PUNE, 1 December 2006 — Low-caste Hindu groups protesting the desecration of their leader B. R. Ambedkar’s statue burned train cars, buses and clashed with police at several places in Maharashtra state yesterday, in violence that left at least three people dead and 40 injured, police said. Authorities imposed curfews in three districts of the western part of the state yesterday, police said, to control rampaging protesters who had forced shops and businesses to shut down across the state, including in parts of Bombay. Protesters said they were angry that a statue of Ambedkar, a low-caste Hindu who authored India’s constitution that prohibits caste-based discrimination, had been damaged in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state on Wednesday. As the news spread in Bombay and other parts of Maharasthra yesterday, Dalits — already furious over the killing of a five-member family in Khairlanji in Nagpur district — went on the rampage. “We want police to arrest those who broke Baba Saheb’s (Ambedkar’s) statue. Otherwise, we will burn Maharashtra,” a man shouted at reporters before being dragged away by police in Bombay. Ambedkar was born in Maharashtra. Authorities played down the violence, calling the rioting “sporadic incidents.” “Some people have reacted to the statue desecration episode, but now the situation is okay and people are cooperating,” R.R. Patil, Maharashtra deputy chief minister, told reporters. An eyewitness said he saw three commuter trains set on fire by irate mobs on the northern outskirts of Bombay. But a railway official said only two coaches of the Deccan Queen express train had been destroyed in the fire. Groups of protesters armed with bamboo sticks and stones roamed the streets of several towns across Maharashtra. One person was killed when police opened fire to disperse a violent mob in Osmanabad town. “Two other people were killed in related violence,” P.S. Pasricha, Maharashtra’s police chief, told a news conference. “We have made 1,500 preventive arrests across the state.” In Bombay, huge groups carrying posters and banners were seen closing shops and clashing with police in several areas of the city. They also tried to stop suburban trains. Thousands dependent on public transport were left stranded in Bombay in the wake of the violence. Most incidents took place in suburban and central parts of Bombay. “There is total confusion because trains have stopped plying,” a resident of Dombivili town in Thane district said. Electric trains are the lifeline of Bombay and its environs, transporting millions every day. Witnesses said police used batons and fired tear gas shells to disperse unruly mobs in the city’s Worli, Bandra and Chembur neighborhoods, where some schools were also closed. Police denied the reports but added “several” people had been arrested. Curfews were imposed in some towns. Pasricha told reporters that the situation would be “under control by evening.” “It was natural for some reaction because of what happened in Kanpur,” he said. ‘The situation should be under control by today evening.’ Reports of violence in other parts of the state were also reported late Wednesday from Nanded, Aurangabad, Nashik, Solapur and Nagpur. Train services were immediately suspended between Bombay and Pune, and also in Bombay and in neighboring areas including Thane district. Railway spokesman I.K. Chari in New Delhi said that the railways had convened an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in the wake of the train arson. Pune Police Commissioner Dhananjay Jadhav said that security had been beefed up across the city and 15 persons have been arrested so far. “Combing operations are underway. The police have got the names of those who were involved in the violence and strict action will be taken against them” Jadhav said.
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