For a man who has become chief minister for the first time, social engineering is a bite too big to chew. Handpicked by the RSS and the prime minister to head the government in Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar was expected to have a smooth tenure. With the minority community marginalised, and with the full backing of the Centre, the former RSS pracharak was expected to consolidate the hold of the Sangh and the party. But the script has gone horribly wrong.
Since October 2014, for each electorally dominant community, the Khattar sarkar seems to have come up with a unique formulation. So, to appease Arya Samajis, Brahmins and other ‘forward’ castes, it has launched a series of gaushalas or cow shelters, even proposing two ‘cow sanctuaries’.
“Why isn’t there a census of cows and other cattle first? There is cow protection, but where the cow is nobody knows,” says historian K.C. Yadav, who finds many of the government’s efforts ‘superficial’. “The desi cow is indeed...
