Saharanpur: One Community Takes Out Ambedkar Shobha Yatra, Another One Blocks It With Tractors 

The village of Doodhli in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh witnessed clashes with stone-pelting and firing between two communities during an ‘Ambedkar Shobha Yatra’ on Thursday (20 April). Several shops were targeted and vehicles belonging to the police as well as the media were damaged. Several people and two policemen were injured as a result, reports the Times of India.

The village has a population of approximately 8,000 of which Dalits form 25 per cent. The Ambedkar Jayanti Shobha Yatra, a non-religious procession to commemorate the architect of India’s constitution, was not allowed to be taken out in the village for a decade by previous governments because the area was seen as communally sensitive. Like previous years, the local police had not granted permission for the yatra this time as well.

The procession began in the village and was soon stopped by members of a community using tractors. Stone pelting, arson and firing followed this after which BJP workers including Member of Parliament for Saharanpur, Raghav Lakhanpal, demanded that the police allow the procession to go through. Permission was denied and the procession was forcefully called off.