Moradabad riots ‘planned’; RSS, BJP had no role: Panel in report

The violence on August 13, 1980 on Eid-ul-Fitr in the Uttar Pradesh city was the worst communal clash in India’s most-populous state since Independence.

 Forty-three years after communal riots killed at least 83 people and injured 112 others in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad town, 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 wrongdoing, and blamed local Muslim political leaders instead for what it called the pre-planned violence.

The 1980 Moradabad riots inquiry report was tabled in the U.P. Assembly on August 8. (HT photo)

The violence on August 13, 1980 on Eid-ul-Fitr in Moradabad were the worst communal clashes in India’s most-populous state since Independence.

According to the report, 83 people died on the day of the violence that continued till November that year, with riots spreading to several other districts, including Aligarh, Bareilly and Prayagraj, and ripples felt as far as Delhi. The then Congress government set up a one-man inquiry commission led by former Allahabad high court judge MP Saxena, who submitted his report in 1983. Since then, no government has made the report public.

“No government officer, employee or Hindu was responsible for fomenting trouble at Eidgah or other places. The RSS or the BJP nowhere came on the front in these riots. Even common Muslims were not responsible for violence. This was a handiwork of Muslim League led by Shamim Ahmad and Hamid Hussain alias Ajji and their supporters. The riots were pre-planned,” said the judge in the 458-page report tabled by parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday.

Trouble broke out on August 13, 1980 when Eid prayers were being offered by around 50,000 Muslims in the Eidgah grounds, where a couple of pigs were spotted.

Pigs are considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam.

The sight enraged local Muslims, who asked the police to intervene. Shortly afterwards, riots broke out in the area, as stones were hurled at the police, who retaliated by firing into the crowd.

“Muslims got angry and went out of control when there was a rumour that pigs have been pushed among those offering prayers and large number of Muslims along with children have been killed at the Eidgah. Police stations, police outposts and Hindus were attacked. This led to Hindus taking revenge resulting in communal riots.”

The violence spread to the rural parts of the district, and then to neighbouring regions. Even in faraway cities such as Delhi, tensions were simmering. Violence continued till November 1980.

“As a large number of people belonging to the minority community were killed in the violence, the incidents continued even after August 13, 1980. There was anguish as those killed included children though they died in the stampede,” the report noted.

At the time, Opposition parties had alleged that indiscriminate police firing was responsible for the deaths. But the commission dismissed these charges.

“The commission has concluded that district magistrate SP Arya, SSP VN Singh had taken adequate precaution... The firing at Eidgah was ordered only when there was a threat to the lives of those present or living in nearby areas,” noted the report.

After the commission submitted its report to the state government in 1983, it was placed before the state cabinet 14 times to table it before the legislature. But the cabinet decided to not table the report under administrations run by the Congress, the BJP, Samajwadi Party, and Janata Dal.

The findings sparked a political row.

“The report on Moradabad riots is a damning indictment of the way previous governments used to foment trouble. Compare this with the spotless record of the BJP under whose regime there has never been any riots. In communal tensions, everyone suffers but at this time, such political parties which play dirty games for narrow political gains are exposed before the masses,” said UP BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak.

The Congress hit back at the ruling BJP.

“The BJP government should first clarify why did it transfer SSP (Bareilly) who tried to maintain law and order and control the riots? Why is the BJP protecting those who try to spread riots?” asked Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh.

“The BJP works under its agenda. This step is in sync with its obvious agenda as the Lok Sabha elections are nearing,” said Samajwadi Party national secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary.

On May 12, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet, presided over by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, approved the proposal to table the report in the legislative assembly.