Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Iron fist is need of hour” (August 28). The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s admonishing of both, the Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar and the Centre, over the violence of Dera supporters, manifest how often, political leaders compromise with the law and order situation for political gains. The court openly pronounced that the State Government deliberately allowed an upsurge of vandalism.
On the one hand, the incident re-exhibits the blind faith of the people in such godmen. On the other, it shows how extravagant endorsement for such convicts, masquerading as godmen, is politically used to compromise the tranquillity of societal order. It is pretty clear that although such an uproar was foreseen, no proportionate measure was enough to tackle it beforehand.
While Khattar accepted that there were security lapses, he also said that the situation was aggravated as some rogue supporters got mixed with the ‘peaceful protesters’. Now it can be anticipated that the local officers will be made scapegoats while those of the higher authority, who were the prime culprits, will be left unprobed.