‘No info on Nuh’: One angle to Anil Vij’s claims is CID with CM, not with Home, in Haryana

A couple of months after the BJP returned to power in November 2019, Khattar decided to take over the CID, a development that was not taken lying down by Vij, who traditionally should have held it as Home Minister. As a six-time MLA, compared to Khattar’s two terms, Vij is pretty senior in the party hierarchy, with the denial of the CID charge seen as an affront.

The tussle and statements issued by its two top leaders in the state had forced the BJP high command to intervene and summon both to Delhi. Finally, Vij was persuaded to concede the department to Khattar, and he publicly said that as No.1 in the ministry, the CM was supreme and could keep whatever department he wanted.

The notification that followed later said the CID, Department of Personnel and Training and Raj Bhawan Affairs portfolios would be held by the CM, in addition to his existing ones.

Incidentally, hours before the notification was issued, Vij had received his first intelligence briefing by a Superintendent of Police-rank officer since taking over as Home Minister on November 14, 2019.

Vij had then told The Indian Express: “As far as such briefings continue, I am okay. In the last five years, we have had three major law and order problems in the state. What if another one happens? Being the Home Minister, I need to be updated about the situation prevailing in the state so that I can mobilise my resources accordingly.”

Vij was referring to the Jat agitation across the state, the operation to nab self-styled godman Sant Rampal, and the protests that erupted across Haryana in retaliation to the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case. All three saw loss of lives and damage to property worth crores.

After violence erupted at Nuh on July 31, both Khattar and Vij issued statements saying it was “not spontaneous” but rather a “pre-planned conspiracy”. Deputy CM and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala was among the first to suggest an intelligence failure, saying at The Idea Exchange session of The Indian Express that “the incident (the yatra brought out by the VHP and Bajrang Dal) was not adequately managed”.

Chautala added that the rider that the blame for this lay on the yatra organisers. “They did not intimate the district administration about the exact crowd-numbers, which could have been one of the reasons why adequate arrangements were not made on the day.”

On August 4, in an interview with The Indian Express, Nuh MLA Aftab Ahmed said that the day before the yatra, he, Firozepur Jhirka MLA Mamman Khan and Punjana MLA Mohd Ilyas, had “showed several videos and provocative posts uploaded by these people (cow vigilantes and members of Bajrang Dal) to the police… In those posts and pictures, these people were openly brandishing weapons. No action was taken by the police”.

While Khattar has maintained his silence on the matter of intelligence inputs, Vij has said he was not aware of any such information regarding the yatra, and would hold an inquiry into this. “Who received what kind of intelligence inputs? At what level were these? Who was told what? All these things shall be investigated,” Vij said.

On Sunday, asked about the intelligence inputs again, Vij told mediapersons: “Only Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has all the information regarding the Nuh matter… Nuh ke baare mein ab jo batayenge, mukhyamantiji batayenge. Mujhe nahin kuchh bhi pata… Unhin ke paas saari soochnaye hain (Whatever there is to say about Nuh now, only the CM can say. I have no information… Only he holds the entire information).”