On Thursday, as protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act broke out in different parts of India, at least three people were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow and Karnataka's Mangaluru.
Now, on Friday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has taken to Twitter to point out a pattern of sorts.
Calling the deaths "tragic" he however said that "on a day filled with protests across India, the violence and chaos occurred mostly in BJP-ruled states (or in Delhi, BJP-controlled cops)."
"So Police elsewhere didn’t incite violence or agitate the protesters. Even policing is political," he added.
In Lucknow, a man died allegedly due to a firearm injury that he sustained during the protests. It is not yet clear if he was killed in police firing and the police have maintained a studied silence on the death.
In Karnataka, two deaths were purportedly reported from Mangaluru while protests were by and large peaceful and orderly elsewhere in the state. Police fired teargas shells and carried out a baton charge to disperse 100 anti-CAA protesters who allegedly turning violent, setting a few motor bikes on fire and pelting stones on security forces in Mangaluru.
Two persons have reportedly died from bullet injuries sustained in police firing on anti-CAA protesters, a police source said on Thursday. Senior Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao also confirmed the deaths in a tweet.
Protesters from a wide social and political spectrum had joined forces as marches and meets were held across the country on Thursday. Almost all the country's major cities - Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram, and Hyderabad - saw protesters on the streets despite substantial police presence and imposition of prohibitory orders at several places.
Some of the worst protest-related violence took place in Uttar Pradesh, where media persons were attacked and OB vans were razed in Lucknow. Similar acts of violence and arson were reported from places such as Sambhal in the state, which has a BJP government at the helm. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has blamed the opposition for the violence.
(With inputs from agencies)
