Changed route, provoking Muslims: Ram Navami procession followed a familiar pattern in India’s Gujarat
New Delhi/Vadodara: “’Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ echoed in our vicinity as our dargahs and mosques were being attacked, our sons being beaten,” said Feroz, a local from Vadodara’s Fatepura.On March 30, Ram Navami day, like several other parts of the country, Vadodara was also embroiled in hate as tensions escalated at Panjrigar mohalla around 1 pm — right around the time of afternoon prayers for Muslims — when a Ram Navami procession lead by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was passing by the area. This religious procession that happens every year took a different route this year to be able to pass both a mosque and a dargah on its way.
According to locals and the videos they shared with The Wire, revellers in VHP’s Shobha yatra vandalised the Dhuldoyawad Masjid and Hazrat Kalu Shahid Dargah in the area. While the city police were able to deploy forces in time, vandalism and violence triggered tensions as multiple processions made their way through the old city area.
Changed route, provoking Muslims: Ram Navami procession followed a familiar pattern in India’s Gujarat
Report on communal violence around Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in 2022 finds that the violence was “systemic”.
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