Hindus and Muslims who bore the brunt of Nuh violence which saw six people killed and many shops gutted, say the region has not seen communal clashes at such a big scale since 1992, with each party attributing the flare-up to either Hindu rights group or local Muslim leaders.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad which organised the rally which forms the kernel of the confrontation claims the ruckus was doing of some "anti-national people", who disrupted the procession.
A senior member of the Hindu right-wing group alleged local Muslim leaders provoked people to create unrest.
Srikishan, a local resident, on the other hand, attributed the triggering of violence to administrative negligence and claimed there were very few policemen to begin with to manage the procession.
"Those who participated in the religious procession made provocative speeches hours before the clashes took place. There were few policemen at the spot. The administration and police swung into action much later, by the time violence had already started," Srikishan said.
"I am 65 years old and I haven't seen such violence after 1992," he added.
Refuting the allegations, VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal claimed the strife was caused at the instigation of local Muslim leaders.
"This issue is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. Some anti-national people with criminal mindsets, who want to harm our community created unrest. Society was united earlier and it will remain united. The local politicians should also be held accountable, for they provoked the people to indulge in clashes," Bansal told PTI.
Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by mobs on Monday. The violence subsequently spread to neighbouring Gurugram as well.
Speaking about the impact of the violence, another Nuh resident, Dalchand, who works as a labourer, said people in the area are distressed by the violence which has hit their livelihood.
"I was at work in Mewat when I got to know about the violence. I returned to Nuh later, but I still haven't got my money for the day (Monday). I don't have any money to have a meal for one time," Dalchand told PTI.
A total of 202 people have been arrested so far and 80 taken into preventive detention in connection with the communal clashes in Haryana, state Home Minister Anil Vij said on Friday.
Vij also said 102 FIRs have been registered in connection with the clashes so far, half of which are in Nuh alone and the rest in other districts, including Gurugram, Faridabad and Palwal.
Another local resident, Javed, claimed that no communal clashes took place in Nuh since 1992, the year of Babri Masjid's demolition, and the latest flare-up could have been prevented if only the administration was more "vigilant" about the procession.
"The administration should have taken adequate measures for this procession. I haven't seen communal riots at this scale since '92 in Nuh. It has thrown the entire district in disarray," Javed claimed.
Waris Khan, who runs a fruit cart in Nuh, said people in the area are fear-struck since the clashes.
"We all are scared. Some people came and ransacked and burned down everything and now because of them everyone in Nuh is suffering," Waris said.
Meanwhile, the investigation has so far revealed that there was no mastermind behind the clashes in the Nuh district, which was the doing of several disparate groups, a senior police officer said on Friday.
The officer's remarks in effect contradicted the state home minister's conjecture, according to which the violence was engineered and had a mastermind behind it.
Sadir Hussain, another local resident who runs a vegetable shop, said that the incident has impacted them not just mentally, but financially as well.
"Shops are still closed. We all are distressed as there is no work. Because of the violence, we all are suffering. My family members have been living under fear since the whole incident," Hussain told PTI.
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