Communal pot kept boiling

22 held over Delhi violence on Hanuman Jayanti; local says some people first tried to tie flags to a mosque

A large number of security personnel were deployed in the violence-hit areas of Jahangirpuri in northwest Delhi as an uneasy calm prevailed on Sunday. Shops and markets near the Jahangirpuri metro station remained open on Sunday though people mostly stayed indoors. The police have arrested 22 people for the violence. Mukesh, a shopkeeper who stays near the C Block mosque, said those who tried to disrupt peace in the area must have been outsiders.

“I have been staying here for last 35 years but have never seen such kind of violence in this area. Hindus and Muslims live here peacefully. People who were in the procession must be outsiders and not Jahangirpuri locals,” he said. Some members of the two communities alleged that actions of the other side triggered the violence. Sheikh Amzad, another local, said he was inside the mosque in C Block at the time.

“They [participants of Hanuman Jayanti procession] were chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and raising provocative slogans. They entered the mosque and started tying saffron flags on its premises. They were threatening us with swords...That’s when stone pelting began. Such an incident has never before happened in Jahangirpuri,” he alleged.

Amzad claimed that nearly 50 people forcibly entered the mosque. Manoj Kumar said he was at his shop in C Block. “I saw people screaming and rushing inside their houses...Previously I have seen verbal altercations between the communities here. People in the procession were carrying weapons but stone pelting was done by Muslims first.”

15 hurt in clashes in Kurnool, 20 arrested

Fifteen people were injured and 20 were arrested after clashes in Holagunda of Kurnool’s Allur in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. “VHP organised Hanuman Jayanthi celebrations in Holagunda in Allur, Kurnool. They used the DJ sets against the advice of the police. When they went near the mosque, the police asked them to shut the DJ sets. But, they stopped in front of the mosque and started raising slogans. To this, the people from the Muslim community also started counter-slogans,” said Kurnool SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy.

Voices

Sheikh Amzad, Jahangirpuri resident
‘They [participants of Hanuman Jayanti procession] entered the mosque and started tying saffron flags on its premises. They were threatening us with swords...That’s when stone pelting began’

Manoj Kumar, Jahangirpuri resident
‘I saw people screaming and rushing inside their houses...Previously I have seen verbal altercations between the communities here. People in the procession were carrying weapons but stone pelting was done by Muslims first’

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