Ramanavami riots expose widening communal faultlines in country

Zaheer has in the FIR named the leader of the attackers as Puneet Kerehalli, a well-known local cow vigilante, police sources said. Later, a state police team arrested Puneeth Kerehalli, the group’s leader, along with his accomplices Gopi, Pawan Kumar, Suresh and PillingaAmbigar, from Banswara in Rajasthan. Accused Puneeth Kerehalli, head of the Rashtra Rakshana Pade (Nation Protection Army), and a well-known cow vigilante, with Jnanendra having close links with BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi, Lok Sabha member and BJP youth icon Tejasvi Surya, state energy minister V. Sunil Kumar, Lok Sabha member Pratap Simha and some other party functionaries. In Uttar Pradesh,  a clash erupted between two groups following a spat during a Ram Navami Shobha Yatra taken out near Shahi Masjid in Madiyav village under Jankipuram police station in Lucknow.  The fight involved stone throwing and physical assault, sources said.  An argument ensued between two groups after a man, identified as Sumit, along with 10-15 other people, played music on a DJ while passing by  a mosque, which was objected to by another group. Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, the birth place of Lord Krishna, also saw aggressive postures of saffron supporters during Ramanavami. A few young men climbed atop the roofs of the shops around the Mathura’s Jama Masjid and placed saffron flags on them. This incident caused communal tension among the people of Hindu and Muslim communities. One the basis of viral CCTV footage, the police arrested four people in connection with the incident that took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Braj region during a Ram Navami procession at Chowk Bazaar in Mathura. Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal termed “another jumla” the Home Minister, Amit Shah’s remarks that riots don’t take place under the BJP rule, and cited the number of instances of communal violence under a BJP government at the Centre and in some states. Sibal said, “Amit Shah: ‘Riots don’t take place under our rule.’ Yet another jumla (rhetoric).” The former union minister said, “5415 communal riots were reported between 2014-2020 (NCRB data). In 2019 alone – 25 communal riots UP (9), Maharashtra (4), MP (2). Communal violence: Haryana (2021) highest cases, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh (April 2022)”. In the wake of communal violence in West Bengal and Bihar, Sibal questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Modi over the matter, and said, “Let not 2024 general elections be the reason” for the violence.