India's PM calls for calm after night of riots

Curfews remain in place following clashes in which police posts and stations were torched. Photo / AP

India's Prime Minister has appealed for calm after a rally that drew half a million members of a powerful clan resulted in a night of rioting that left three dead and dozens of buses and police stations torched.

Protesters from the influential Patel, or Patidar, community had gathered on Wednesday to demand inclusion in government programmes for the disadvantaged. But the demonstration erupted into mob violence that evening and into yesterday, as agitators threw stones, battled police and set a state minister's home ablaze.

The skirmishes continued yesterday and curfews remained in effect in various trouble spots throughout Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Violence will not benefit anyone," Modi said in a video message. "The only way forward is to have a peaceful dialogue."

The violence was sparked when police briefly detained the movement's charismatic young leader, 22-year-old Hardik Patel.

"Our movement is nonviolent," Patel told the television channel NDTV yesterday. "We have not triggered any violence." He promised his campaign would "intensify" in the coming days.

Mobs battled police and burned vehicles in several cities. Photo / AP

Members of his clan historically have been politically powerful landowners, businessmen and diamond polishers in India, and have been a driving force in the country's diaspora. More than 40 per cent of motels in the United States are owned by Indians, for example, many named Patel.

But long-held resentment of what the Patels see as the Government's preferential treatment of the underprivileged, twinned with economic woes, came to a boil this summer in a series of rallies and protests.

"We are angry. We are frustrated. We want the system changed," said Ankit Patel, 25. He said he was passed over for admission to a master's programme at a state university in favour of three classmates from tribal communities who had lower marks.

Since its independence in 1947, India has sought to protect its Dalit and tribal communities by reserving special seats in universities and some government jobs.