Gujarat bandh in support of dalits turns violent in Ahmedabad, Gandhidham

The Congress-Mahagujarat Janata Party-sponsored Gujarat bandh on Wednesday turned violent in Ahmedabad and in the arid Kutch district.

The authorities were forced to impose an indefinite curfew in the locality under Shaherkotda police station in Ahmedabad and in the twin towns of Gandhidham and Adipur in Kutch district.

Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela said about a dozen rounds were fired to disperse clashing groups of people who participated in heavy brickbatting in the area under Shaherkotda police station. No casualty or injury was reported due to police firing, the chief minister said.

Vaghela said he condemned the atrocities on the dalits and demanded the dismissal of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government in Maharashtra.

He also declared an ex gratia assistance of Rs 25,000 to the next of kin of those who were killed in police firing in Bombay.

Vaghela pleaded his ignorance when his attention was drawn to the fact that four persons arrested by the Maharashtra government in connection with the desecration of the Dr B R Ambedkar statue were dalits.

A frenzied mob took part in the looting of the Rakhial Industrial Estate in Ahmedabad city. The police had to burst teargas shells to quell the mob.

In another incident at Jamnagar, an irate mob of dalits made an abortive bid to remove the fish plates of the railway track. The immediate intervention of the police saved the situation.

Gandhidham in Kutch district observed a bandh for the second day on Wednesday while the bandh call failed to evoke response in other towns of the district. A few policemen were injured in stone-throwing incidents in Gandhidham. The police burst teargas shells to quell the mob and the situation was reported tense but under control.

The bandh evoked good response in Ahmedabad since most of the shops, cinema houses, restaurants, stalls and educational institutions remained closed. In some sensitive areas, banks downed their shutters as a precautionary measure.

Incidents of violence were reported from Morvi town in Saurashtra and Dholka town near Ahmedabad, but details were not immediately available, the chief minister said.

Frenzied mobs were seen roaming the main thoroughfares of Ahmedabad city, compelling commuters to return home.

UNI