And you thought we were competative with our favorites!

"Indian Idol" TV contest sparks violence as 30 hurt

India (Reuters) - India's version of "American Idol" sparked violence on Friday when police clashed with supporters of the winner, leaving at least 30 people injured.

Officials said the army had been called in to maintain calm.

Prashant Tamang, an ethnic Nepali youth from the eastern state of West Bengal, beat Amit Paul from Meghalaya state, inflaming regional rivalries after a closely contested final round on Sunday.

The animosities subsided after the two contestants appealed for peace, but a radio station stoked further trouble by making inflammatory remarks about Tamang this week, angering ethnic Nepalese.

On Friday, thousands marched in West Bengal's Siliguri town to protest the remarks. The procession later turned violent, forcing police to fire tear gas shells and use batons.

A Reuters photographer was injured in the clashes.

"The situation is tense. We have placed the entire region under heavy security cover," Ravinder Jit Singh Nalwa, a senior police officer, told Reuters.

"Indian Idol" is among a slew of singing contests on Indian television judged by audience vote. The voting is heavily parochial with contestants drawing maximum votes from their native state.

So, no one had any thoughts on this?

I think it is somewhat amusing, in a sick way, lol.

I found this interesting, since it happens here in a lesser degree, "The voting is heavily parochial with contestants drawing maximum votes from their native state." The idea of basing your vote on where the contestant lives, not how talented they are, always irriteated me. It was an obvious factor in 2003 with the Hawaiian votes.

That story is insane Paula. Where is Deepa when you need her to explain the "territorial" emotions in India?? Can you imagine a "war" over an Idol winner....crazy!!

Well, in America we sort of have wars on message boards, lol. Even that is a bit insane, like when haters come on to attack the fans of a contestant, or visit their websites to mud-sling, as we have seen here. Here the fights are on the internet, there I guess they make it real. Crazy.