Fortnight after it witnessed communal clashes, Phagwara is on edge once again after the injured Dalit youth succumbed to injuries in the wee hours of Sunday.
The 19-year old Yashwant alias Bobby — a Dalit activist who had sustained a bullet injury on his head in April 13 Phagwara clash between the members of Dalit outfits and Hindu right-wing groups, died at ludhiana’s Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) after 16-day of struggle.
As the police was on its toes with heavy force deployment, closing all entry points to Phagwara, suspending mobile internet services, Bobby’s cremation was held peacefully.
The clash had taken place between both the communities on the issue of renaming of the Goal Chowk as Sambhidhan Chowk (roundabout) on National Highway 1 as a group of dalit youths installed a flex board bearing a photo of Dr BR Ambedkar.
After these hoardings were fixed, leaders of some right wing groups, including factions of Shiv Sena, had gathered there to oppose the move saying that the action of Dalit body was illegal.
In all, five persons were injured while Bobby had sustained bullet injuries in April 13 clashes and had been undergoing treatment in ludhiana since then. His condition was stated to be critical and at 1.45 am, he was declared dead by the doctors.
After the post-mortem, his body was sent back to Phagwara on Sunday morning under tight police security.
The leaders of his community carried his stretcher on their shoulder for more than half-an-hour on Banga Road amid sloganeering demanding immediate naming of Goal Chowk as Samvidhan Chowk and even erecting a memorial in the memory of Bobby at the point.
Many leaders attended the cremation including Congress MlA Raj Kumar Chabbewal and Shiromani Akali Dal MlA Pawan Tinu.
A minor scuffle was also reported after the people, returning from the funeral, attempted to go to the Goal Chowk again, but their plans were foiled due to heavy police deployment.
It has been learnt that nearly 4,000 policemen, including Punjab Police, three companies each of Rapid Action Force, Anti-Riots Squads and BSF, have been deployed in all sensitive areas in the town.
Also, entry of vehicles into Phagwara has been suspended. local administration has diverted the traffic to avoid entry of buses from National Highway-1 into Phagwara.
Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Tayyab said that curfew has not been imposed but there was heavy deployment of security forces across the town.
Inspector General of Police (Jalandhar Range) Naunihal Singh said that they have connected CCTVs and monitoring all the movement from the city’s police stations.
Mobile internet services had been blocked for 24 hours in four districts of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur of Doaba region after midnight of April 28.
