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Violence orchestrated by fundamentalists?

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI Oct. 13. Why should Solapur, a textile town where commerce precedes every thing else, erupt into a communal frenzy when it has no known history of strong communal tensions?

Again, why should it happen when just a few weeks ago, after consultations between Hindus and Muslims, a Ganapati procession was allowed to pass Kalimasjid, a `prohibited route'?

The Deputy Chief Minister, Chagan Bhujbal, has publicly blamed three sides — Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists and the media for reporting the views of a Baptist cleric from the U.S. who allegedly passed blasphemous comments about the Prophet on a television network.

What is surprising is that a call for bandh aimed at only Muslim establishments in Solapur should have dragged the Hindus into it.

The views of the cleric, Jerry Falwell, attracted little attention in other Islamic nations. But it led to a violent situation involving Hindus and Muslims here. Mr. Bhujbal sees this as ``part of a design'' by fundamentalists in the two communities.

The BJP has faulted Muslims for the problems in the town, which is grappling with joblessness. ``Practically every textile mill here is closed,'' local politicians told The Hindu. The BJP wants strict laws such as POTA to be invoked.

When senior politicians such as R. R. Patil, a Cabinet Minister and Manikrao Thakare, Minister of State for Home, rushed to douse the communal fires, two things came to their notice. One, the reported refusal of a businessman, Nagesh Takmoghe, to oblige the bandh sponsors, Muslim Vikas Manch, led to the Hindu-Muslim row. The trouble spread and both the communities got involved on a large scale. Durga pooja pandals were attacked.

Two, local politicians — from the ward level upward — were ready to call peace, but the communities they represented refused to listen.

Consequently, curfew, initially clamped on two police station limits, had to be extended to cover the entire city.

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• Violence orchestrated by fundamentalists?
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