Click to play videoBareilly: Bareilly has been under curfew for 15 days ever since a procession to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammad on March 2 became the flash point.
The BJP and the Samajwadi Party have hit out at Mayawati government for not being able to control the communal violence in Bareilly.
Residents of Bareilly hold political parties responsible for the communal tension and subsequent curfew.
Though no one has died in the violence but 28 people have been injured and property worth nearly Rs 4 crore gutted in the riots.
The violence started at Chabai in Bareilly as the procession was moving on a road. The route was a diversion from the original route plan.
Residents of the area say permission had not been taken from the district administration for the diversion. Police say the matter was further complicated due to the reaction from the residents of the nearby colony.
Bareilly burnt for three days but soon calmed down till a fresh round of violence was sparked off with the arrest of a local Muslim leader with a strong hold on Bareillvy Muslims.
Tauqir Raza Khan, a member of a founding family of the Bareillvy Muslims, was charged with inciting violence but was later given a clean chit.
Khan claims he was initially targeted by the local administration because he had supported the Congress in last year's elections.
"A small accident has been given shape of a riot becouse of political situation in the city. BJP MP has been ruling the city for 22 years. I supported the Congress. The BJP has got oxygen because of this," sayd Khan.
But BSP's local MLA Virendra Singh is passing the buck, saying Mayawati's government has nothing to do with the arrest and the subsequent release of Khan.
"Arresting someone and then releasing him looks like a wider game plan," says Congress' MP from Bareilly Praveen Singh Aron.
The game plan, say most political observers, is to polarise the political map of Bareilly once again.
While upper caste Hindus have been the traditional BJP vote here, the Congress and the BSP are competing to win back Muslim support.
The Congress has also been demanding the release of Khan.
"Only the district administration can say why he was released. Special orders were issued to secure his release." says BJP MLA.
While the major parties make their political calculations the people of Bareilly are calculating other costs.
Two weeks of curfew have also meant that students have struggled to take their exams.
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