Nuh violence leaves Haryana reeling but farmers stand guard, stop it from spreading

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A political leader, who did not wish to be identified, said, “Mostly, there has not been any enmity among people in Haryana in the name of religion, except for a few isolated incidents that took place because of political reasons in the past. Due to the influence of Arya Samaj, cows are revered in many parts of the state. But, still, people did not allow such matters to cause rifts in society.”

He added, “But people in most other areas in the state continue to stay away from such conflicts as the strong farming community doesn’t pay any attention to such efforts … In these circumstances, the political forces that are eyeing a religion-based polarisation may not get much traction in Haryana after the Nuh incident.”

Hitting out at the Manohar Lal Khattar for allowing the situation to spin out of control, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda said, “The Nuh incident is unfortunate and painful because there has not been a history of such incidents in Haryana. Had the government shown alertness even on Monday, this incident would not have happened.”

To limit the impact of communal divisions, the leaders of farmers’ groups and khaps are playing an active role across villages. This is a likely reason why rural Haryana outside the affected areas in and around Nuh has remained peaceful. Local community leaders organised a Sarv Dharam Sammelan in Jind’s Uchana town on Saturday and passed a resolution to work for the unity of “Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Issai”. The representatives of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs participated in the gathering.

Azad Palwa, a farmer leader from Jind, said, “We have passed a resolution to seek a ban on the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the Bajrang Dal, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for their efforts to provoke people. Divide and rule won’t be allowed to succeed.”

Farmers’ leaders also underlined how the people from Mewat (a broader region of which Nuh is a part) had actively participated in their agitation in 2020-’21 against three controversial farm laws that were later repealed. To maintain communal harmony, farmer leader Suresh Koth said a convention was being planned at Baas village of Hisar district on August 9. “At the convention, we will not only highlight the issues of farmers but also discuss how efforts were made to disturb Mewat,” Koth said.

In recent decades, caste mobilisations in Haryana have made more news than religious violence due to the presence of several caste groups across the state. Most recently, the Kaithal district witnessed an intense tussle between Gurjars and Rajputs over the lineage of Mihir Bhoj, a ninth-Century ruler. There have also been several conflicts between Dalits and upper castes over the years and in 2016, several regions saw violence between Jats and non-Jats.

Figures from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that from 2019 to 2021 cases of communal riots in Haryana have been marginally more than caste conflicts. While in 2019, 50 cases of communal violence were reported, the following year it was 51 and in 2021 it dropped to 40. In comparison, Haryana reported 42 cases of caste violence in 2019, 48 in 2020, and 36 in 2021.

As the violence erupted in Nuh, there was fear that it would escalate tensions in neighbouring Rajasthan in an election year. “The communal tension in Nuh threatens to escalate tempers in adjoining areas of Mewat in Bharatpur and Alwar districts in poll-bound Rajasthan,” said Sanjay Sharma, a professor at the Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication in Jaipur.