The Congress on Thursday said the eruption of violence in Haryana’s Nuh was a result of the BJP’s “politics of polarisation” and smelt a plot to influence neighbouring Rajasthan that goes to polls in a few months.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said: “The violence in Nuh is a result of the politics of polarisation. This is a strategy of the BJP. They want it to spread to Rajasthan. We have seen what is happening in Manipur. The double-engine government in Haryana has failed in Haryana, much like in Manipur.”

Congress general secretary and former Haryana minister Randeep Surjewala said: “The Prime Minister sees the violence from Manipur to Haryana, knows everything, but remains silent. And his chief ministers offer tacit support to the rioting ‘tool kit’.

“Neither does the Prime Minister do his duty in the ‘Kartavya Kaal’ of New India, nor do the chief ministers observe their ‘rajdharma’.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently said the ongoing “Amrit Kaal” should be treated as “Kartavya Kaal” (period of duty). He renamed Delhi’s Rajpath as Kartavya Path.

Ironically, the Opposition has blasted Modi for not doing his duty of providing leadership in times of crisis — Manipur being the latest example when he has not only failed to make a statement but allowed turmoil in the House by not responding to the demand for participating in a debate on the violence in the northeastern state.

While allegations of complicity have been levelled against the BJP government in Manipur — with most of the crimes being perpetrated with arms and ammunition that belong to the police and not available in the market — even in Haryana, also ruled by the party, the main allegation is that the government didn’t act on intelligence inputs about possible trouble and allowed armed mobs to take out a religious yatra.

A disturbing controversy dominated the political discourse on social media earlier this week over a superintendent of police, Prabhakar Chowdhary, being transferred after he used mild force to control a group of Kanwariyas at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh that insisted on taking a particular route through Muslim-dominated areas. The SP said he tried to persuade the crowd for four hours as many of them carried arms and had to resort to a lathi-charge after they refused to listen.

In Haryana, Union minister of state and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh had wondered how the participants of the religious yatra were allowed to carry weapons and sticks. Pointing to provocation from both sides, the minister said: “Kisne hathiyar diye unko procession mein le jaane ke liye? Koi talwar leke jata hai procession mein? Lathi-dande leke jata hai? (Who gave weapons to them for the procession? Who goes to a procession carrying swords, or sticks?) This is wrong. A provocation took place from this side too. I am not saying there was no provocation from the other side.”

Singh toned down his stand after meeting Modi on Wednesday.

Videos of the religious procession purport to show some people carrying even rifles. The Congress has demanded a judicial inquiry to find out the truth but drawn its inferences from the statement of the central minister and circumstantial evidence that point to lapses on the part of the Haryana government. Viral videos also apparently show Bajrang Dal workers asking media persons on the spot to switch off their cameras.

Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar himself admitted there was a conspiracy to disturb peace in Haryana. It has been alleged that Monu Manesar, a controversial Bajrang Dal worker and a leader of a cow vigilante group, and another Dal leader, Bittu Bajrangi, made provocative posts announcing their march to the Muslim-dominated Mewat. Monu is wanted in connection with the murder of two Muslim youths in Rajasthan.

Reports suggest that Muslims in Mewat got agitated suspecting the presence of Monu in the religious yatra. After the violence, Khattar said Haryana police would cooperate with Rajasthan in arresting Monu.

But Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot countered Khattar, saying: “The Haryana chief minister gives statements in the media that they will assist Rajasthan police. But when our police went to Haryana to arrest the accused in the Nasir-Junaid murder case, there was no cooperation. On the contrary, Haryana police filed an FIR against Rajasthan police.”

Gehlot said Khattar was making statements only to mislead the police because there was no cooperation from the Haryana side. It is exceptional for one state to accuse another of shielding a murder accused. Even in Manipur, the police acted in the case of the disrobing of and sexual assault on two women only after a video went viral. The FIR had been filed almost two months before the police swung into action.

The flare-up in Haryana, which has also affected Faridabad and Gurgaon where several important multinational industries are located, has come at a time when apprehensions have been expressed about the RSS-BJP not allowing a normal parliamentary election in 2024. Former governor Satyapal Malik and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan have expressed fears that the BJP could resort to polarising techniques to divert attention from its failures.