Almost absent in UP politics now, IUML contests 1983 riots report, sees link to its support to I.N.D.I.A

The Justice Saxena report on the 1980 riots gives clean chit to police, RSS, BJP, names late IUML leader, League says will seek fresh judicial probe; SP questions report timing

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during an interview by The Indian Express at his official residence in Lucknow. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

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The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to table a 40-year-old report on the Moradabad communal riots in the state Assembly Tuesday has drawn criticism from the Opposition, which has questioned the timing and motive behind the move.

The riots had broken out in Moradabad in August 1980 during the tenure of the Congress government under then chief minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. The single-member Commission under former Allahabad High Court judge Justice M P Saxena, constituted to probe into the riots, had submitted its report in November 1983. However, its contents were not made public until this Assembly monsoon session.

The report gives a clean chit to the state police, the Police Arms Constabulary (PAC), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the BJP, and implicates then IUML state president Shamim Ahmed and a local leader Hamid Hussain for inciting the riots. It gives a “clean chit” to common Muslims.

Shamim Ahmed passed away 20 years ago.

The IUML has said the report was “not factual” and that it was going to appeal to the President for a fresh judicial probe into the 1980 riots. It also demanded compensation and government jobs for children of those killed in the riots.

“This report is based on false facts and has been drafted to protect the police and administration. They were the real culprits,” the IUML has stated in a memorandum that will be sent to the President on August 13. The IUML has also sent similar memorandums to the President in the past.

The IUML’s national joint secretary Kausar Hayat Khan alleged that the Moradabad incident “was a direct action of the police and administration against Muslims”. He said the allegations against the IUML leader in the matter were “false”.

“The then Congress government was the culprit in the matter. The party ran a drive across the country to demoralise Muslims. After the riots, the Congress did not take any effective steps to show that there was any effort to give justice to Muslim victims,” Khan said.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Khan said that the Adityanath-led BJP government has tabled the report in the Assembly to make “political gains” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “Yogi government has tried to send a message

through this report that Muslim League which as per the report was allegedly involved in the riots, is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc,” Khan said.

UP Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput said the tabling of the report was aimed at causing “polarisation” ahead of the 2024 polls. Rajput said, “UP government has tabled an old report to divide the society between Hindus and Muslims ahead of 2024 elections. Instead of going back in history, the BJP government should present a report on its failures in doing welfare of public.”

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav questioned the timing of the BJP government’s move to table the Moradabad riots report in the Assembly, saying “such reports come during the elections season”.

The violence that erupted on August 13, 1980, at Eidgah in Moradabad town, continued in Sambhal, Aligarh, Bareilly, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), and the rural areas of Moradabad until early 1981.