‘Ghosts of 1980 violence still haunt me, report refreshed old wounds’

Faheem, who runs an unani clinic in the old city area of Moradabad, said he was vexed with media persons repeatedly approaching him after the report was tabled

Faheem Hussain was only seven years old when four members of his family, including his father and grandfather, were killed in the violence that rocked Moradabad in 1980.

Faheem Hussain showing a photo of his father, who was killed in the 1980 riots in Moradabad. (HT)

He, however, has a faint memory of the chain of incidents that occurred. “We lived on the Eidgah Road (in Moradabad) at the time... Many people and children from both sides were killed in the clashes,” he recalled and termed August 13 of that year as an unfortunate day and that every family that lost its people remembered the pain it brought.

On a four-decade-old report on the communal riots that was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday, Faheem said it refreshed old wounds. “I’m still living with the pain of losing four members of my family four decades ago. That unfortunate day still haunts me.”

“It’s good if the truth comes out...” he stuttered as he refrained to speak further on the question of whether he felt he’d received justice.

Faheem, who runs an unani clinic in the old city area of Moradabad, said he was vexed with media persons repeatedly approaching him after the report was tabled. “ It hurts... No one asked how we’d survived the past 43 years.”

He said he tried to keep his children away from the news as it might leave a negative impact on them. “But now they’re asking several questions about their grandfather and great-grandfather. It’s all very painful.”

Shamim, a local leader who was accused of triggering the violence, was dead now, Faheem noted. “Only he could have replied to the allegations levelled against him,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sudhir Sharma, whose family was also a victim of the violence, refused to speak to the media.

The report has given a clean chit to officials in the administration as well as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP. The official figures had put the toll in the clashes on August 13, 1980, at 83. Violent incidents continued until November 1980.