Haryana clashes caused by “politics of polarisation”, BJP trying to spread the fire to Rajasthan: Jairam Ramesh

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh blames BJP's "politics of polarisation" for Nuh clashes. Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh's statement confirms it. Bhupinder Singh Hooda seeks probe by High Court Judge.

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said that the communal clashes in Haryana’s Nuh were the result of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “politics of polarisation”, adding that attempts were being made to spread the “fire” to Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

Addressing a press conference at party headquarters, Mr. Ramesh said that it was the strategy of the BJP to promote polarisation. “They have set fire in Haryana and attempts are being made to spread it to Rajasthan,” said Mr. Ramesh, who is also the Congress general secretary for communications.

Referring to Union Minister of State and Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh’s statement about participants of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad yatra carrying weapons, Mr. Ramesh said that the truth had come out in the open.

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that “right steps at right time” could have prevented the situation. Seeking a probe into the violence by a High Court Judge, Mr. Hooda said that Nuh had never witnessed this scale of violence before, not even during the Partition. “Mr. Rao has said that it was failure of administration and government. The government had the information weeks ago. Preventive steps should have been taken,” said Mr. Hooda, the Leader of the Opposition in Haryana.

He said that the incidents of violence vitiated the business atmosphere in the industrial towns of Gurugram and Faridabad, which house the offices of several major multinational companies. “No one stands to benefit. It is the loss of the State and the people,” remarked Mr. Hooda.

He said that Chief Minister Manohar Lal and his colleague Home Minister Anil Vij were making conflicting statements on Bajrang Dal member Monu Manesar, who allegedly played a role in provoking the violence. “Mr. Lal, in a press conference, said his government would co-operate with Rajasthan Police to arrest Monu Manesar. But Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot contradicted him, in a tweet, saying that Haryana Police, instead of cooperating with their Rajasthan counterparts, had lodged an FIR against them when they went to arrest the accused in the Nasir-Junaid murder,” Mr. Hooda said.