Haryana 2023: Communal violence erupts in Nuh, quota for Haryanvis in private sector jobs ends
Chandigarh, An attack on a religious procession in Nuh, close to the national capital, left six people dead and kept the region, including Haryana's commerce and tech hub Gurugram, on tenterhooks for days this year. Internet services were restricted, schools closed and rumours abounded. During the past year, Haryana's BJP-Jannayak Janta Party government also faced a setback in the Punjab and Haryana High Court when it quashed the state law that allowed 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs for local people.
The JJP, which is the junior partner in the alliance, had pushed for the quota. In any case, the two coalition partners remain reluctant to explicitly state whether they will fight the next election together.
Months before the Nuh violence, the state machinery faced flak over the death of two Muslim men from neighbouring Rajasthan whose bodies were found in a charred car in Haryana's Bhiwani district.
Their relatives blamed cow vigilantes for the deaths, and the Haryana Police for not taking action in time — a charge denied by the cops.
Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)-led procession in Nuh was attacked in July, killing five people, including two home guards. Sporadic incidents of violence followed, including an attack on a mosque in neighbouring Gurugram in which a Muslim cleric was killed.
The high court took suo motu cognizance of a demolition drive in the area where the procession came under attack, and questioned if it was an exercise in «ethnic cleansing».
Later Congress MLA Mamman Khan was arrested in four cases linked to the Nuh violence. His party accused the state government of launching a «political witch-hunt».
