Seriously disturbing incidents with communal overtones are taking place one after another — and in different regions. After the most-condemnable incidents in Manipur, the scene of violence has now shifted to Haryana at a place close to the national capital – Delhi. This threatens to raise the communal temperature. At least four persons were killed in clashes in Nuh on Monday, followed by the imposition of curfew and the killing of a deputy imam of a mosque in Sector 57 of the bustling commercial city of Gurugram on Tuesday. The problems seemed to start over the issue of holding Friday prayers in mosques, and these were apparently complicated by politically powerful elements linked to the government. The spirit of tolerance was obviously missing. While it is premature to pass comments on what went wrong or to fix the blame on one or the other side, what must be noted prima facie is that the state’s police establishment failed to remain alert. The blame must be put more emphatically on the political establishment led by chief minister Manoharlal Khattar because the police on its own cannot take decisions in such sensitive matters. Whatever be the provocation, some elements close to the ruling establishment took law into their hands, which should not have happened at all.
Admittedly, the nine years of the Modi-led governance of the nation from its apex in Delhi have been marked mostly by a spirit of tolerance in religious matters other than for occasional flare-ups here and there. Overall, after the Gujarat riots of 2002, Modi had learnt bitter lessons and acted with caution. That saved the nation and helped Modi and the BJP retain power for a second term at the Centre. With an efficient home minister in Amit Shah, or Rajnath Singh previously, things were generally under control. But, with Manipur erupting and the violence continuing for the third month with shameful incidents of sexual violence and now Haryana following suit in another condemnable manner, questions are bound to be raised about the efficacy of the Modi establishment in carrying India forward. For any government, maintaining communal equilibrium means ‘half the job done.’ With only a few months left for the parliament polls, it is all the more important that the central government is alert and that it avoids complicating situations with a sectarian agenda. That holds true for Khattar too, a colourless leader who had lost his right to be the CM in the last assembly polls there but retained power with help of a new party. In Manipur too, independent analysts appear to put the state CM in the dock for all that went wrong there. What’s common between them is that both are of the BJP stock.