The Centre had alerted the Uttar Pradesh government of possible communal flare-up ahead of the festive season but despite the warning, communal unrest in Faizabad and Barabanki areas flared up. With UP climbing up the list of states reporting highest incidents of communal clashes this year, the rising sectarian violence has set the alarm bells ringing in the Union home ministry. The MHA has written to the UP government seeking a factual report on the violence in Faizabad and other parts of the state which have witnessed communal clashes. While a response from the state government is still awaited, the home minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde is bracing up for the upcoming Parliament session where the issue of rising sectarian clashes across the country is expected to be raised. The MHA will also submit a report on the communal situation to the Prime Ministers office shortly.
The MHA has been told by local authorities that rumour mongering, local disputes and other trivial matters has been the trigger for a large number of incidents leading to flare up of communal unrest in different parts of the state.
The Akhilesh Yadav government has claimed that some people were out to destroy the communal harmony and peace in the state assuring strict action against trouble makers.
However, top government officials said immediate and adequate action by local authorities has not been taken on a number of occasions which has allowed the situation to worsen. The officials also said that mischief mongers have managed to evade arrests so far and efforts need to be doubled on the part of state authorities to book the culprits.
Sectarian clashes have witnessed a 10 per cent rise across the country between October 2011 and June 2012. Last year, 580 incidents of communal clashes occured in which 91 persons were killed and 1899 others injured. Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest number of communal incidents in the last three years. UP topped the list reporting 364 incidents of communal clashes killing 66 persons and injuring 1298 persons between 2009 and 2011. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka also reported high number of incidents of communal clashes.