A curfew has been ordered on a central Hindu pilgrimage town after Hindus and Muslims clashed over the demolition of buildings near a mosque ahead of a major Hindu festival, a police official said on Sunday.
Police said the situation was now quiet in the temple town of Ujjain where more than 30 million Hindu devotees are expected to visit between April 5 and May 7 for the Kumbh (Nectar Pot) festival.
Police slapped the curfew on the town after more than 15 people, including a senior police official, were injured in the clashes on Saturday which broke out when municipal officials came to demolish illegally built structures owned by Muslims near the mosque.
"We have requested people of all faiths to co-operate. Things are under control now," said Rajesh Rajora, local administrator of Ujjain, 188 kilometres (116 miles) from Bhopal, the state capital of Madhya Pradesh. Municipal officials said the buildings had to be demolished to widen roads ahead of the festival. After order was restored, the demolitions went ahead.
"Sadhus", or holy men, and pilgrims will visit Ujjain to bathe in the holy Shipra river for the festival celebrated once in 12 years and considered an auspicious occasion by Hindus due to the alignment of planets during the period.
Ujjain was declared a "Hindu holy city" by the newly elected Hindu nationalist government which took office in December in Madhya Pradesh.
Officials regard the city, which has a sizeable Muslim population, as "communally sensitive".
Authorities in India have been on guard against communal violence since more than 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, died in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 in the country's worst communal riots in a decade.
The violence was triggered when a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu devotees, killing 59 people.
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