Communal Violence Over Cow Carcass in Shimla

In Rohru, a small town in the capital of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, remnants of a cow carcass were allegedly found on the roof of a house. People belonging to right wing organisations used this allegation as a reason to allegedly induce violence in the area, which has given rise to fear among the local residents. The district administration has said that they are keeping an eye on the situation.

Ever since BJP came to power in the state, the right-wing forces have been continuously trying to cause ruckus. This incident in Shimla, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, was also a part of their attempts to create disturbance in the state. The local political and social activists have openly said that like in the other states, this incident was also an attempt to divert the attention from the failures of the BJP government.

According to the local media, after the alleged remnants of a cow carcass were found on the roof of a local house, more than 18 shops belonging to a community were attacked and broken. On the evening of December 26, Wednesday, the local shops were attacked, and the products in the shops were thrown out on the streets. The shops were again attacked on the morning of Thursday, which caused the market to remain closed all through the day.

The local media also said that around 5,000 people gathered in the area, and took out a rally against the alleged cow slaughter. As the situation worsened, a police battalion was called from Shimla to keep it under control. The police had to reportedly use violence to stop the crowd from causing more damage.

Local CPI (M) leadership has strongly condemned the communal violence that disturbed the peaceful town of Rohru, and has alleged that the RSS and other right-wing organisations were responsible for this. They have demanded that the state government take immediate action against the people who were responsible for this. CPI(M) said in a statement that RSS has been continuously trying to cause communal violence in the area.

Ex-mayor of Shimla, Sanjay Chauhan, has said that that state government should take responsibility, and provide monetary compensation to the people whose shops were destroyed. He has said that this kind of communal violence will not be tolerated in the state, and the culprits should be immediately arrested.

Some media reports have said that some locals from the area have fled because of the fear of being attacked. The local administration has said that they have talked to all the sides involved in the conflict, and the attackers have said that something like this will not happen again. However, Chauhan said that if the state police doesn’t arrest the people responsible for this, a lot of doubts regarding the role played by the police will be raised in the mind of the local people.