The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked for a detailed report from the Rajasthan government over communal tension in Jodhpur, sources said on Wednesday.
As per the sources, the Ministry is also “watching the situation closely” and getting inputs from the state’s administrative and police authorities.
Tension gripped Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s hometown Jodhpur hours before Eid on Tuesday, prompting the authorities to suspend mobile internet services and impose a curfew in 10 police station areas of the city. There was agitation over putting up religious flags on the Jalori gate circle in Jodhpur, which led to stone-pelting in which five policemen were injured.
Following the incident, Jodhpur Police issued orders imposing a curfew till May 4 midnight besides suspending mobile internet services to check the spread of rumours. The situation was brought under control in the early hours of Tuesday with heavy deployment of police but tension escalated again in the morning after prayers at an Eidgah. Shops, vehicles and houses were pelted with stones near the Jalori gate area.
Members of the minority community were installing Eid flags and they put up a flag on a roundabout alongside the statue of freedom fighter Balmukund Bissa. This led to a confrontation as members of the other community alleged that a saffron flag, which they had put up there ahead of Parshuram Jayanti, had gone missing.
The issue snowballed into stone-pelting and clashes, officials said.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said that culprits involved in riots will not be spared while the government will ensure that no incidents of violence take place in the state.
Gehlot said, “To ensure no violence takes place in the state, action will be taken against the culprit. No one has the right to take law and order in their hands.”
Jodhpur Police Commissioner said that the situation was under control in the city. “Right now, the situation is under control as no such incident (violence) has erupted in the city since yesterday noon,” Navjyoti Gogoi, Commissioner of Jodhpur Police said.
He said that adequate police forces have been deployed in the area and senior officials are monitoring the situation firsthand. “We have deployed a fixed picket that is active on duty 24X7.”
According to Gogoi, over 100 have been arrested in connection with incidents related to violence in the city and now and 13 FIRs are registered with Rajasthan Police.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vasundhra Raje Scindia has targetted the state government over communal clashes that erupted over the past two months and called it a result of “appeased culture” of the Congress rule.
“After Karauli and Alwar, the incident of communal tension has now come to the fore in Chief Minister’s home town, Jodhpur. Such incidents are the result of the appeased culture of the Congress-led Rajasthan government,” Raje said.