These are not isolated incidents of caste conflicts and atrocities on Harijans in Haryana. Such incidents have been mounting over the last few years irrespective of the political colour of the successive governments. For the sake of their Jat vote banks, the ruling leaderships of these governments have been avoiding taking strong action against such unlawful activities except ritually (a procedure regularly followed) declaring that “law would take its own course” which usually was not allowed to take.

Despite reflecting some worrying aspects of the Indian polity, the Mirchpur incident also has political and administrative implications for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his Congress government.

The incident shows that despite the tremendous progress India has made in economic and developmental fields and modernization of the society during the post-Independence 63 years, some parts of the country continue to have a medieval mindset. Haryana which has otherwise made tremendous progress is one of the worst victims of such a mindset. This is reflected not only by the atrocities committed on Harijans but also by its khap panchayats who have become a law unto themselves. They issue diktats to kill or socially boycott young couples belonging to the same gotra or the same village who opt to marry. Neither the present Congress leadership nor the previous Om Parkash Chautala-led INLD government dared to take stringent action against such khap panchayats.

Besides the administrative and governance challenges, the Mirchpur incident poses a major political challenge to the Chief Minister from within his own party. This comes from the central Congress leadership. Sonia Gandhi sent a strongly worded letter to Hooda expressing her concerns over the Mirchpur incident. She wrote that “it is a matter of shame and horror that this brutal and deplorable incident occurred at all and it is totally unacceptable that (it took place) in the presence of Naib Tehsildar and SHO of the police. This cannot be allowed to pass without firm and severe action against those responsible for the crime.”

Two facts indicate the political seriousness the letter carries for Haryana's ruling leadership. One, it was written on the day of Rahul Gandhi's unexpected visit to Mirchpur to commiserate with the Dalit families and about which the state's political leadership and administrators had no inkling. Two, it is clear that the contents of the strongly-worded letter were leaked to sections of the media, a rare step, obviously by party high command sources.

It is not the first time that the state's civil and police administrations have shown laxity in strongly dealing with law and order situations. In this connection, the police have a notorious record. Its past actions, or failure to take action, in numerous cases have tarnished government's image. This also raises questions about the shortcomings and drawbacks in the governance of the state. Hooda is known to be a gentleman politician and non-vindictive Chief Minister who would avoid taking any vindictive action against his political adversaries or bureaucrats. One need not be like Om Parkash Chautala whose quality of being a strong administrator was earned through his vindictive actions which bureaucrats dreaded.

Apart from strong administrative steps to check the crises situations what is needed by the ruling parties -Congress or others- are political actions to counter situations having political or social overtones. No doubt, Hooda has been able to consolidate his base in the Rohtak-Jhajjar-Sonipat Deswali Jats belt. But the prematurely held 2009 Assembly elections showed that the Congress has lost ground in Haryana despite Hooda government's dolling out concessions and freebies to various sections of the people including Dalits and the poor during his 2005-2010 rule. But still it failed to get a majority in the 90-member Assembly. It was able to form government only with the help of Independents and later weaning away five of the six Bhajan Lal-led Haryana Janhit Congress MLAs. Apart from his Deswal Jat vote-bank Hooda has now started efforts to win over the non-Jats, particularly Punjabis and Sikhs. But the atrocities on Dalits, Congress's important vote bank, pose threat of their getting alienated from the Congress. To say, as the PCC President Phool Chand Mullana has said “that the forces inimical to the Congress and its government were behind the violence in Mirchpur” and that “such a violent reaction against the Dalits on such a petty issue is shocking” is shutting one's eyes to Haryana's prevailing ground realities.

It is the political challenge Haryana's ruling leadership faces from within the state and Delhi that has prompted the state Congress President Phool Chand Mullana to announce that “the Haryana Congress is toying with the idea of organizing a state-level rally of Dalits”. But it will be a constant endeavour by the ruling party leadership both on political and administrative levels which can help it retrieve the lost ground. Here lies the challenge for Hooda. (IPA Service)