A former Intelligence Bureau director has slammed the local administration and police for allowing a procession by the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday in sensitive areas of Mewat in the BJP-run Haryana.
Communally-charged slogans were shouted in the procession, targeting the minority community, leading to the widespread communal violence in Nuh district and the adjoining Gurgaon.
“Why did the local administration and the police give permission to Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad to take out the procession despite enough indications that it will turn into a major law-and-order issue? I was shocked to see (in videos on social media) that some of them who took part in the rally were armed with guns and swords and were shouting communally-charged slogans and the police remaining mute spectators,” the retired IB director told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
"It clearly points to some sort of complicity on the part of the local administration. The Haryana government must order a high-level probe to fix accountability. It was clear that the objective behind organising the procession was to create social unrest as provocative slogans were shouted, targeting the minority community,” he said.
Six people, including two home guards, have died so far in the violence. Over 115 people have been arrested and 90 detained, according to the Haryana government.
On Tuesday, a mob killed a young deputy imam of a mosque in Gurgaon and torched several eateries and vandalised shops belonging to the minority community.
In a video that surfaced on social media, purported local VHP leaders were seen delivering hate speeches against Muslims hours before the rally started on Monday afternoon.
Sources in the security establishment in Haryana said stones were pelted from both sides, leading to full-fledged communal violence.
The trigger for the violence, sources said, were two videos — one by cow vigilante Monu Manesar, saying he would also take part in the procession and urging his supporters to participate in large numbers. He, however, did not participate in the rally.
“In another video, a local Bajrang Dal member is seen making communal slurs, threatening Muslims and daring them to stop the yatra,” said a police officer.
Monu Manesar heads the cow vigilante wing of the Bajrang Dal in Haryana. He was earlier booked for the murder of two Muslim men whose charred bodies were recovered from Bhiwani district in Rajasthan in February.
Sources in Haryana police said Monu had been at large since Rajasthan police booked him in the abduction and murder of the two Muslim men. Asked how he could shoot videos and upload them on Facebook, a senior police officer declined to comment.
Monu Manesar gained prominence over the past few years in Haryana as a leading figure in the cow protection task force.
Haryana chief minister and BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday: “We do not have any input on where he (Monu Maneswar) is now. Whether they have (inputs about him), we cannot say. The Rajasthan police are free to act against him, and we will extend as much help as they require from us.”
