AA Edit | Keep watch on rallies, yatras

The decision of the Sarva Jatiye Mahapanchayat held in Palwal distict in Haryana on Sunday to resume the Braj Mandal Yatra, which was disrupted after communal violence broke out in Nuh, on Monday, August 28 should cause concern among the ordinary people and the administration alike and the government must weigh all elements before granting it permission.

The annual religious procession used to be uneventful, like thousands of such yatras taking place across the country, but the tradition was broken this year. A full and impartial enquiry is yet to be conducted into the causes of the violent incidents, which led to its halting midway this year. The resumption of the yatra without identifying the causes of those disturbances comes with the dangers of a repeat of the same, which the state, and the nation, can ill-afford. It will be incumbent on the state administration to ensure that the potential trouble factors are all identified and contained before it waves the green flag for it again. The administration must also bear in mind the question the Punjab and Haryana High Court had raised about the nature of the state intervention in the troubled areas. The country will keenly watch the way it behaves this time around.

The panchayat has said Hindus of Nuh and its adjoining areas apply for gun licences and the authorities should grant permission on “lenient” grounds. This is a dangerous trend, to say the least. It is possible that peace is disturbed at a particular place on a variety of reasons, but it is for the state to restore normalcy and allow people to resume their lives peacefully. Protection of lives and property is the job of the state, and if the people feel that they are not feel safe and that they need to wield guns for confidence, then it’s a statement of no-confidence in the state. The state must address this first, not the applications for guns.