Chidambaram asks chief ministers to keep vigil against communal violence

Expressing concern over growing incidents of communal violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram has asked all chief ministers to maintain a "high degree of vigil" in their states.

In his letter, on Thursday, Chidambaram asked chief ministers of all states to identify areas in towns or wards which are communally sensitive and to maintain constant vigil in those areas.

Since the period from now until the end of January, 2012 is marked by a number of religious occasions as well as commemorative dates and public holidays, it is important that state governments maintain a high degree of vigil so that there are no communal incidents, the Home Minister said.

"In particular, a careful watch should be kept over elements that are likely to provoke discord among different communities and trigger communal incidents," he said, adding such elements should be identified and dealt with suitably.

In recent weeks, Chidambaram said, there has been a rise in the number of incidents of communal discord and strife in several states across the country.

In the month of August, there were 44 incidents and 10 lives were lost; in the month of September, there were 60 incidents and 16 lives were lost. Besides, a number of people were injured in these incidents.

"A careful analysis of the incidents shows that the spark was usually a trivial issue such as collision of two motorcycles, dispute over playing of loudspeaker, wordy quarrel over a petty issue, etc. In some cases, it appears that the incident was deliberately provoked by attempting to disturb a religious procession or an attack on a place of worship," Chidambaram said in his letter.

In the current month, there have been 15 incidents which have resulted in six persons being killed and 112 persons being injured.

"Some of these incidents started with a minor dispute but certain other incidents were deliberately provoked by one group or the other. This shows that there are certain fundamentalist elements who are bent upon escalating communal tensions," said Chidambaram.