NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD, 13 July — An annual Hindu procession in the volatile western state of Gujarat passed off peacefully yesterday under the watchful eye of thousands of police deployed to prevent religious bloodshed.

But as the procession in Ahmedabad wound to a close after passing through Muslim neighborhoods, police said they had foiled a plot to attack the parade.

Police said they arrested a man whom they accused of seeking revenge for his 19-year-old son’s death in a wave of religious violence that swept the state in February and March.

“You just can’t imagine how big a tragedy it would have been,” Joint Police Commissioner P.P. Panday told reporters.

Thirteen others were also arrested and a big haul of weapons seized, including homemade explosives, but no charges had been laid yet, they said.

Two people were injured yesterday in clashes with police.

The incident happened in Anand town, 60 km from here, when police fired teargas after being pelted with stones at the annual procession called the Jagannath Yatra.

Analysts said the ability of the state government, headed by the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which also leads the ruling central coalition, to maintain peace would be a test of its assurance that calm had been restored to the state.

Many Muslims stayed indoors, peeping at the parade through curtained windows.

Thousands of others had fled their homes on the eve of the procession. They took refuge in relief camps set up following the carnage that swept the state earlier this year which officials say left over 1,000 dead, most of them Muslims.

Human rights groups say the death toll was at least 2,500.

That violence erupted after an arson attack on a train carrying Hindus left 58 dead. Police said a Muslim mob torched the train.

Many survivors said the state government and police had turned a blind eye to the wave of revenge killings and clashes in which victims were burned or hacked to death — accusations that authorities have denied.

In past years, the Ahmedabad procession has sometimes turned nasty, triggering clashes as Hindus hurled anti-Muslim insults.

Many Muslims said they were not reassured despite the massive police presence this year. “There’s a lot of tension. One doesn’t know what will happen,” said hardware shop owner Murtkja Rangwalla. “I’ve no faith in the local police.”

But for participants in the parade, it was a joyous event.

“I wait for this day every year,” said Devibhai Ghadvi.

After peaceful ending of the rally, the stage has now been virtually set for contending parties to draw a political mileage from it.

As the BJP heads the state government and Congress party is the leading opposition party, the ensuing battle on the state’s political turf spells a crucial test for both the parties.

Taking a cue from this, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi lashed out at the BJP-led alliance for driving the country into a “communal frenzy.”

While addressing a public meeting yesterday in Bhirani in Rajasthan, she said, “The BJP-led government is responsible for communal disharmony in the country and its constituents are brazenly encouraging elements causing divide between communities for selfish gains.”

In Gujarat, the BJP government is likely to project peaceful passage of the rally as its triumph and make moves to hold early elections.