HARYANA GOVT MUTE SPECTATOR TO ORCHESTRATED VIOLENCE

NDTV.com

Everything went according to the script. There was no element of surprise. Hundreds and thousands of armed followers were allowed to congregate at Panchkula days before the special CBI court was to announce verdict on the self-claimed godman. These followers knew very well that their Baba was a rapist and the court verdict would go against their “Bhagwan”. Otherwise, what is the raison d'être of his “bhakts” arming themselves with sticks and weapons?

And as was to happen, happened! Minutes after the court found him guilty in a 2002 rape case, Baba’s followers went into a rampage. They were uncontrollable. Police was helpless. And the administration bewildered. It was an abject surrender by all those supposedly responsible to maintain law and order. It was a free run. The goons in the garb of followers of the rapist went about their job clinically, targeting innocents, media and the establishment.

The toll, over two dozen, could have been much higher had the army not come to the rescue of a hapless administration which was simply clueless.

The role of the administration is highly questionable. The violence was anticipated. There were intelligence reports warning of violence. And still the administration chose to sleep over the issue. Why did it allow Dera followers to congregate in large numbers when Section 144 was imposed? Why no attempt was made to disperse the rowdies then? And that too when they were openly flashing the sticks they were carrying? How can the administration allow such a large number of people occupy every nook and corner of Panchkula, be it parks, pavements and roads? 

Was the administration lulled into believing that the armed followers will respect the court order and leave peacefully? Its height of administrative as well as political incompetence!

Or the reason is something else? Was Manohar Lal Khattar government hesitant to take action against the followers of the rockstar “Baba” who played a crucial role in the formation of the first BJP government in the state in 2014? The “Dera”, which has a large following among the dalits, has often been courted by politicians from neighbouring Punjab. But it was in 2014 that the “Dera” decided to put its might behind the BJP, which resulted in its humungous victory.

Whatever may be the reason, the fact is that so many innocent people have been killed and several hundreds injured. And property worth millions of dollars has been destroyed. Who will take the responsibility? Somebody has to be made accountable.

An embattled Khattar promised compensation to the families of those lost their dear ones in the mindless violence. Will a few lakh of rupees heal their loss? Sorry, Mr Khattar, you have no moral right to continue. You have proved your ineptness not once but twice. Six people died in 2014 when another self-styled guru Rampal Maharaj had turned his ashram into a garrison town by storing stones, petrol bombs and weapons to ward off an arrest warrant. It is high time you accept your failure and resign.