'I Love Muhammed' controversy casts its shadow in Maharashtra's Ahilyanagar, protest turns violent

Mumbai: The ‘I Love Muhammed’ campaign - one of the most politically-sensitive issue in India currently - had its echo in Maharashtra’s Ahilyanagar town when a graffiti appeared on a roadside rangoli sparking protests by the Muslim community and stone-pelting leading to a lathi charge on Monday.

Ahilyanagar, earlier known as Ahmednagar, is the biggest district of Maharashtra.

One person has been arrested in connection with the making of the objectionable graffiti.

The protesters had blocked the arterial Ahilyanagar-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Road despite police action against the suspect.

Ahilyanagar district’s Superintendent of Police Somnath Gharge is personally supervising the investigations.

The protest began this morning at Kotla in Kotwali police station area after someone had painted ‘I Love Muhammad’ on the road, which was objected to by members of the Muslim community.

“We used force to maintain law and order. Police are taking action against the accused persons. The situation is under control. People must not believe in rumours,” Gharge said.

After the stone-pelting, more than 30 people have been rounded up by the police.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has taken the incident seriously and said that there seems to be a plot to disturb peace.

“We will have to see if there is a conspiracy behind this. We also need to see who is trying to spoil the social environment. Is anyone trying to polarise us in the same way that was attempted during the Lok Sabha elections? Everyone has the right to practice their religion, but it is wrong to create tension among people in this way,” Fadnavis, who is the state Home Minister, told reporters in Yavatmal.

Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Asim Azmi said that there should be a strict law for combating insulting of religion.

“Muslims were humiliated in Ahilyanagar, lathi charge was also carried out on Muslims, and cases were also registered against Muslims. We have demanded the enactment of strict laws against those who insult religion, religious leaders, and religious books, but the government is not making this law because the government wants such incidents to happen and to gain political benefits from them,” Azmi told reporters in Mumbai.

The ‘I Love Muhammed’ controversy began in Kanpur earlier this month during the Barawafat procession and has since spiralled into rallies and demonstrations across several states - including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Telangana and Maharashtra.