When unruly elements frequently cause communal tension here

ASHOK KAURA

JALANDHAR, JULY 22

It perhaps due to the strategic location on the national highway, good rail connectivity and the presence of activists of various radical groups that Phagwara quite frequently becomes the epicenter of communal violence.

Even a short-duration road blockade here leads to massive traffic snarls for those commuting towards Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Nawanshahr districts, making headlines in papers next day.

Since Phagwara’s parent district, Kapurthala, is situated about 50 km away, the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP cannot reach the spot in less than an hour’s time. For the same reason, the tehsil got the post of an Additional Deputy Commissioner sanctioned.

Nearly 15 persons were injured and 50 activists of various groups were arrested in today’s violent clashes between the Shiv Sena and Muslims supported by Dalits and Sikh radicals.

Veterans here recount the episode when a prominent leader of the Shiv Sena, formed during the black days of the state, was assassinated. Though the Sena was formed to maintain communal harmony and strengthening of brotherhood, it got divided into various factions, with most groups looking for ways to come into limelight by way of publicity in media. Some of the more active splinter groups include the Hindu Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena (Bal Thackrey), Shiv Sena (Hindustan) and Shiv Sena Samajwadi groups.

Members of the right wing group are known to block the India-Pakistan bus on the highway here on every sensitive issue erupting between the two countries. If it is not them, members of the Dalit community here are often seen on roads, causing protests.

Former Congress minister Joginder Singh Mann said, “Since the national highway passes through the centre of the city, it has a cascading effect on the traffic on the Amritsar-Delhi road. Also, there are some groups of 25-odd miscreants who roam about aimlessly and keep planning incidents of the kind to gain mileage. But we hope that harmony is restored at the earliest and peace is maintained as early as possible.”

SSP, Kapurthala, Rajinder Singh, said, “There are some bad elements here doing such acts to gain limelight. Our intelligence wings keep tracking them. But today’s incident was without any planning and violence erupted at the spur of the moment.”