Dozens of activists of Bharatiya Janta Party along with government officials including district magistrate of Moradabad were injured after the administration and leaders of saffron brigade fought pitch battle over holding of a `mahapanchayat’ to raise the Kanth issue on Friday.
The atmosphere which is already tense has been further charged following the call of Mahapanchayat by BJP leaders clashing with Friday, the day on which the members of other community gathered to offer prayers at mosques. It may be also mentioned that the more members of minority community gathered on Friday as the holy month of Ramazan has been also in progress. IG (law and Order) Amrendra Sengar, who claimed that the situation was well tackled by the local administration told media persons here on Friday evening that extra force has been provided to the district and senior officers were closely monitoring the situation to avert any untoward incident.
Reports said that the tension started as soon as an irate mob led by BJP activists and senior leaders which included about half a dozen Member of Parliaments, MlAs and other senior leaders, clashed with the police over holding of `Mahapanchayat’ called by BJP despite of ban by the local administration, on Friday morning. As the police team started detaining the BJP activists and took MPs, MlAs and other senior leaders in custody to prevent them from holding Mahapanchyat.
Besides clash with police at various places including Amoroha, Sambhal, and other adjoining districts, a strong contigent of members of saffron brigade created ruckus at railway station, trying to bring the rail traffic to complete halt to protest the detention of their leaders in the afternoon. The agitated mob pelted stones and attacked the police party with sticks and rods after which the cops retaliated also also had to fire in air to disperse the crowd.
Reports said that the District Magistrate of Moradabad, Chandrakant, along with circle officer of Kanth, Archana and inspector of Kanth, Sudhir Kumar Tomar, received serious injuries. The DM was hit by a stone thrown by the mob in which he received the injury, sources said. He was referred to New Delhi. Several other people and policemen were also injured in the clash.
Reports also said that several long distance trains including Upasana Express from Haridwar to Kolkata has been detained. Sources confirmed that driver of a goods train disappeared after finding tense situation, some miscreants also damaged the wire of electric line of one of the tracks creating hurdle in plying of trains in the area. later a large contingent of police forces have been rushed to Kanth to control the situation which inflated following the call of Mahapanchayat by the BJP. All the markets in Kanth has been closed down while all the highways were blocked. Sources said that over 400 of BJP activists including 4 MPs, Satyapal Saini, Nepal Singh, Sarvesh, Kunwar Singh Tanwar, and a legislator Sangeet Som, were detained but were later released in the evening. The detention has been made by the police for violation of prohibitory orders imposed by the local administration to thwart the BJP activists from holding the mahapanchayat. Senior police officers along with heavy police force is still camping in the area as situation is tense though under control when the reports last came in. It may be mentioned that the dispute between the two communities, started on June 26 last, when hundreds of members of Dalit community blocked Haridwar highway protesting against removal of loud-speakers from their temple by the administration. Demanding installation of the loud-speaker back at its place, they fought pitch battle with the administration before being chased away. Since then the situation remained tense in the area and finally the BJP tried to win the sentiments of one of the group and called to hold Mahapanchayat on Friday, which was ultimately banned by the government. Interestingly, on Thursday evening, local administration also issued a letter pointing that the two groups having dispute on the said issue had already reached to a compromise.