Western Uttar Pradesh is once again at a communal tipping point. After Saturday’s brawling and looting rampage in Shamli, politicians have descended to stoke the tensions further.

A group of Tablighi Jamaat clerics were allegedly beaten up at Kandhla railway station for preaching publicly, following which a mob reportedly ransacked a police station, damaged cars and set police vehicles on fire.

The Shamli police on Sunday evening registered cases against Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA of Kairana Nahid Hassan, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and former chairman of Nagar Panchayat Haji Islam and other local leaders, including Mohammad Salim, Mohammad Naseer and Mohammad Meer Jung, for their involvement in the violence.

Set ablaze: Burnt cars in Shamli after the violence

In Agra, some clerics have convened a meeting on May 14 to force the victims of the infamous conversion of December 8, 2014, to undergo fresh nikah with their wives to protect the sanctity of their marriages.

In Saharanpur, a section of Muslims are accusing the police of protecting the driver of a state transport bus that ran over a seven-year-old boy Muzaquir on Saturday.

Tension prevailed in Shamli district after a group of Tablighi Jamaat volunteers were allegedly attacked in a local train

In Aligarh, there is an order from the local administration to stop the expansion of a mosque around Jama Masjid as there is a Ramleela ground next to it. Some are bent on defying that order.

If the state government does not step in decisively and politicians of almost every party continue to fish in troubled waters, things may get out of control in Uttar Pradesh, which has seen over 170 riots in the last three years.

In Shamli, the Government Railway Police have also registered cases against the accused for stopping the Haridwar-Bikaner Special Train and targeting passengers. The attackers had alleged that the police were trying to protect unidentified persons of a particular community who had attacked four members of the Tablighi Jamaat - the Islamic preachers of Deobandi school of thought - and robbed them of Rs 20,000 at the Kandhla railway station on Friday evening.

While cases were registered against those unidentified attackers on Saturday evening, VK Mishra, additional superintendent of police, said: “Those who were involved in the violence on Saturday have also been booked for creating disturbance and damaging public properties”.

It doesn’t take much to start communal violence in these parts. Minor incidents are enough to spark riots. To prevent such an eventuality, a posse of paramilitary and police forces have already been deployed in Kandhla and other parts of Shamli.

The Jamaat members who were on their way to Saharanpur were allegedly beaten up and robbed of their belongings and Rs 20,000 cash by four people of a different faith.

One Deen Mohammad, a resident of Kairana, sustained a bullet injury in Saturday’s violence.

Pramod Pandey, District Magistrate of Shamli, said: “Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident.”

SP Vijay Bhushan said: “We have registered cases against five unidentified persons for robbing some people of their money and instigating communal tension on Friday. The police displayed tremendous patience during Saturday’s violence and prevented any flare up.”

Shamli and adjoining Muzaffarnagar districts are considered sensitive ever since large-scale communal violence erupted in August and September 2013. More than 50 people had died and over 50,000 were rendered homeless.

The Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts are considered sensitive ever since large-scale communal violence erupted in August and September 2013

There are still over 6,000 families that are living in refugee camps with the hope that the government will provide them relief. However, the government claims that they are fake riot victims who have been living on encroached Gram Sabha land.

But the fact remains that ruling and opposition party leaders were involved in provoking the mob at that time. The riot that ensued had engulfed many districts of western UP. Barely 70 km away from Shamli, Saharanpur has turned a incident of road rage into a communal flare-up.

Three policemen including ASP Mahendra Singh Yadav sustained injuries when members of a particular community attacked them on Saturday for not nabbing a UP roadways driver who had hit a child with his motorcycle in the Dudhali area. The child had died in the accident.

The police on Sunday booked Mohammad Tabrez, Mohammad Waqar, Mohammad Muqeem, Zia-ul-Haq, Mohammad Irshad and 50 others for restoring to violence that followed after the child’s death.

The northern part of west UP is no better. Some clerics from Agra have convened a panchayat on May 14 to correct “the wrong” that was committed by 17 couples of Dawali village on December 8, 2014. They were among 25 Muslim families who had embraced Hinduism following pressure of the Dharm Jagran Manch.

A large number of policemen have been deployed across Shamli

The clerics declared in a panchayat held at Achchnera area on Friday that the marriage (nikah) of a Muslim couple automatically becomes infructuous if it deserts Islam. While the marriage of one couple was re-solemnised by them on Friday, the nikah of two was conducted again on Saturday. Since the remaining couples were indecisive about this, the clerics have called a bigger panchayat to make them “return home”.

Intel department sources told Mail Today that those who allegedly adopted Hinduism in Agra had done so with the hope that the Manch, an RSS wing, would help them get houses.

“We are aware of fresh nikahs of three couples and the call for a panchayat on May 14. But we can do little unless it turns out to be a law and order problem,” an officer said.

He added the remarriage was conducted at Madrassa Zia-ul-Uloom by six kazis led by Mufti Muddassir Qadri and Islamuddin Qadri. The Manch had promised each of the 25 Muslim families a house for their conversion. But later, they were left in the lurch and ostracised by both communities.

Some of the couples sought guidance from the clerics to return to Islam. While their reconversion was performed at small functions in April and May, the ulemas and clerics had declared that re-conversion was not enough to give legitimacy to such a family and suggested that the men undergo fresh nikah with their wives.

“There were 17 couples among the converted 25 families whose nikah was planned on Friday. But many of them didn’t pay heed. Now it appears they would be forced into a fresh nikah soon,” said Rahman Ali, a re-converted Muslim.

But Agra Mufti Abdul Khubaib Rumi has said conversion cannot reverse a marriage.

“They are still husband and wife. But it is better for the man to read Kalma in presence of a kazi to remarry his wife,” he said.

Tension also simmers in Aligarh, 90 km from Agra where some people seem to have made all preparations to expand Jama Masjid in a land earmarked for Ram Lila. It was only on Saturday that CM Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that communal forces have been looking for an opportunity to spread poison.

“I am doing development work. But communal forces are busy creating hatred in the state,” said Akhilesh.

The BJP, meanwhile, said rioters had stopped the Haridwar-Bikaner express train with a dangerous motive.