After North-East state Manipur, which has been reeling under communal violence since May 3, now Haryana has been pushed into the communal conflagration.
During a Hindutva march led by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal on July 31, communal violence broke out in the Muslim-dominated Nuh town of Haryana. By the evening, reports of more acts of communal violence had come out of Sohna and Gurgaon.
At least six people have died so far in the clashes, scores have been hurt, and enraged crowds have destroyed property worth millions of rupees. In Gurgaon, a young Naib Imam was brutally killed by Hindutva goons who destroyed and looted shops and properties belonging to the Muslim community.
The communal conflagration in the Mewat region of Haryana, starting with Nuh and now spreading to Gurugram, led to the deaths of six people and incidents of arson and loot. On the pretext of holding a Braj Mandal Yatra, the Hindutva forces – Bajrang Dal and VHP unleashed a highly provocative campaign on social media. A notorious individual, Monu Manesar, named in the lynching of Nasir and Junaid, gave an open call to his supporters to join the yatra.
Since 2021, VHP leaders have conducted these yatras on a huge scale, as in the Mewat region, Muslims account for more than 80 percent.
However, the infamous cow vigilante and associate of Monu Manesar is claimed to have appeared in a video that served as the initial catalyst for the violence.
Manesar is wanted for several murder cases, including the most recent brutal killing of Junaid and Nasir. He is infamous for his videos of anti-Muslim violence and has urged his supporters to attend the Hindutva gathering in the Mewat area of Haryana. He is the most hated figure in Mewat for his vituperative video messages. Manesar had promised to be there in person at the event.
As soon as Manesar’s video appeared on social media, some Mewati Muslim youths responded by recording their own films in which they urged the administration to prevent Manesar from entering Mewat and called for his arrest.In a widely shared video, a group of young people from Mewat called for protests against Manesar.
Through their social media posts and meetings with the administration, civil society people also alerted the government to take notice of the buildup but the Haryana administration did not budge.
However, all circumstantial evidence suggests that it was planned violence with the alleged ‘active connivance’ of the local administration and police.
Even BJP MP Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurugram admitted that by carrying firearms, swords, and lathis, the procession’s members engaged in provocative behaviour. He also said that it was an administrative failure of the Haryana government, a failure of the BJP-JJP government.
Echoing his words, Dushyant Chautala, the Deputy Chief Minister, also said that the procession’s members had not completely informed the authorities of their yatra before the clashes.
The grounds for violence were prepared meticulously by using social media platforms. Social media has become a dangerous tool in the hands of these hatemongers.
Locals also accuse Hindutva leader Bittu Bajrangi of instigating Muslims in a provocative video before the yatra. In the video, Bajrangi claimed that everyone should be prepared to welcome him because he is visiting his sasural, which is Hindi for “in-laws’ home” and here refers to Mewat. His followers may be heard shouting “jijaji aa rahe hain” (Hindi for “brother-in-law is coming”) in the background.
Bajrangi was arrested last month for ‘abusing the Muslim community’ and allegedly brandishing weapons.
In Haryana in 2021, he declared at a mahapanchayat that “we are with the brothers who killed Asif and sent him to his 72 virgins.”
In June 2021, a number of mahapanchayats were held in Haryana in support of the guys detained for ‘lynching’ a Muslim man. Another widely circulated video purporting to be from Mewat shows a Hindu man and his family being allegedly attacked by Muslims.
The man alleges in the video that a mob attacked his family and confined him, his one-year-old child, and his family. In addition, he calls for people to prohibit Muslims from marching during the Muharram taziya. He also asserts that he overheard a woman being trapped in a bus that was on fire.
The VHP Joint Secretary, Surendra Jain, was seen entering the Nalhar Mahadev Mandir just before violence broke out in Nuh. He claimed that Mewat is Krishna’s motherland in his allegedly recorded speech, which appeared on social media and was shared live on Facebook by one Neeraj Vats.
Later, he declared, “We need to change Mewat’s character.” He then specifically mentioned the Muslim community.
In the video, he is heard saying, “It is not the land of cow killers, Hindu murderers, [Inter-Services Intelligence] agents, Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators, or those involved in conversions.”
In one of the viral videos, a man by the name of Vijay Hindu promised to help Atiq Ahmed’s murderers by giving them `1 lakh. He expressed his happiness that people are now suppressing ‘criminals’ by singing “Jai Shri Ram.”
Another widely shared video from the riots depicts Dinesh Bharti of the Bharat Mata Vahini, who organised anti-namaz demonstrations in Gurugram, brandishing a knife and urging onlookers to encircle Mewat from all sides.
The unrest over anti-Muslim hate speech and violence is claimed to have grown in the area since the murder of gym instructor Asif Khan in May 2021 and the subsequent anti-Muslim mahapanchayats in the area.
The protests against cow vigilantism have only intensified since the Nasir and Junaid murder cases, notably in the Nuh district, despite the fact that communal tensions in the region have been on the rise for the previous two years.
Muslims in the region, especially the relatives of those who were killed in mob lynchings by cow vigilantes, have been calling on the Khattar administration to put an end to Manesar-style violent raids in Mewat.
The violence spread to Gurugram, where the Anjuman Mosque was attacked and its Naib Imam was killed. Maulana Saad, Naib Imam at Gurgaon Sector 57 mosque, was murdered, and the mosque was set ablaze during the violence. The Hindutva radicals forced the majority of Muslim immigrants who stayed with their families to leave the city. One of them claimed he had no idea the violence in Nuh, which occurred 50 kilometres away, would also have an impact on them. In Sohna, properties belonging to the Muslim community were looted and destroyed.
When Haryana was burning, another gory incident happened on a moving train. On the Jaipur-MumbaiExpress, RPF policeman Chetan Singh first killed his senior point blank, then selectively killed three Muslim passengers.
The horrible murder of a senior RPF officer and three other passengers on a train headed for Mumbai by an RPF policeman should not be seen as the acts of a deranged mind, as the initial explanation provided by the railway authorities, who have launched an investigation, suggests. All of the victims were Muslim passengers. The constable purposefully targeted Muslims as he moved from coach to coach. This is a direct outcome of the hate statements given daily by individuals in positions of authority, who demonise the Muslim population and use every vile word in the communalist lexicon to describe them. According to an unconfirmed video, he expressly stated that Muslims were being led by Pakistan and that if they wanted to live in India, they should vote for Modi and Yogi. The man was echoing the language used by BJP leaders.
About the Nuh violence, the BJP supporters are spreading an old video of Maman Khan, a Congress MLA, speaking in the Haryana legislature shortly after Nasir and Junaid were killed. They say that this statement was the catalyst for the Nuh violence.But former Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the state government, through its acts of omission and commission, is wholly responsible for and complicit in the developments.
He said what Rao Inderjit Singh said: that it had been going on for many days.
“I saw a police official on the “Aaj Tak” channel claiming that they had provided information weeks before.Despite this the government did not take any prompt preventive action. This is a total failure of the government.”
As of right now, Manohar Lal Khattar, the chief minister, claimed that it was a well-planned plot.And Rao Inderjit questions how the people who attended the yatra obtained sticks and firearms. Why did the government not check it? the former CM Bhupendra Singh Hooda asked.
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Noted Supreme Court lawyer and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal came down heavily on RSS affiliated outfits such as the VHP,Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini for their open role in instigating and perpetrating riots. In a tweet, Sibal said: We must collectively ask why do these organisations are common factors in any communal flare-up.
“VHP & Bajrang Dal: We must collectively ask why 1) Is the VHP and / or the Bajrang Dal common factors in acts of communal violence ? 2) Do the top echelons of the BJP leadership remain silent at such acts of communal carnage? 3) Who benefits? You and they know the answer !”
Jamaat-e- Islami Hind leader Mohammad Shafi Madani, who led a delegation to visit the affected areas, told Radiance that the use of religious processions to provoke and perpetrate violence is highly condemnable. Such attempts to foment communal clashes are both predatory and suicidal and aim to garner political mileage through communal polarisation.
The delegation met with Gurugram Police Commissioner Kala Ramachandran. The police attributed the escalation of violence to social media propaganda and admitted challenges in handling the situation effectively, he said.
He pointed out that the situation in Gurugram is a failure of intelligence and coordination with the police department. There is a climate of impunity in Haryana as anti-social elements indulge in violence because they feel assured that no action will be taken against them as they enjoy political patronage, Madani said.
Bhupendra Singh Hooda said if the Khattar government says it was a deep conspiracy then why is the CM not ordering a judicial inquiry headed by a High Court judge so that the truth will come out?
Another senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, simply put, that polarised politics is to blame for this violence. The BJP uses this tactic to promote divisiveness; they started the fire in Haryana and are now trying to carry it to Rajasthan. Therefore, what Rao Inderjit Singh ji said about reality was also true. The double-engine government in Haryana has failed, as has this government in Manipur.