NEW DELHI, April 16 (Reuters) – Clashes erupted during a Hindu religious procession in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Saturday, injuring several people, including police, police said days after similar religious violence in three states.
Eyewitnesses told Reuters that violence erupted between Muslims and Hindus during a rally in Jahangirpuri, a suburb of New Delhi. Police said they were still investigating.
“We are still estimating how many people were injured … some police officers were also injured,” said Dipendra Patak, a Jahangirpuri police officer wearing riot gear.
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The violence erupted during a march marking the Hanuman Jayanti Hindu festival, police said, without giving further details.
Earlier in the day, protesters in New Delhi chanted slogans against the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying Muslims had been violent targets by authorities after Hindu-Muslim clashes in three states ruled by a Hindu nationalist party. Read more
Clashes last Sunday during a religious festival prompted police to impose curfews in a city and ban gatherings of more than four people in parts of the state.
Local authorities demolished the homes and shops of suspected Muslim rebels in the central state of Madhya Pradesh after violence broke out during the Ram Nawami Hindu festival, according to a police officer who declined to be named.
In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, authorities destroyed makeshift shops belonging to those they say were involved in the riots that killed one person, said an official in Anand County, Gujarat, where the clashes erupted.
Police and local authorities told Reuters after the clashes that they were biased and operating within the law.
Opposition politicians have accused the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Modi party of fueling tensions between the majority of Hindus and Muslims in the countries it rules.
The leaders of 13 opposition parties issued a joint statement calling for peace and harmony even after religious clashes.
“We are extremely concerned about the way food, clothing, religion, festivals and language are being deliberately used by parts of the ruling establishment to polarize our society,” the leaders said.
Police in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, arrested nine members of a hardline Hindu group on Friday on suspicion of setting fire to the home of a Muslim man married to a Hindu.
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Additional reports from Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow and Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, Written by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Edited by Rupam Jain and Ros Russell
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