At least 9 people killed in caste-related clashes in India
At least nine people have been killed in India over caste-related violence in the state of Gujarat, as the government calls for calm.
Many more were also injured in fighting in the early morning hours of Thursday in the western city of Ahmedabad, about 450 kilometers north of the state capital, Mumbai, overnight on Wednesday, according to local authorities.
Over 5,000 soldiers from the country’s army were deployed in a bid to maintain peace. As of Thursday, the streets of the city were empty and a curfew was in place.
On Wednesday, demonstrations held by the influential Patel community in Ahmedabad got out of control when protesters clashed with police there.
Fighting broke out shortly after the arrest of the leader of the community, Hardik Patel. It was reported by witnesses there to local media that police fired teargas and baton-charged demonstrators.
Stone-throwing protesters torched cars, buses and police stations as the rioting spread to other cities and towns in the western state of Gujaret.
A clash of the castes
The demonstrators were demanding that the Indian government make changes to programs that favor the underprivileged groups at the lower end of India’s caste system.
Hardik Patel, before being arrested, had threatened to team up with other castes that had similar complaints about the quota system and take the fight to New Delhi.
The Patels are one of the state’s most affluent communities, but they say they are struggling to compete with less privileged castes for jobs. They claim that they are the victims of “positive discrimination.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after assuming power last year, set aside a proportion of government jobs and university places for Dalits, known as “untouchables”, and for “other backward castes.”
The measures were intended to bring victims of the worst discrimination into the mainstream part of the society.
Modi on Thursday appealed for peace in Gujaret, his home state.
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