MUMBAI: At least three people were killed in western India yesterday when thousands of Dalits attacked police, torched trains and forced shops to shut after the desecration of a statue of their iconic leader. The violence flared across several towns in Maharashtra and its capital, Mumbai, with protesters blocking traffic and stoning and burning buses.
They said they were angry that a statue of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a low-caste Hindu who authored India’s democratic constitution that prohibits caste-based discrimination, had been damaged on Wednesday in Kanpur in the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
"We want police to arrest those who broke Baba Saheb’s (Ambedkar’s) statue. Otherwise, we will burn Maharashtra," a man shouted at reporters before being dragged away by police in Mumbai. Ambedkar was born in Maharashtra.
State authorities played down the violence, calling the rioting "sporadic incidents".
"Some people have reacted to the statue desecration episode, but now the situation is okay and people are co-operating," R R Patil, Maharashtra deputy chief minister, told reporters.
Three commuter trains were set on fire by irate mobs on the northern outskirts of Mumbai. But a railway official said only two coaches of the Deccan Queen express train had been destroyed in the fire at Ulhasnagar.
Two-and-a-half hours later, another mob stopped the Mumbai-Karjat train, also near Ulhasnagar, and set four coaches on fire. The Deccan Queen is a hugely popular train that runs daily between Mumbai and Pune.
Train services were immediately suspended between Mumbai and Pune, and also in Mumbai and in neighbouring areas including Thane district.
Thousands dependent on public transport were left stranded in Mumbai.
"There is total confusion because trains have stopped running," a resident of Dombivili town in Thane district said.
Groups of protesters armed with bamboo sticks and stones roamed the streets of several towns across Maharashtra.
One person was killed when police opened fire to disperse a violent mob in Osmanabad town.
"Two other people were killed in related violence," P S Pasricha, Maharashtra’s director general of police, told a news conference. "We have made 1,500 preventive arrests across the state."
In Mumbai, huge groups carrying posters and banners were seen closing shops and clashing with police in several areas of the city. They also tried to stop suburban trains.
Witnesses said police used batons and fired tear gas shells to disperse unruly mobs in the city’s Worli, Bandra and Chembur neighbourhoods, where some schools were closed.
Police denied the reports but added "several" people had been arrested. Curfews were imposed in some towns.
Stunned by the widespread violence, Congress Party chief and head of India’s ruling coalition, Sonia Gandhi, asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to rush back to Mumbai from Singapore.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav condemned the destruction of railway property.
"It is very sad that national property is being destroyed. It is unfortunate that an incident that allegedly happened in Kanpur is being used by vested interests to create disturbance. The state government should take stern action against the arsonists," he said in New Delhi.
"We have full respect for Ambedkar but it is wrong to destroy public property," he added.
Low-caste Hindus or Dalits make up about 16% of India’s 1.1bn population, and are at the bottom of the 3,000-year-old Hindu caste hierarchy.
Though caste-based discrimination is banned, Dalits are still often beaten or killed if they use a well or worship at a temple reserved for upper castes in the countryside.
In recent weeks, low-caste Hindus have been angry over the murder of four people from their community after they opposed the construction of a road through their farm by upper caste Hindus in eastern Maharashtra. – Agencies |
