Aggressive metamorphosis: Making sense of a 'Hindu mahapanchayat'

For the first time a 'Hindu mahapanchayat' sharpens the communal divide in a Haryana district

Mahapanchayats are not uncommon in Haryana. But a “Hindu mahapanchayat” is something no one had heard of until May 30, when workers of the RSS and its front organisations — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with more than 20 other Hindu groups — organised the first meeting in Muslim-dominated Nuh district. The mahapanchayat was organised in support of Hindus accused of killing a Muslim.

The second Hindu mahapanchayat was held on July 4 at Pataudi’s Ramlila maidan, which has been a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity since 1904, when the first Ramlila was