The Panipat affair

A fortnight has elapsed since the unfortunate happenings at Panipat, and yet the government has not thought it fit to issue an authoritative statement on the subject, despite the fact that the accounts of the happenings given by responsible Hindu public men after an investigation on the spot lay the whole responsibility for the tragedy on certain officials, who are alleged to have acted in the most extraordinary and irresponsible manner to satisfy their communal hatred. The statements issued by Swami Shraddhananda, Lala Duni Chand (MLA) and Chaudhuri Duli Chand (MLC), as well as the version of the local Hindu Sabha, are all unanimous in holding that the Jats did not collect at Panipat with any sinister object, but that they were proceeding to the Yamuna for the annual bathing fair in the usual manner when they were brought together by some among the officials themselves. As against this, the semi-official version supplied by the Associated Press states that the Jats were “smuggled into the town apparently with the connivance of Hindi citizens” and some of them forced their way into the town, “in spite of the attempts of the local police to stop them.” It is unbelievable that as many as one thousand or more Jats could have been ‘smuggled’ into a small town like Panipat without the knowledge of the police who were particularly vigilant on account of Moharram. The statement of Chaudhuri Duli Chand is quite explicit on this point. He says: “We are satisfied that prior to the occurrence, no orders whatsoever were issued by the authorities prohibiting the pilgrims from passing through the town while going to celebrate the sacred Yamuna festival.”