Jaipur: Exactly one month after the Karauli violence, communal clashes erupted in Jodhpur on Monday late at night and on Tuesday morning with incidents of stone-pelting and vandalising of vehicles being reported. More than a dozen people, including five policemen, were injured.
Looking at the situation, the administration imposed curfew in 10 pockets and suspended internet services.
It all started on Monday night in the Jalori Gate area after an argument between two communities over putting up of an Islamic flag at Balmukand Bissa circle.
The argument soon escalated into a violent clash, following which police arrived at the spot and had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Additional Director General of Police Hawa Singh Ghumaria said there was a dispute over removal of a flag which the local Muslim community puts up every year on the occasion of Eid. Incidentally, an Eidgah is located where the tension first erupted; the main Eid prayers are offered in this shrine.
The police said that they had brought the situation under control on Monday itself and the Eid namaz was offered without any untoward incident on Tuesday morning under a heavy police cover.
However, tension erupted again after the Eid prayers, when some miscreants hurled stones near Jalori Gate, the site of the clashes on Monday.
After Karauli, this is the second incident of communal violence in the state in just one month. The BJP is all set to target the Congress government on communal violence and appeasement politics and will hold a big rally in Alwar on May 5, where a 300-year-old Shiv temple was demolished recently.
The flare-up in Jodhpur becomes a big concern for the Congress government as it is the home town of CM Ashok Gehlot who is also the home minister of the state.
BJP state president Satish Poonia said that this is the same government which allows PFI to hold a rally in Kota, but imposes Section 144 in 17 districts on Ramnavmi and other Hindu religious festivals.
