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Four injured in Azamgarh communal violence

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Four persons were injured in communal violence that broke out in Azamgarh town of eastern Uttar Pradesh, about 350km from the state capital, Lucknow.

The clash took place after members of a minority community objected to the rendition of Vande Mataram at a Republic Day function in the local Shibli College. Tempers appeared to have cooled down after a brief though heated altercation, but yesterday rival groups attacked each other in one part of the town.

According to Principal Home Secretary V K Mittal, "an exchange of fire followed with arson and loot, leaving four persons injured".

He said the incident sparked much tension, forcing the administration to clamp curfew in large parts of the city. "Even though the situation was well under control since 2pm, we decided to put the city under curfew to prevent any recurrence of violence in the night," he said.

Yet, the administration was keeping its fingers crossed, considering Azamgarh's record. According to a senior police officer, "Azamgarh is also notorious for gun-running and some of the known ganglords of the underworld operating in different parts of the country hail from this town."

What the administration is wary of is attempts to politicise the incident to use it as a stick against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the forthcoming by-elections to eight assembly and one Lok Sabha seat in the state next month.

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