Six Indian states reported communal clashes broke out on Sunday during processions to mark Ram Navami – the festival celebrating the birth of Hindu God Ram.
According to media reports, communal clashes were reported in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa, and West Bengal.
Interestingly, the right-wing mob in all the five states accused Muslims of hurling stones at Ram Navami processions and attacking the processions.
In Madhya Pradesh, the officials directly blamed the Muslims for the violence, however, the eyewitness accounts suggest otherwise.
#khargone pic.twitter.com/1Magt2IcVR
— Naushad Ansari🇮🇳 (@Naushad74286258) April 10, 2022
On Sunday, a Ram Navami rally was taken out from Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone. As the procession passed through the Talab Chowk, they played loud music outside a mosque and hurled stones on it, to which the Muslims objected. This resulted into clashes between the two groups.
Later the Hundi crowd barged into the Muslim areas and burnt down the properties of Muslims. According to various media reports, four houses were burnt down and a temple and mosque were also damaged.
Muslim houses burnt in Khambhat Gujarat by Hindùtvæ terrōríst pic.twitter.com/VyeeNapNio
— سلام (@Fi_Sabilillah_) April 10, 2022
In Gujarat, communal clashes took place in Anand district’s Khambhat and Sabarkantha district’s Himmatnagar. Videos from the incident showed Stone pelting and arson took place at both places.
One person was killed in the clashes in Gujrat, however, the Police in Gujrat have said that the man is “unidentified”.
Videos from the incident shared widely on social media show a mob damaging vehicles and shops.
In Bengal’s Howrah, clashes took place when right wing goons threw stones on Muslim areas and policemen during a Ram Navami procession in the Shibpur area of Howrah.
Reports of stone-pelting and arson on Ram Navami processions have also come in from Jharkhand’s Lohardaga. Several people were reportedly injured, three of them critically. Heavy police force is on ground to keep the peace.
While Muslims are observing fast in the holy month of Ramadan, hindutva goons are continuously targeting them in India. See in this video from Goa how they disrupted the Namaz at a Mosque. These goons have no Shame! pic.twitter.com/B2Boxt5XYc
— Salman Nizami (@SalmanNizami_) April 10, 2022
In Goa’s Baina area of Vasco on Sunday evening, Hindutva men attacked Muslims at around 8.30 pm when a two-wheeler procession from Sancoale on Ram Navami had reached Islampur-Baina.
Eyewitness accounts revealed that the youth went a Muslim-dominated area and assaulted a Muslim youth, which resulted in clashes between the groups.