Lucknow: Justice Saxena Commission Report on the 1980 anti-Muslim riots in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh - that was submitted to the government in November 1983 and was gathering the dust since then, was finally tabled in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Tuesday August 08, 2023.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna tabled the report in the Vidhan Sabha.
The state Cabinet in May this year had decided to table in the State Assembly the Moradabad Riots Enquiry Report that was gathering dust since November 20, 1983 when it was submitted by Justice Saxena.
"Truth should come out and people have the right to know who was behind the riots that lasted for months", Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya told the reporter hours before the report was tabled in the UP Assembly.
"This report was hidden and it needs to be presented. This will help the citizens know the truth about the Moradabad Riots. One should welcome this report as it will bring out who does the riot, who supports it, and who fights against it", Maurya said.
Then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Yogendra Makwana alleged that the BJP (which was formed in April 1980) and RSS were responsible for the riots.
However according to leaks the Commission has blamed Muslim leadership as well as the state administration for the riots.
The move to bring the Moradabad riot report in the public realm after 43 long years hence is seen as an attempt by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in power today in UP as well as New Delhi, to corner the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Commission headed by Justice M.P. Saxena, who had just retired as a judge in the Allahabad High Court, was formed by the state governmnet to probe the worst ever communal riots in Uttar Pradesh just begna in Muslim dominated Mordabad on Augsut 13, 1980 - the day that coincided with Eid al Fitr.
The rioting began when a pig reportedly entered the Eid-Gah where an estimated 50,000 Muslims were offering the annual Eid prayers that marked the end of Ramadan - the holy month of fasting.
Muslims present there asked the police personnel on duty to take care of the pig. The police however ignored that led to a heated argument and later clashed between police and Muslim worshippers. Police first resorted to lathi-charge, then opened fire killing scores of people. Approximately 100 deaths occurred on that day while many went missing, according to reports.
The deaths that resulted caused the violence to spread further, to Sambhal, Aligarh, Bareilly, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), and the rural areas of Moradabad; stray incidents continued till early next year.
Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, in her speech from the Red Fort, two days later on August 15, 1980 mentioned the Moradabad riots and vowed to punish the culprits. However, hours after her speech, violence and clashed erupted in Ballimaran and Chawri Bazar areas of Delhi.
The violence finally subsided only in the early months of 1981. The total death toll is uncertain. Speaking in the Vidhan Sabha, then Uttar Pradesh Home Minister Swarup Kumari Bakshi had admitted 289 deaths. However, compensation was paid for 400 deaths, while the unofficial estimates of loss of life runs as high as 2,500.
Then Chief Minister V.P. Singh had ordered an inquiry by sitting Allahabad High Court judge Mathura Prasad Saxena. Saxena submitted his report to Singh’s successor Sripati Mishra on November 20, 1983. However, like so many other probe reports, the contents of the investigation and the recommendations were not made public. After tabling of the report in UP Vidhan Sabha Tuesday August 08, 2023 the truth and facts are likely to be revealed.
Moradabad once known for brass industry and wood ware and the Muslim dominated city where the Muslim League – fighting on the plank of demand for Pakistan – faced defeat in the 1946 Assembly polls, was never same again.
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