What is the issue?
- A Communal clash has recently occured at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh.
- The situation there is under control but it is yet to get back to normal.
What event had triggered the communal clash?
- Kasganj, over 200 km from Delhi, is a district in western Uttar Pradesh, the town has about 20% Muslim population, mostly poor, has had no history of communal clashes.
- On January 26, a student organisation affiliated with Hindu extremist groupof Kasganj district took out a ‘Tiranga yatra’ without permission from the administration.
- The participants of the motorcycle-borne yatra reached a Muslim-dominated area during flag hoist ceremony and raised certain “provocative slogans”, which created a verbal clash.
- The verbal clash soon flared up into a bigger confrontation and went out of control, later police separated the two groups.
- However, the rally participants regrouped and took a detour to another Muslim-dominated area, where residents thought they had arrived to retaliate.
- This led to violent clashes and exchange of fire between the two groups, in which two persons were injured.
What was the action taken by the government?
- The government moved in paramilitary and the Rapid Action Force from nearby places to control the violence and bring peace to the area.
- To control the spread of fake news and rumours, Internet services were suspended in Kasganj and neighbouring districts.
- The state police department have so far filed five FIRs and arrested 112 persons.
Source: The Hindu
