Amravati : As Per the reports of The Indian Express, two shops belonging to Muslims were burnt during a shutdown observed by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra’s Amravati city on Saturday.
The BJP had called for Bandh amid the protest staged by a Muslim organisation on Friday against the recent communal violence in Tripura. The protestors had allegedly thrown stones at BJP leader Pravin Pote’s home.
Incidents of stone-pelting were witnessed from other places in Amravati, after which the authorities on Saturday imposed a curfew for four days and suspended internet services.
On the same day, 6,000 workers of the BJP and Hindutva groups Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad assembled at Rajkamal Chowk in Amravati reportedly on Pote’s instructions, according to The Indian Express.
“A section of this crowd turned violent, burnt two shops, damaged some other shops, burnt vehicles,” an unidentified police officer told the newspaper. “Almost all the victims are from the minority community. It appears that the violence had been planned a day in advance in retaliation for the violence on Friday by some members of the minority community.”
One of the shops being burnt was running since 1970, belonged to a man named Shadab Khan.
Owner said that he had a repair business. He repaired electronics, and his business was already hit by covid. “I had to let go five workers,” he told The Indian Express. “Now that my shop is gone, I have suffered a loss of Rs 13 lakh and lost my life’s earnings. The mob also stole electronic items from my shop.”
Feroze Ahmed, another businessman, said that the “police were watching as my shop burnt”.
“I started from scratch and put in decades of efforts to take a shop on rent to run my own business two years ago” Ahmed told the newspaper. “The pandemic had hurt my business, but this mindless rioting has ended everything for me.”
Ahmed said he suffered a loss of Rs 8 lakh. “They [the mob] also burnt three vehicles of my customers parked in front of my shop” he said, according to The Indian Express. “How will I pay for all this and care of my family? I am the sole breadwinner.”
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
