Modi’s home state of Gujarat in western India, where clashes were reported in Vadodara and in Aurangabad in the neighboring state of Maharashtra.
Critics say hardline Hindu groups have been emboldened since Modi, who was Gujarat’s prime minister during the notorious 2002 riots, was elected prime minister in 2014.
Last year, similar incidents were reported in several cities on Ram Navami, including in the national capital New Delhi and in the eastern state of Jharkhand, where one person was killed.