Promote communal harmony, instead of abetting its deterioration - Letter to the Chief Minister of Haryana | Binoy Viswam

Binoy Viswam
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
116, North Avenue New Delhi - 110 001
Mob: 9605766702 E-mail: binoyviswam55[at]gmail.com

To,
Shri Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister, Government of Haryana

Date: 28th August, 2023

Respected Shri Manohar Lal Khattar Ji,

I write to you to raise my serious concerns regarding the prevailing situation in certain districts of Haryana and your government’s handling of the it. Communal riots erupted in Haryana following the announcement of Braj Mandal Yatra by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) last month. The communal situation has remained tense since then in the districts of Gurugram and Nuh. The Haryana government led by you was apparently caught sleeping as accepted by Home Minister Anil Vij that he did not have any intelligence input on the buildup of violence and tension in the area. Further, your government has failed in arresting infamous cow-vigilante Monu Manesar, whose provocations resulted in violence and you have accepted that government has no information on his location.

After violence claimed 6 lives and made peace and normalcy a thing of the past in the affected region, your government resorted to bulldozers and harassment instead of engaging in dialogue or peacebuilding. When a delegation of the Communist Party of India (CPI), consisting of myself, AITUC General Secretary Amarjit Kaur, Rajya Sabha MP P. Sandosh Kumar and CPI Haryana Secretary Dariyao Singh reached Gurugram and Nuh to meet with the victims of violence and make efforts for the restoration of normalcy and harmony in the region, we were stopped by the police before entering Nuh on 6th August, 2023. Similarly, a delegation of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee was stopped on 8th August, 2023. These steps were undemocratic and aimed at hiding the truth behind communal riots.

Today itself, your government has allowed an 11-member team of Vishwa Hindu Parishad to perform puja at a temple in Nuh. It is reported that several groups are also planning to enter Nuh. 1,900 Haryana Police personnel and 24 companies of paramilitary forces have to be deployed as a precautionary measure while mobile internet services have been suspended in Nuh, due to this move. The permission to VHP after your repeated announcements on not allowing any procession in Nuh is prima-facie biased and provocative. When elected representatives of the people and citizens with bona-fide credentials were not allowed, allowing a group whose complicity in violence has been flagged by many is only going to deteriorate the communal atmosphere. In this light, I urge you to retract the permission and take steps to promote communal harmony, instead of abetting its deterioration.

Yours sincerely,

(Binoy Viswam)
Leader of CPI Parliamentary Group & Secretary, National Council