Just a small spark over parking would have turned into a big fire if the response from the local police had not come right in the nick of time. The tension that wears a communal hue in the Walled city's Hauz Qazi has continued to be tense for the past two days.
Around 10 on Sunday evening (June 30, 2019), the brawl kicked off over parking a bike outside a temple, Durga Mandir when a boy from the other community objected to it. A scuffle began that soon ensued and snowballed into a confrontation between two of the communities.
On Tuesday (July 2, 2019), Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan visited the area and the temple, he also appealed to the locals to stay calm. He instructed the local police to work towards fetching back the normalcy at stake. Keeping the sensitivity of the matter, a big posse of police and paramilitary force have been pressed into operation and efforts are being made to placate the situation. Some people have taken to the street and started staging protest in the area. The situation turned all the worse when a group emerged and attacked the temple. Several people were injured in the clash.
The police have detained miscreants and rioters from either side so as to keep the torrid scene well under control.
Law and order has been in place, no let off whatsoever. It's been kept tight from all possible angles to check any untoward incident in the area.
Pelting stones from either side has kind of damaged the temple a bit, this in fact caught fire when this travelled far and wide into the corners of old Delhi.
Some people gathered around and staged a sit-in on the lane where the temple is whereas some from the Muslim community shouted slogans in the Lal Quan area.
The condition is tense but under control. The police are geared to fight any eventuality and they do not at all want this tiny tension over parking to wear a communal colour. Some rumour mongers connect this to mob lynching and tried spreading on social media as a means of fanning the flame, there is nothing as such as a matter of fact. The police ensure safety, and assure that the wrong will be prosecuted irrespective of who is who. The district police chief (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa tweeted that the situation is rather tense but under control and heavy deployment of the police has diffused the situation to a great extent. Singh added saying that the police have left no stone unturned to restore the peace.
