The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Sunday flagged a letter written in what resembles the official letterhead of a panchayat sarpanch in Haryana asking authorities not to allow “Muslims or miscreants to do any business or hawking activity in the panchayat area”.

A CPI delegation that included two MPs said the letter “exposes the bitter reality of organised discrimination against minorities under BJP rule”.

The party said the letter and many other such polarising attempts by “the RSS-BJP ecosystem” came to light during the visit of the party’s four-member delegation to the violence-hit areas of Haryana on Sunday.

The letter furnished by the delegation is signed by “Bhavna” above the designation “panchayat sarpanch, Jainabad, Rewari district”.

When The Telegraph called Bhavna Yadav, the sarpanch of Jainabad, a person who identified himself as her father-in-law Rajvir Singh answered the phone.

Asked about the letter, he said: “The letter has been written in the wake of the communal violence in Nuh district.”

He said the decision was taken to ensure peace in the area and would be in force for only a few months, considering the volatile situation in Nuh district. He added that Muslims were responsible for the violence there.

“We wrote to the authorities informing them of the decision so that no untoward incident takes place,” Rajvir said, adding that his village does not have a single Muslim family.

A copy of the letter signed by the Jainabad sarpanch. The Telegraph

Sources in the Haryana police said similar letters attributed to sarpanchs of over 15 villages in Haryana’s Mahendragarh had beensent to the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) over the past few days saying the decisions were taken following the “violence and atrocitieson our Hindu brothers in Nuh”.

A closer examination of these letters written in Hindi revealed that all of them have similar content, suggesting an organised campaign against Muslims aimed at their economic boycott.

Rajvir Singh, who introduced himself as the sarpanch’s father-in-law, also said similar letters from several sarpanchs in Haryana had been sent to the administration.

The CPI statement said: “This letter on the letterhead of the Jainabad Panchayat Sarpanch Bhavna Yadav, from Block Dahina, District Rewari, Haryana, exposes the bitter reality of organised discrimination against minorities which is being bred systematically under the BJP rule.”

The CPI statement added: “The content of the letter is shocking. It submits to the local police authorities a decision to not allow Muslims or miscreants to do any business or hawker activity in the panchayat area. It also equalises Muslims to burglars and cattle-thieves.

“The letter says that these steps are being taken to ensure peace in the village, automatically making Muslim presence the sole reason for communal disturbance.”

The letter attributed to the sarpanch said this decision was being taken for social security and to maintain peace.

The CPI delegation was made up of MP Binoy Viswam, AITUC General Secretary Amarjit Kaur, MP P. Sandosh Kumar and CPI Haryana secretary Dariyao Singh Kashyap.

Six people, including a young cleric and two home guards, were killed in the violence which broke out after members of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad took out a procession from Nalhar temple in Nuh town around 1.30pm on Monday, shouting abusive slogans against Muslims, police sources said. The procession was stopped by a group of young men and soon after, stone-pelting started from both sides.

The CPI statement said the delegation’s visit to violence-hit areas of Haryana and interaction with different sections revealed an alarming level of polarisation and hatred in the region. “Deliberate attempts are being made to fuel strife in the region,” it said.

“The growth of hatred and divisions in the entire region is systematic and artificial seeds of strife are being sown among both the communities. The CPI delegation met all sections of society, till they were stopped by the police at the Nuh border,” the party said.

Haryana police stopped the four-member delegation from entering some violence-affected villages near Nuh district, citing prohibitory orders.

The members of the CPI delegation appealed for peace, compassion and harmony to prevail in the region to all they met. They also demanded a thorough probe into the chain of events leading to the riots and strict punishment for the perpetrators.

“Victims of violence and arson should be given generous compensation and government must ensure restoration of normalcy and bridging of divisions in the region,” the party said.

Demolition drive

The demolition drive in Nuh district of Haryana continued for the fourth day on Sunday as the authorities razed several “illegal” structures, including a hotel-cum-restaurant from where stones were allegedly pelted on the religious procession during the violence.

On Saturday, over 100 houses, shops and other make-shift structures were bulldozed, amid accusations from the minority community that they were being targeted in a bid to appease the Hindutva groups that were responsible for the communal conflagration. The authorities on Thursday had demolished around 250 shanties belonging to “illegal” immigrants from Bangladesh in the minority-dominated Nuh.

A small-time Muslim trader in Nuh whose shop was demolished said the “bulldozer justice” by the BJP-ruled state governments was nothing but state-sponsored cruelty on the minorities and destruction of their properties.

“First, members of Hindutva groups set ablaze several homes and shanties and three mosques in Nuh during the violence. Instead of taking action against them, the BJP government in Haryana is now busy bulldozing our homes and shops. How could every structure become illegal only after the violence? Where will we go now?” he told The Telegraph.

He asked why such bulldozer justice was limited to the minorities. “It has been six months since two youths from the area, Nasir and Junaid, were burnt alive by cow vigilantes but the main accused Monu Manesar who has been charged with the murders is still free. Why have they not demolished his home so far?

Monu Manesar heads the cow vigilante wing of the Bajrang Dal in Haryana.

According to Haryana police, Monu has been at large since February this year. But he keeps posting videos on his Facebook profile and he also appeared on a TV channel three days ago to claim that he had nothing to do with Monday’s violence.

Maulana Arshad Madani, president of the influential Jamiat-Ulema-i-Hind, said in a statement that the report submitted by a representative delegation of the outfit that visited Nuh and surrounding areas to analyse the riot-affected areas was heart-wrenching.

“It has come out as crystal clear that the riot was planned…. In this, the role of police and administration has been suspicious, of which several videos have gone viral,” he said.

A former Intelligence Bureau director had told this newspaper that the violence in Nuh “clearly points to some short of complicity on the part of administration and police” as he questioned the rationale behind giving permission to Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad to take out the procession despite enough indications that it will turn into a major law-and-order issue.

A video clip uploaded by fact-checker Mohammed Zubair on last Thursday showed a man opening fire from what has been described as the Nalhar Shiv Temple in Haryana on Monday and police personnel looking on. The clip is said to have been recorded on Monday when communal violence broke out in Nuh district.