Communal violence spooks Centre: Home Ministry data reveals 725 incidents across India in just 10 months



The deepening communal divide across the country is giving the Centre nightmares in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections of 2014.



The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is keenly watching developments and seeking updates from intelligence agencies on communal flare-ups, and several alerts have been generated in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar carnage.



The Muzaffarnagar violence has created a tinderbox situation in Uttar Pradesh, and that is what has given the MHA its latest fears.



Over 60 people were killed and 50,000 rendered homeless during riots in Muzaffarnagar in August and September this year

A communally surcharged situation in a state with a sizeable minority population that will send a decisive number of representatives to the next Lok Sabha is the MHA's worst nightmare, one that could be replicated across the nation as the polls approach.



Major parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) have already taken recalcitrant stands on the situation.

The Centre has sought to counter the trend with the Communal Violence Bill, cleared by Cabinet on Monday. The Bill, likely to be introduced in the House on Tuesday, is opposed in its present form by the BJP, which says its loaded against the majority community, and SP and Bahujan Samaj Party, which say it encroaches on state responsibilities.



"They are saying that many changes have been made. But our stand is clear that this political gimmick which divides society instead of uniting it. Most of these incidents have taken place in states that claim to be secular like Uttar Pradesh because they allow lumpen elements to rule," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. The Samajwadi Party is also opposed to the Bill.



"These figures released by MHA seem to be fabricated. There is no increase in communal incidents in the states. It was propaganda. Wherever there were any incidents swift action was taken," said party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, who is also a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government.

"Since the Muzaffarnagar riots there have been communal flare-ups in other parts of the country over trivial issues," said a home ministry official.



After the clashes in UP, Mail Today reported that the Intelligence Bureau has indicated violence could spread to other parts of the country. States like Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have also witnessed a significant increase in incidents of communal violence.



Dangerous



The MHA's data on communal violence nationwide reveals a dangerous trend. The first ten months of 2103 have seen more bloodshed for religious and sectarian reasons than the entire three-year period of 2010-2012.



No fewer than 725 communal clashes have occurred across the country till October this year. By contrast, there were 668 incidents in 2012, and 580 in 2011.



Sources say the clashes in Uttar Pradesh have had a big impact on the situation across the country. As communal violence spreads anew across the country, the Centre is keen on pushing the Communal Violence Bill through in the ongoing session of Parliament.



The UPA government wants to ensure that the controversial legislation that was first introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2005 can go through now. In an attempt to achieve this, the Union Cabinet cleared the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013, Bill on Monday. It is now likely to be tabled in Parliament.



Several states have been hit by communal tensions, but Uttar Pradesh is the worst-hit. The state has accounted for nearly 35 per cent of the communal incidents across the country this year. Out of 143 lives lost, 95 were in Uttar Pradesh alone. The number of people killed till October in communal clashes has also surpassed last year's total toll of 93.



There has been a big jump in incidents of communal violence in Uttar Pradesh. From 84 incidents in 2011 to 118 in 2012, this year there have been 250 incidents in the state.

Keen to ensure that Communal Violence Bill gets passed, government sources say several amendments have been made in the proposed legislation which has been attacked by Opposition parties and even non-Congress ruled states.



The earlier version of the Bill had a provision that the onus of riots would be on the majority community.











Akhilesh defends criminals in UP

By Piyush Srivastava in Lucknow

UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has made it more than clear that he was not averse to the idea of promoting criminals in the name of fighting against "communal forces".



While justifying the gun-toting supporters of Atiq Ahmad, the SP candidate from Sultanpur, Akhilesh on Monday said whatever his party was doing was aimed at keeping the BJP at bay.



"We have to fight against the communal elements. The candidates have been selected by keeping this factor in mind," he said.



Akhilesh was replying to a question on why he had prevented the entry of D.P. Yadav last year and now welcomed a hardcore criminal into the party.



A large number of Atiq's supporters carrying arms had assembled on Sunday in Sultanpur, where he was to hold a meeting.



Child deaths put UP government on the back foot

The Akhilesh Yadav-led government is on the back-foot after the Supreme Court's rap last week over the death of more than 40 children of riot-affected people at the relief camps in Uttar Pradesh.



A high-level committee was constituted on December 13 to probe into the media reports of child deaths at the relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts.



Shocking statistics: Over 40 children have died in the relief camps in the past month

"We have sent blankets and clothes to the camps. We are also taking other measures to help them," Akhilesh said on Monday.

Interestingly, the government had announced the closure of these camps on October 8. But the riot survivors had refused to leave the camps, fearing that they would be attacked and killed in their villages.



A social organisation had claimed last week that 11 and 32 children died at the camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, respectively.



"My son died because of cold. There were no warm clothes for him," Salma Begum, who lost her newborn baby at the Mallakpur camp, said.

