AKIPRESS.COM - India deployed paramilitary forces and imposed a curfew in Gujarat on Wednesday after violence broke out at a protest led by a powerful clan to demand more government jobs and college places.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for calm in the state he ran for more than a decade before leading his nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to victory in last year's general election, reports Reuters.

"I appeal to the people of Gujarat to maintain peace. Violence will never achieve anything," Modi said in a statement broadcast on television.

At least half a million members of the Patidar, or Patel, community rallied on Tuesday in the city of Ahmedabad to demand changes to policies that, they argue, unfairly favour groups at the lower end of India's social order.

Clashes broke out after the arrest of the movement's leader, 21-year-old activist Hardik Patel, prompting police to fire tear gas and to baton-charge protesters.

In a speech he gave in May, Modi said that India must overcome its caste-based divisions.