India yesterday deployed paramilitary forces and imposed a curfew in the state of Gujarat after violence at a protest demanding more government jobs and college places.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for calm in the state he ran for more than a decade before leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to victory in last year’s general election.
“I appeal to the people of Gujarat to maintain peace. Violence will never achieve anything,” Modi said in a statement that was broadcast on television.
At least half a million members of the Patidar, or Patel, community rallied on Tuesday in the city of Ahmedabad to demand changes to policies that they say unfairly favor groups at the lower end of India’s social order.
Clashes broke out after the arrest of the movement’s leader, 21-year-old activist Hardik Patel, prompting police to fire tear gas and to baton-charge protesters.
“The agitators clashed with the police and members of the lower castes. They have burnt down nine police stations and over three dozen buses,” Gujarat’s top police officer P.C. Thakur said. “We had to impose a curfew to control the clashes. Offices, trading houses and educational institutions will not open today.”
One police officer, who asked not to be named, said two protesters had died in police firing on Tuesday, although this could not immediately be confirmed.
A curfew was imposed on parts of Ahmedabad and five other cities and towns.
The streets of Ahmedabad were deserted yesterday with schools, shops and businesses closed, but some protests continued in Surat, the center of India’s lucrative diamond trade, where local media said police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators.
The Patels, a wealthy business community in India and overseas, have been a driving force in the economy, dominating the thriving diamond trade, oil processing and textiles, but they say that caste-based reservations deprive them of opportunities. They insist the government should put an end to affirmative action policies that favor Muslims, low-caste Hindus and Other Backward Classes — a collective term covering socially and educationally deprived groups.
Caste-based reservations have always been a sensitive issue in India, used often as a tool for what is called vote-bank politics.
Modi comes from a lowly caste included in the Other Backward Classes, and has made much of his rise to power from humble origins as the son of a tea seller.
Caste politics are likely to play a role in a forthcoming election in the state of Bihar, whose chief minister belongs to the Patel community and has sympathized with the Gujarat protesters.
Additional reporting by AFP
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