Before ‘cow vigilante killings’, Haryana unveiled communal harmony panel with polls in mind

There is a likelihood of ruling coalition allies BJP and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala going their separate ways in the Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in October 2024.

Last time, the BJP had expected to comfortably return to power, but fell short of the halfway mark by 6 and had to take the JJP’s support. Except for then incumbent CM Khattar and Home Minister Anil Vij, all other ministers lost their seats.

In order to avoid a repeat, the BJP is trying to perform better in south Haryana, where there are constituencies with a sizeable minority population. The Muslim-dominated seats of Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka, and Punhana are in this region. In 2019, the BJP had banked on former Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders in two of the seats and fielded a debutant in one. While former INLD leader Zakir Husain contested from Nuh and Naseem Ahmed, also formerly of the INLD, was in the fray from Ferozepur Jhirka, first-time contestant Nouksham Chaudhary was fielded from Punhana. The BJP lost all three seats to the Congress.

BJP insiders said the party was actively popularising the “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (with all, development for all)” slogan to blunt the Opposition’s allegation that it had neglected certain areas. “This new committee to review communal harmony in the state is also another step that depicts the government’s commitment towards all sections of the society, all faiths and religions,” said a BJP leader.

But, the murder of Nasir, 27, and Junaid, 35, at the hands of suspected cow vigilantes has strengthened the Opposition’s claim about a worsening law-and-order situation. “The law-and-order situation across Haryana is at its worst. We all have seen the recent incident of two youths’ bodies that were recovered in Bhiwani. It is utter lawlessness. It seems that there is no government in the state. I strongly condemn such incidents. A thorough probe should be got done and the guilty should be punished. The state government must first put its house in order and correct the law-and-order situation so that people can breathe a sense of security,” said Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress.

No Dushyant Chautala

In a telling indicator of the state of the ruling alliance in Haryana, while the home minister will be part of the communal harmony panel, called the State Level Integration Committee (SLIC), there is no space for Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala who outranks him in the Cabinet hierarchy in it.

Haryana is also not the first state to set up a communal harmony review committee. In 2021, Andhra Pradesh also constituted a similar review panel and even went ahead to set up district-level committees apart from a state-level one.

In Karnataka, the Congress has released a 10-point charter for the Dakshina Kannada region in which it has promised to establish communal and social harmony committees in every village in the region’s districts. These committees will receive appropriate grants for plans to ensure communal harmony in these districts. Both Dakshina Kannada and Udupi are hotbeds of communal violence in Karnataka, and such cases have thrown life out of gear, especially ahead of elections in the region. More recently, the hijab issue that rocked the country had its origins in Udupi district.