NEW DELHI, April 19: The imam of India’s biggest mosque said on Friday that civil war could erupt if genocide against Muslims in Gujarat did not end.

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, in a fiery speech after Friday prayers at New Delhi’s Jama Masjid, said Muslims would have to “think out ways for our self-protection” in the wake of India’s worst bloodletting in a decade.

“What has happened in Gujarat over the last 51 days is nothing but genocide...stop it now,” said Bukhari. “There will be a civil war in this country. We will also show our strength. India will be broken into pieces.”

As he spoke, a crowd of Muslims torched an effigy of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the gates to the sprawling mosque in Delhi’s old quarter after beating the cloth figure with sticks. “Shame on Modi,” they cried.

Bukhari’s warning came as opposition parties and coalition allies kept up the heat in parliament on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition to dismiss Modi, accusing him of turning a blind eye to the killings of Muslims.

“Remove Modi, save the nation,” lawmakers bellowed as India’s famously unruly parliament adjourned in uproar for a fifth day after the government again rejected calls for his dismissal.

Modi has denied charges that his administration and state police looked the other way while Hindu gangs went on a rampage, killing Muslims and looting and burning Muslim property.—Reuters