Ethnic Violence Rips India Hindus, Muslims Vie As The Elections Loom

On the eve of general elections, India’s fragile ethnic stability was under strain Sunday after what appeared to be a botched assassination plot against the president of the nationalist Hindu party.

In a nation with a bloody history of mob violence caused by Hindu-Muslim rifts, the deaths of 50 people and the wounding of more than 200 by 17 bombs near a Hindu party election rally a day earlier at southern Coimbatore enraged mobs from both religious groups and led to riots.

As troops were rushed into the textile-manufacturing center in the troublesome Tamil Nadu state, six people blew themselves up on Sunday with a homemade pipe bomb in what initially appeared to be a suicide pact to prevent police from capturing them. Police said later the six might have died “accidentally” when one of their devices exploded.

The six had been cornered in a house in the city center by security forces who said they were Muslim fundamentalists responsible for some of the 17 bombs that exploded Saturday. On Sunday, police were still defusing booby-trapped cars.

A police spokesman said the city, which is under curfew, was tense Sunday as troops patrolled the streets with orders to shoot rioters and looters.

Some of the bombs that exploded during a 15-minute period Saturday evening went off near a rally that was to be addressed by Lal Krishna Advani, the man who has promised to lead his Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to victory in elections starting today.

Advani, 70, is the leader of Hindu fundamentalists who oppose foreign influence and demand more rights for the majority Hindu population. He was two hours late for the rally thanks to a delayed flight from New Delhi.

After the explosions, mobs in Coimbatore, a city of 2.5 million, looted shops, torched cars and called for the blood of minority Muslims who were blamed by city officials for the massacre.