In an exclusive with India Today, Bittu Bajrangi said, “We organize shobha yatra every year. Women, children, and elder people also participated in the yatra. When a group of men attacked us, I was only scared of women and children. A few people carried weapons. But they were all licensed. The swords we carried at the yatra, are used for puja and rituals, not for murders.”

The statement came after Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh on Tuesday expressed concern regarding participants carrying swords and sticks in a religious yatra. He further asserted that both sides were responsible for causing series of clashes in various districts of Haryana.

“Kisne hathiyar diye unko is procession mein le jaane ke liye? Koi talwar leke jata hai procession mein? Lathi-dande leke jata hai (Who gave weapons to participants in the procession? Who goes to yatras with sticks and swords? This is wrong,” Rao told Indian Express. 

The opposition leaders also criticised the BJP-led Haryana government over Nuh clashes. Congress MP Randeep Surjewala called it a ‘malice’ of Haryana government.

“What was the government doing when these violent clashes broke out in Gurugram, Nuh, Sohna…This was the malice of the government (Haryana govt),” Surjewala told ANI.

BSP chief Mayawati said that Nuh violence proves the failure of law and order in Haryana just like in Manipur.

“In Haryana, the incitement of riots, its spread into parts of Gurugram without any constraint, triggering of violence and huge loss of public property and religious places prove the failure of law and order in Haryana just like Manipur,” Mayawati said.

The communal violence in Nuh district spread to neighboring areas, including Gurugram, leading to a series of clashes on Tuesday. The clashes resulted in the unfortunate death of a cleric and the mosque in Sector 57 being destroyed.

A total of 116 people have been arrested and 44 FIRs have been registered till Tuesday in different districts of Haryana to investigate the communal clashes between a group of young men and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Updated: 03 Aug 2023, 01:47 PM IST