Amarnath land row singes Indore; parties set to gain

FLASH POINT: For the past couple of years the city has witnessed a rise in communal friction.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

Bhopal: The communal tension that erupted in Madhya Pradesh over the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to scrap land allocation to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board has claimed the lives of six people.

The land row has sparked off a conflagration, which many say was waiting to happen in Madhya Pradesh and it is no surprise that the epicenter of this communally charged violence is Indore.

For the past couple of years the city has witnessed a rise in communal friction and there have been open display of swords and firearms by hardline groups.

Section 144 had to be clamped several times to control the situation.

"It is worrying trend. Such incidents are repeatedly occurring in Indore," says Indore District Collector Rakesh Shrivastava.

According to police officials the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) may have triggered the latest violence.

"There are indications that SIMI could have done it," SK Raut, DGP Madhya Pradesh, says.

As the Opposition bays for its blood, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is only too happy to back the police's theory of SIMI involvement.

It says SIMI planned the violence to avenge the arrest of its top leaders like Safdar Nagori from the city in March.

"Police have been made the target and this is happening because the SIMI leadership was arrested from here," Kailash Vijayvargiya, Madhya Pradesh Public Works Department Minister, said in Indore on Friday.

With Assembly Elections scheduled later this year, the BJP could benefit from the communal polarisation in the state.

Every political party in the state is shedding crocodile tears for the dead in communal clashes.

The fact, however, is that they have assiduously worked towards achieving the situation. While there is blood bath on the streets, the politicians are the only ones who stand to gain by polarising people on communal lines.

(With inputs from Sachin and Manoj Sharma)