Lucknow: Ahead of 2024 general elections, the report of a judicial commission into 43 years old Moradabad riots was brought out from the lumber room and tabled in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
The enquiry report into 1980 Moradabad riots by Justice MP Saxena, tabled in UP assembly on Tuesday, has found two Muslim leaders from different outfits responsible. The report has given clean chit to the police, government officials, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Hindu and Muslim community and the police.
Rivalry between two parties led to riots
As per the report, the riots triggered off in Moradabad due to the rivalry between Dr Shameem Ahmad of Muslim League and Hamid Hussain of Khaksaar Party. The supporters of both these Muslim leaders instigated riots and hired people to create disturbance. In the Moradabad riots of 1980 that occurred during the congress regime, as per official records 83 people had died and 112 were injured. Then Chief Minister of UP, VP Singh had formed a single member judicial commission headed by retired judge of Allahabad High Court, Justice MC Saxena to probe the riot.
Justice Saxena had submitted a 496 page report to the UP Government on November 29, 1983 but it was not made public. On several occasions earlier, a proposal was mooted in the UP cabinet for making this report public but was not approved.
However, in May this year the Yogi cabinet gave its nod for tabling this report in the UP assembly. On Tuesday, the parliamentary affairs minister of UP, Suresh Khanna tabled the report on riots before assembly.
Moradabad riots was one of the biggest in West UP
It is learnt that the Yogi Government aims to corner congress ahead of 2024 LS polls by making this report public. In the Moradabad riots, which is said to be the first big one in west UP, a large number of people from minority communities were killed. The riots started after a pig was strayed among the crowd of people offering prayers at Moradabad Eidgah on August 13, 1980 and soon snowballed into a direct clash between the Muslim community and the police.
The Irate mob had started pelting stones in which the ADM of the area DP Singh was injured. He later succumbed to his injuries. Angry crowds had torched many police stations in Moradabad and the riot had spread to neighboring districts of Sambhal, Aligarh, Bareilly and even Allahabad.
