Rahul’s visit to state on the cards

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will soon tour Haryana to express solidarity with those who suffered in the mayhem and violence that followed the Jat agitation.

The idea behind the visit stems from the fact that the Congress wants to take the lead in breaking the ice between the Jats and non-Jats divided by the recent agitation.

Sources in the Congress high command said while the party vice-president was keen on a visit immediately after the violence had quelled, the senior state leadership urged him to let things settle down after the arson. However, with the dust having settled on the matter, Rahul will shortly visit the violence-hit areas.

Though the ruling government in Haryana has heaped the blame at the door of the Congress in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, while directly alleging involvement of its party leaders, the Congress high command sees the BJP’s “divisive politics” behind the violence that rocked the state.

“The violence was the result of a complete breakdown of a dialogue between the Jats and non-Jats who were divided by design. The BJP government in the state only replicated the ‘Godhra model’ of dividing the state along caste lines and whipping up violence,” party sources maintained.

The Congress which has held many a “sadbhavna” meetings, too, has not been able to get its act together in the state, given the factionalism within the party. Each of its camps has been separately organising its own “personalised” meetings across the state professing unity when its own house stands divided and its leaders can’t see eye-to-eye.

Rahul’s visit at this time can bring all warring factions on to a common platform to send out a message that the party believes in carrying all castes with it. “The social fabric stands damaged by the senseless violence. The Congress will work on restoring the peace between the divided communities and filling this divide that separates by initiating a dialogue between them,” sources in the party high command said. Rahul’s visit will also revive the dissent-driven Congress where each faction is busy charting its own course for one-upmanship and has been unable to effectively counter the BJP allegations.