Two days after communal violence flared up in the Hatwara Bazaar area of Karauli, Congress Councillor Matloob Ahmed has been identified as the main conspirator in the stone-pelting incident, as per reports. Matloob Ahmed has been charged with stone-pelting, inciting violence, and organising a mob to attack the bike rally celebrating Hindu New Year in the city on April 2, 2022. The development came after the BJP accused the state Congress government of ‘saving its people’.
Notably, after the communal clashes took place in Karauli Rajasthan, leaving at least 42 people, including policemen injured in the mob attack, the BJP had alleged Congress local leaders’ involvement in the incident. It also alleged that the radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) had a role in the communal clashes that broke out in Rajasthan’s Karauli on Saturday. Calling the incident a “pre-planned conspiracy”, the BJP accused the Congress-led government in Rajasthan of shielding its people.
“Congress government is saving its people. Local leaders of Congress have carried out this incident with full planning. Karauli Dholpur MP Manoj Rajoria says that the government and police administration are taking selective action. If they do not arrest, then BJP will soon go for bigger agitation,” a BJP MP from Karauli was quoted as saying by Republic TV.
PFI had warned the Rajasthan Congress govt beforehand about the Karauli incident
Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala alleged that PFI had written a letter to the Rajasthan government beforehand, warning of such violence occurring in the district during the Hindu new year rally, but the Ashok Gehlot government turned a deaf ear.
“PFI wrote a letter in advance to Gehlot govt about violence in Karauli! How did they know that there would be violence targeting the Hindu New Year Shobha Yatra? Was it Sanyog or Prayog? If PFI knew how did the Rajasthan administration not know? Or did look the other way?” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said in a series of tweets.
According to reports, the PFI had written a letter to the Congress government in Rajasthan 2 days before the Karauli incident took place. In the letter details obtained by Times Now, the PFI stated in the letter that tensions could rise during the rally. The PFI had alerted the local administration and the police about the sensitivity of taking out a Hindu new year procession through the Muslim-dominated locality in a letter written to the Gehlot government two days before the procession.
Despite this, the Congress government in the state did little to prevent the violence.
Curfew imposed, Internet services shut down in Karauli after a bike rally celebrating Hindu New Year was attacked
Meanwhile, a curfew has been imposed in the city until the night of April 4, Monday. Internet services would also remain shut in the city to control the menace of polarization and fake news through social media. Those who were injured were discharged from a local hospital after receiving first aid. One person whose condition remains serious is being treated at the SMS hospital in Jaipur.
To avoid further clashing, 600 policemen including 50 deputy superintendents of police have been deployed in the city. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has failed to condemn the violence equivocally. Taking a calculated stand, he told PTI, “Some miscreants happen to be there…they can be of any religion and anywhere and they should be avoided because they are not harmed, the common man is harmed. They are not hurt, common man is hurt.”
On April 2, communal violence broke down in the Hatwara Bazaar area of Karauli when stones were pelted by miscreants at a Hindu bike rally while more than a dozen shops and three bikes were set on fire. Reportedly, 42 people, including policemen, have been injured in the mob attack while the rally celebrating ‘Nav Samvatsar’ passed through a Muslim-dominated area. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Hawa Singh Ghumariya informed that over 30 people were detained by the police so far.