Fourty-three years after communal riots in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad town killed at least 83 people and injured 112, the state government has tabled a report of a judicial commission that cleared the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the local administration of any wrongdoings, instead blaming local Muslim political leaders for what it called pre-planned violence.
In May this year, the state cabinet decided to table the Justice MP Saxena Commission report in the assembly.
Yesterday (Aug 8), Uttar Pradesh’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna tabled the 496-page report in the state assembly in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Aadityanath.
How It Started
The Moradabad violence took place on August 13, 1980, on Eid-ul-Fitr and it become the worst communal violence in India’s most populous state post-independence.
On August 13, 1980, the riots began following Eid prayers at the Eidgah grounds. Disturbances soon spread in the entire Moradabad area, with stones flung at police, that retaliated by shooting into the crowd.
When the riots took place, there was a Congress government in Uttar Pradesh. The 1980 Moradabad riots saw large-scale clashes between Muslim and Dalit communities.
Who Were Behind The Riots
Following a detailed examination of the evidence, the report identified Muslim League Leader Dr Shamim Ahmed Khan, Dr Hamid Hussain and his allies as the primary culprits behind the riots.
The report states that the Muslim League led by Dr Hamid Hussain and his allies played a vital role to trigger the violence and it was also revealed that it was pre-planned.
According to the report, police personnel used extreme caution during the riots and shot only when there was a threat to the lives of innocents. Even a police station was burnt down by the miscreants. The firing was done solely in self-defence.
The report also stated unequivocally that no secret meetings were organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or any other Hindu group, nor were Dalits incited to exact revenge on Muslims. The RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party had no involvement in this, the report categorically said.
According to the findings as revealed in the report, the protests were responsible for the majority of the deaths in Idkhana, Bhura Chauraha, and Barfkhana (localities), for which police officers cannot be held liable.
In its findings, the panel also advised steps to suppress riots and stated that during a disturbance, correct information should be communicated over loudspeakers to debunk rumours.
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The report says it was preplanned
“No government official, employee, or Hindu was responsible for inciting unrest at Eidgah or elsewhere. The RSS or the BJP were not at the forefront of these disturbances. Even ordinary Muslims were not to blame for the bloodshed. The Muslim League, commanded by Shamim Ahmad and Hamid Hussain alias Ajji, and their sympathisers, were responsible for this. The disturbances were organised,” stated Justice Saxena in a 458-page report.
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