Howrah is witnessing clashes between police and protesters since yesterday. ANI
As protesters and police clashed in West Bengal for the second day over a suspended BJP leader's remarks on Prophet Muhammad, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said some political parties want to engineer riots and questioned why the people should suffer for the BJP's "sins".
"I have said this before. For two days now, normal life in Howrah has been disrupted and incidents of violence engineered. Some political parties are behind this and they want to trigger riots. But this will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken. The BJP has sinned, and the people will suffer?," she tweeted.
At Howrah near Kolkata, a protest against BJP leader Nupur Sharma's remarks on Prophet Muhammad turned violent yesterday. This morning, another clash with reported in the same area.
Police threw tear gas shells to disperse the protesters after stones were thrown at them, news agency ANI reported. The administration has imposed prohibitory orders in the area till Wednesday. Internet has been suspended across the district till Monday, officials said.
Earlier, on Thursday, protesters had put up road blockades at several places in Howrah.
The Chief Minister had then asked them to call off their agitation in the state and go to New Delhi to protest.
The remarks by Nupur Sharma and now expelled BJP leader Naveen Kumar Jindal has tarnished the image of India across the world and they should be arrested, Ms Banerjee had told reporters.
Huge protests were reported from across nine states after the Friday prayers.
In Jharkhand's Ranchi, 2 people died of gunshot injuries killed and 12 others -- four of them policemen -- were injured as protesters clashed with police.
Clashes also broke out in several towns in Uttar Pradesh, with over 200 people arrested in this connection.
Prohibitory orders have now been clamped in several areas in the country to prevent any untoward incident.