Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday suspected that some political parties could be behind the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.
"I cannot say about political conspiracies till I get a complete report about the violence (in Muzaffarnagar). But political parties could indulge in," Shinde told media here, when asked whether there was any political conspiracy behind the Muzaffarnagar riots.
Shinde further said the Central Government has already warned 11 states about possible communal violence ahead of the 2014 general elections, and asked them to remain alert.
"Won't blame anyone, had alerted 11 states violence could take place, political parties could indulge in violence," Shinde said.
Meanwhile, the situation in violence-hit Muzaffarnagar is limping back to normalcy amid heavy deployment of the army and paramilitary forces.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Arun Kumar, who has been closely monitoring the situation, today said that peace prevailed in the district when the curfew was relaxed.
More From This Section
"First, we gave a two hour relaxation and then increased it by half-an-hour. It was peaceful and we faced no problems in closing it. After that, we did not get any information of an untoward incident from anywhere," said Kumar.
Curfew was on Tuesday relaxed for two hours in three areas of trouble-hit Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh even as the death toll in the clashes in the district and adjoining towns climbed to 40.
With no reports of any fresh violence, curfew was eased for two hours from 3.30 pm in Kotwali, Civil Lines and Nai Nandi areas, District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said on Tuesday.
The district administration had clamped curfew on Saturday following incidents of communal violence.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Government has constituted a one-member judicial commission to probe Muzaffarnagar violence.
The commission, which would mainly look into administrative lapses, if any, in controlling the violence, would submit its report to the government within two months.
Amid sharp criticism from leaders of various opposition parties over the violence, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has so far described it as a political conspiracy to destabilize the Samajwadi Party (SP) Government in the state.
Yadav had earlier said the government led by him is committed to restore normalcy in the state, and added that the culprits will be brought to book.
"The incidents can be solved by community elders, but there are certain forces which don't want peace to prevail," he told media here.
Violence broke out in the Kawal area of Muzaffarnagar on Saturday when members of a community returning from a panchayat meeting in Naglabadhod, three kilometres from Kawal, clashed with members of another community.