By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 25 October 2015: Development is the panacea for all pains. At least the Haryana government wants to prove the premise. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government has been running an ad campaign in leading dailies claiming an all-round development and “end of violence” in its past 1-year regime. But this claim of an “end of violence” is ironically going parallel with the news of two Dalit children burnt alive, earning enough ill-fame for the Haryana government for not being able to curb violence against the marginal in the state.
Ironically when The Indian Express and Times of India splashed their mastheads on 21 October with the Haryana government’s ad that “violence” had been eradicated from the state, on the same day The Indian Express ran the report of “2 Dalit kids burnt alive in ‘revenge killing’ by Rajputs in Faridabad” as well, on its front page right below the masthead where the Haryana-government advertisement claimed in clear terms, “Neither violence, nor remains corruption; what was said has been delivered (Julm Raha Na Bhrastachar, Kathni Karni Ek Saar).”
Faridabad is a key industrial Haryana city bordering the national capital Delhi. So coincidentally the Dalit kids’ burning found a front-page space on national dailies parallel with the Haryana government’s ad campaign that also started right on the day.
The house of a Dalit couple — Jitendar and Rekha — in Sunped village of Faridabad district were doused with petrol and set afire in the wee hours on 20 October when the couple and their two kids were sleeping inside. While 2-year-old Vaibhav and 1-year-old Divya were burnt alive, their parents were seriously wounded.
The campaign with the development claims of the Haryana government, which started on 21 October, is still being run on the mastheads of dailies, including the English ones like Times of India and The Hindu, as well as Hindi dailies like Dainik Bhaskar and Urdu dailies like Roznama Sahara. While the Dalit kid-burning issue has almost faded out from the front pages by now, the Haryana government advertisement still looks as vibrant as it was on the first day. Now the text of the advertisement reads, “Bane Ghane Kam Howe Ek Saal, Kathni Karni Ek Dhal (Done enormous works in a year; What we said, did sans error)
Incidentally while Union Minister and BJP leader V.K. Singh termed the Dalit kid-burning issue a “localized” one after causing a huge stir over his apparent analogy of drawing “stoning of dog” while commenting on the killing of the two children, Haryana Chief Minister M.L. Khattar also rejected the episode to be any case of caste conflict. “Individual incidents cannot be treated like caste conflict…There is no law and order breakdown in Haryana,” Khattar told reporters after the burning incident.
Ironical enough that as the Khattar-led BJP government claimed through an ad campaign saying it eradicated violence within a year from the state, two innocent Dalit children were burnt alive and another 14-year-old Dalit boy was killed — parallel with the campaign. Incidentally, the CM himself was caught in media ire recently after saying, “Muslims can live the country, but they will have to give up eating beef.” The BJP-led Haryana state government is completing a year in the office tomorrow on 26 October amid rising concerns over violence against the marginal class including Dalits and Muslims.
