| 2021 Kawardha riots and unrest | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of religious violence in India | |||||||||
| Date | 3 October 2021 [1] | ||||||||
| Location | 22°01′N81°15′E / 22.02°N 81.25°E | ||||||||
| Goals | Arson, stoning, civil unrest and rioting | ||||||||
| Resulted in |
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| Parties | |||||||||
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| Lead figures | |||||||||
The 2021 Kawardha riots were incidents of religious violence between Hindus and Muslims that occurred in Kawardha, Chhattisgarh, India, between 3 and 7 October 2021.[ citation needed ]
Kawardha is a small city in the Kabirdham district of Chhattisgarh. It is the home of former state Chief Minister Raman Singh and Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar. [2] The district is 92.4% Hindu and 7.76% Muslim. [3]
On Sunday, 3 October 2021, a group of Muslims and Hindus had an argument over the placement of religious flags in Loahara Naka Chowk in the town of Kawardha. [4] [5] [2] [6] [1] An eyewitness claimed that following the altercation, a green flag had been torn down, and some hours later, a saffron flag was removed in retaliation. [2] [1] Two days later, right-wing organisations, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, held a rally protesting the flag removal. The rally led to civil unrest in the region, including arson and rioting. The police conducted a lathi charge to disperse the protestors, [7] [1] invoked Section 144 (barring unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code, and imposed a curfew in the region. [8] [9] [10] [7]
The police stated that the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal had promised peaceful protests. [1] They registered a First Information Reports against several people, including Santosh Pandey, a Member of Parliament, and Abhishek Singh, a former Member of Parliament, both of whom were from the Bharatiya Janata Party. [2]
Bajrang Dal is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, and began spreading more in the 2010s throughout India, although its most significant base remains the northern and central portions of the country.
Raman Singh is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the speaker of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly since 2023. Formerly, he served as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh and holding the position for three consecutive times. He is also a member of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly representing Rajnandgaon since 2008 and from Dongargaon from 2004 to 2008.
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Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is an Indian right-wing Hindu organisation based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "to organise, consolidate the Hindu society and to serve and protect the Hindu Dharma". It was established to construct and renovate Hindu temples, and deal with matters of cow slaughter and religious conversion. The VHP is a member of the Sangh Parivar group, the family of Hindu nationalist organisations led by the RSS.
The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in the Indian city of Ayodhya, was destroyed on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The mosque had been the subject of a lengthy socio-political dispute, and was targeted after a political rally organised by Hindu nationalist organisations turned violent.
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Riots broke out in Kaliachak, Malda district in West Bengal, India on 3 January 2016. Muslims were protesting the remark of political leaders Kamlesh Tiwari. The protest turned into riots when a Muslim mob of more than 1 lakh people attacked the police and vandalised the police station of Kaliachak area.
Kawardha is one of the 90 Legislative Assembly constituencies of Chhattisgarh state in India. It is in Kabirdham district and is a segment of Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat. The seat used to be part of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly when Chhattisgarh was part of MP.
Rinku Sharma was a hospital technician and a member of Bajrang Dal who was killed by stabbing in Mangolpuri, Delhi, on 10 February 2021.
The 2021 Tripura riots happened in the eponymous state of north-eastern India.
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Hindu–Muslim sectarian violence occurred in the town of Karauli on 2 April 2022, when a Hindu New Year bike-rally organised by Sangh Parivar organisations passed through a Muslim locality with inflammatory slogans and music. Stone-pelting from surrounding houses, local people attacking with sticks and arson, resulted in injuries to 20 people, including policemen, and damage to properties of 80 people of both communities.
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Bulldozer justice is a term referring to the use of the bulldozer, an industrial machine, as a political tool and symbol in Indian politics, particularly in the politics of Uttar Pradesh, starting in 2017. This trend of bulldozer justice has seen heavy machinery being deployed to demolish houses of those who have protested and have been accused of rioting. Houses, shops and small establishments have been bulldozed in India, disproportionately targeting Muslims in the Hindu-majority country. The bulldozer has become a symbol for Hindu nationalist politicians.
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