Police said six districts, most of them in north Gujarat, have witnessed sporadic incidents of violence against Hindi-speaking people. At least 431 people have been arrested in connection to 56 cases in Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Aravalli, and Surendranagar
Ahmedabad: Over 430 people were arrested for attacking migrants and 56 FIRs registered in connection with the attacks since the alleged rape of a 14-month-old girl by a labourer in Sabarkantha district on September 28. Police said six districts, most of them in north Gujarat, have witnessed sporadic incidents of violence against Hindi-speaking people.
Gujarat minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja said 431 people have been arrested in connection to 56 cases in Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Aravalli, and Surendranagar.
“Seventeen companies of SRP have been deployed in the affected districts to maintain law & order. Moreover, 20 PSIs from neighbouring districts have been deployed in the affected places. SP and IG-level officers are continuously monitoring the situation,” Jadeja said.
Additionally, district collectors, grant officers, mamlatdars, held meetings with representatives of industrial areas in the violence-hit districts in a bid to establish peace.
Police have arrested Ravindra Sahu, a labourer hailing from Bihar and working in a local ceramic factory, for the crime.
Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar--Yogi Adityanath and Nitish Kumar-- and Union minister and BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan, who hails from Bihar, spoken to Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani to voice their concern over the attacks.
Rupani said no untoward incident had taken place during the last 48 hours. "We are committed to maintaining law and order, and people can call police in case of trouble. We will provide them security." he told reporters in Rajkot.
Uttar Bharatiya Vikas Parishad president Maheshsingh Kushwah claimed that over 20,000 people belonging to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar had fled Gujarat due to the prevailing situation.
Neeraj Kumar, a leader of the JD(U), published a two-page open letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, blaming his party for the violence against Biharis. "You appointed your Gujarat MLA Alpesh Thakor as one of the national secretaries in-charge of Bihar and his outfit Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena is driving out migrant Biharis," Kumar alleged.
But senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel gave a clean chit to Thakor, alleging that the BJP government was trying to politicise the issue.
Rahul Gandhi said targeting of migrant workers in Gujarat is "completely wrong" and he is totally against it. He tweeted the root cause of violence in Gujarat is the closure of factories and unemployment there due to which both the system and the economy are reeling.
Earlier, state home minister Jadeja said that people from other states had contributed to Gujarat's development, and the government was worried about the attacks on them. He said that people from other states have blended in Gujarat "like sugar in milk", and warned that the government would not tolerate violence against them.
The minister said that the Cyber Crime Cell had registered three cases in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Mehsana, against those attempting to disturb peace by spreading inciting messages and videos on social media, and arrested 15 people so far.
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