Uttarakhand parking row injures 5 amid growing intolerance in India
Hate campaign against Sikhs escalates after locals clash with Sikh pilgrims
Chamoli: Five people, including a youth from Mohali, were injured after a clash erupted between a group of Sikh pilgrims and locals over a parking dispute near Panch Puliya in Karnprayag, Uttarakhand, exposing the rising intolerance in India where trivial issues quickly spiral into large-scale violence.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the incident took place on Tuesday morning when Sikh pilgrims on their way to Hemkund Sahib parked their vehicle in front of a local hotel. The argument escalated and the two sides attacked each other with swords and kirpans.
The injured have been identified as Prakash Rawat (26), Sudarshan Kandari (55), Gajpal Singh (50), Harendra Singh (42), all residents of Karnprayag, and Manpreet Singh (21) of Punjab’s Mohali.
One of them was said to be in critical condition and referred to a higher medical facility. Following the clash, locals blocked the Badrinath highway for four hours, stranding hundreds of vehicles carrying pilgrims to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib along with local commuters.
Traffic was diverted to a holding area in Gauchar to ease congestion.
The protest was called off after Chamoli District Magistrate Gaurav Kumar and SSP Surjit Singh Panwar intervened, assuring strict action against those responsible. Locals also demanded a ban on sharp-edged weapons during religious pilgrimages. Kumar said safety of both pilgrims and locals was the administration’s top priority and “no form of lawlessness would be tolerated.”
The Karnprayag clash adds to a growing list of incidents where minor disputes in India turn violent. Besides, a hate campaign has escalated against Sikhs following the clash.
Similar flare-ups have been reported from Dehradun and other parts of the country, highlighting how communal tensions and intolerance are increasingly turning small confrontations into major law-and-order crises.
