Security arrangements have been stepped up in Haryana’s Nuh and other areas following the Sarv Jatiya Hindu Mahapanchayat’s call for a ‘shobha yatra’ on Monday, despite the authorities denying permission for the procession. Officials said security personnel, including those from paramilitary forces, have been deployed to keep a strict vigil. Security at interstate and inter-district borders has also been tightened, they said. Permission has not been granted for the ‘yatra’, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said in Panchkula on Sunday, referring to the Nuh violence that took place a few weeks earlier.
“Instead of the ‘yatra’, people can visit temples in their areas for ‘jalabhishek’,” he said, asserting that it is the state government’s responsibility to maintain law and order. Haryana Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapur said on Saturday that the administration had denied permission for the yatra due to a meeting of the G20 Sherpa Group, scheduled to be held in Nuh from September 3 to 7, and to maintain law and order in the aftermath of the July 31 violence.
The government has also announced the suspension of mobile Internet from August 26 to 28. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Mamta Singh said on Sunday that arrangements have been made to prevent any untoward incidents. According to a police spokesperson in Nuh, 1,900 Haryana Police personnel and 24 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed. No outsider will be allowed to enter Nuh. All entry points to the district have been sealed, and the road leading to the Malhar temple has also been closed, he said. Traffic on the KMP Motorway and the Delhi-Mumbai Motorway, however, will continue, the spokesperson added. Nuh Deputy Commissioner Dhirendra Khadgata and Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya held a meeting with peace committees on Saturday, the officials said. Police chief Kapur also presided over a meeting with senior officers of bordering states—Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh—through videoconferencing and called for coordinated efforts to effectively deal with any emerging situation.
As a precautionary measure, the district administration has ordered the closure of educational institutions and banks on the day, suspended mobile Internet and bulk SMS services, and imposed prohibitory orders in the communally sensitive district. It has also imposed Section 144 of the CrPC, prohibiting the assembly of four or more people in an area, until Monday.
In another development, police said Ferozepur Jhirka MLA Mamman Khan has been issued a notice to join the investigation on August 30 about the July 31 Nuh violence incident. Some Hindu organisations had accused Congress MLA Khan of making provocative statements.
VHP adamant on Brajmandal Yatra
Hindu organisations have openly come into the fray to take out the Brajmandal Yatra. On the last Monday of Sawan, August 28, it will be announced to complete the incomplete Brajmandal Yatra. Although administrative sources have claimed the yatra has been postponed in view of the tension in the district and the G-20 conference, the VHP has denied it. The VHP has said that the Braj Mandal Yatra will be completed on August 28 under any circumstances.
