As fighting broke out between two factions during the Ganpati procession on Wednesday, Nagamangala town in Karnataka’s Mandya district was rocked by tensions among the community, according to news agency reports.
According to reports, the event happened as devotees from Badarikoppalu were transporting statues of Ganesh for immersion. Stones were reportedly thrown at the parade from close to a mosque as it travelled down the major thoroughfare, according to news agencies.
After that, a group of young Hindus mounted a protest demanding justice and set up the Ganesha statue in front of the police station. Tensions were further raised when a group torched tires and set fire to a few stores as a way of expressing their indignation, according to news agency.
Social media videos also featured the two hurling stones at one another.
Senior representatives from the revenue and police departments raced to the site in an attempt to diffuse the tension and calm the throng.
In order to bring the situation under control, the police then issued a high alert in the region and implemented Section 163 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which is an order issued in urgent circumstances of nuisance or suspected danger.
According to the news agency, believers are calling for the arrest of individuals who disrupted the procession, thus the Ganesha idols have been temporarily positioned next to a shrine.
Days before, six minors were reportedly arrested in Surat, Gujarat, for allegedly throwing stones at a Ganesh pandal, causing fights. This incident happened in Karnataka.
Union minister HD Kumaraswamy held the ruling Congress government accountable for the violence in Nagamangala town.
He alleged this incident happened due to the “appeasement of one community” by the Congress.
“I strongly condemn the incident that took place during the Ganesha immersion procession in Nagamangala, Mandya district. It is a failure of peace and order in the town that the miscreants of a community deliberately indulged in violence by targeting the devotees, who were walking peacefully in the procession of God Ganapati, throwing stones and slippers at the public and policemen, exploding petrol bombs and brandishing swords, ” the minister, who is also Mandy Lok Sabha member, wrote on X.
