Fires of the communal tension in Sangli are being fanned with chillingly efficient use of technology to benefit a community
Fires of the communal tension in Sangli are being fanned with chillingly efficient use of technology to benefit a community
The Sangli riots have opened a new chapter in the history of communal tension in India. Never before have politicians and anti-social elements used technology so efficiently to instigate and spread riots.
The fire that began with a scene depicting Chhatrapati Shivaji slaying Afzal Khan (see box), was fanned with the circulation of thousands of MMSes and hundreds of CDs of the first episode of clashes.
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The video was manipulatively shot to show that the police was biased towards the minority community.
Then, various other scenes of the riots were also uploaded on YouTube and other sites for maximum impact.
The real story
A police officer, who was at the scene, said, "Members of both communities came face-to-face at the market place in Miraj.
He tried reasoning with them using a mega phone. But the mega phone developed problems. The SP, however, kept trying to talk to them.
"Meanwhile, on the other side, a mob from the majority community kept waving flags. A minority youth egged on by others climbed up a police jeep and started waving a flag.
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The SP asked the cops to get him down. But when both sides of the crowd turned violent, the SP charged the minority crowd, while riot policemen on the other side charged at the majority crowd.
This is how the incident unfolded. But only the attempts to control the majority community was shown. The miscreants wanted to show that the police is lenient to the minority community."
Posters circulated
Said Prakash, "There was deliberate mischief in the way the incident was shot. I was handling the minority mob with a lathicharge.
But that was not shown. They only showed how the police charged the majority crowd. They showed just one side of the coin.
"The whole thing seems to be orchestrated for political benefits. Even before the riots took place, posters of the Shivaji-Afzal Khan scene were distributed in surrounding villages.
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Also, the MMSes and CDs were ready within no time after the incident took place."
The police have yet to find those responsible for the videos. Added Prakash, "We are looking at all angles and will act against the miscreants.
We will also approach the websites on which the videos have been uploaded.
"Meanwhile, we've caught most of those 47 to be precise involved in the riots."
It Began With...
A welcome arch, put up by the Shiv Sena, depicting Chhatrapati Shivaji killing Afzal Khan, triggered the riots. On September 2, a group pelted the arch with stones and forced the administration to remove it.
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A day later, on visarjan day, Ganesh mandals refused to immerse idols unless the arch was reinstalled and those responsible for stone pelting were penalised.
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The cops then served notices, asking them to dismantle pandals. Most of the smaller mandals complied, but a few prominent ones didn't.
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The police then took it upon themselves to immerse their idols. The riots continued to rage through all this.
The Law says
Sections 153 (A) and (B) of the IPC refer to promoting enemity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, caste, place of birth, language and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony and national integration.
Offenders can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years or both.
Sangli now
The situation continues to be tense, but under control in Miraj. The curfew was relaxed from 2 to 6 pm, while Sangli got respite from 10 to 12 pm yesterday. There was no relaxation of curfew in Ichalkaranji.
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