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Moradabad Muslim massacre:
On the Eid of 1980 (13 Aug), Muslims of Moradabad experienced the most blood orgy of violence at the biggest Eidgah of Moradabad.
Some 50,000 Muslims had gathered at the Eidgah, and the Eid prayer was in progress. A pig wandered in, violating the...
On the Eid of 1980 (13 Aug), Muslims of Moradabad experienced the most blood orgy of violence at the biggest Eidgah of Moradabad.
Some 50,000 Muslims had gathered at the Eidgah, and the Eid prayer was in progress. A pig wandered in, violating the...
..Muslim sense of cleanliness appropriate to the sancity of prayer. Some people asked the attending policemen why the pig had been let in, and were told that guarding pigs was not the job of the police. An altercation followed,and grew so rapidly as to make any precise sequence..
..difficult to establish.
Brickbatting from the crowd, firing by the police, an injured police officer, and scores of namazis shot dead, all took place within five minutes while the prayer drew to close.
A stampede followed the police firing,in which 50 more people lost their..
Brickbatting from the crowd, firing by the police, an injured police officer, and scores of namazis shot dead, all took place within five minutes while the prayer drew to close.
A stampede followed the police firing,in which 50 more people lost their..
...lives. The furious crowd surging out of the Eidgah roughed up policemen in different localities on its way. The police indiscriminately fired and took the lives of 300 Muslims.
Soon afterwards, Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary(PAC) notorious for its anti-Muslim....
Soon afterwards, Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary(PAC) notorious for its anti-Muslim....
...venom was stationed.
Hundreds of men were dragged out of their homes, beaten up, and locked up. Scores of men had their arms and knuckles, legs and ankles broken by the police in cold blood.
A teenage eye witness, staying at the camp of Central Police Forces, adjacent to...
Hundreds of men were dragged out of their homes, beaten up, and locked up. Scores of men had their arms and knuckles, legs and ankles broken by the police in cold blood.
A teenage eye witness, staying at the camp of Central Police Forces, adjacent to...
...the PAC camp testified that the police open fired at Muslims. Hundreds accused of rioting, who included only Muslims, were rounded up by the PAC, brought to the PAC camp and beaten as soon as they got down from the buses. In some cases, the beatings had already begun in the..
...buses. They were beaten so severely that most of them were drenched in blood. Many people lost consciousness in the PAC camp and many might have died too.
Tariq Farooqi, an eye witness recalled: "I saw the white beard of an old Muslim man reddened with blood oozing out of...
Tariq Farooqi, an eye witness recalled: "I saw the white beard of an old Muslim man reddened with blood oozing out of...
...his head and facial injuries. But PAC men were still not satisfied. One of them pulled his blood-drenched beard with full force. Unable to bear the pain, the old man lost consciousness and possibly died later."
The magnitude of police violence, however, had widespread....
The magnitude of police violence, however, had widespread....
...repercussions in several towns in North India, and the police force appeared to have been under pressure to divert attention from itself. It sought to do this by inciting the Hindus to attack the Muslims to simmulate a communal riot.
They went around taunting the Hindus to...
They went around taunting the Hindus to...
attack the Muslims, and, at least in one instance, they allowed students of K.G.K College to launch an organised assault on the Muslims of Pul Pa'ar Colony. Students of the same college are reported to have led a mob to Ram Tahiya, a village across the railway lines, and burnt..
...alive 15 men, women and children. To generate the requisite fire among the Hindus diverse rumours were planted like the muslims were poisoning the city's water supply system.
A series of violence followed that lasted till December of that year caiming almost 2500 lives.
A series of violence followed that lasted till December of that year caiming almost 2500 lives.
Official figures list only 400 deaths.
The District Administration took many bodies and never returned it, perhaps,because it documented unjust persecution of Muslim neighborhoods.
Their is no record of the missing.
BJP leader M.J.Akbar, then a journalist had reached the city..
The District Administration took many bodies and never returned it, perhaps,because it documented unjust persecution of Muslim neighborhoods.
Their is no record of the missing.
BJP leader M.J.Akbar, then a journalist had reached the city..
on 15th Aug and wrote in his book 'Riot after Riot' that "this was not a Hindu-Muslim riot but a calculated cold-blooded massacare of Muslims by a rabidly communal police force which tried to cover up its genocide by making it out to be a Hindu-Muslim riot."
He further wrote:
He further wrote:
An aggrieved Syed Shahabuddin (of Janta Party) declared in Parliament:
"The tragedy of Moradabad is nothing but Jallianwala Bagh re-enacted.Both happened on a day of rejoicing. Both occurred in closed place, and the firing in both instances took place, from the only exit and..
"The tragedy of Moradabad is nothing but Jallianwala Bagh re-enacted.Both happened on a day of rejoicing. Both occurred in closed place, and the firing in both instances took place, from the only exit and..
..the point of entry that was there, against the people congregated there."
However, unlike the Jallianwala Bagh, the persecution of Muslims didn't stop there.
Curfew was imposed for three months but only against the Muslims; Hindus were free to come and go at will.
However, unlike the Jallianwala Bagh, the persecution of Muslims didn't stop there.
Curfew was imposed for three months but only against the Muslims; Hindus were free to come and go at will.
Economic impact of over 4-5 months of massacare was ever-lasting.
World famous brassware manufacturers from Moradabad, mostly Muslims,couldn't supply the orders in that period and lost their edge and market share to other manufacturers of the world.Riots and curfews ruined them.
World famous brassware manufacturers from Moradabad, mostly Muslims,couldn't supply the orders in that period and lost their edge and market share to other manufacturers of the world.Riots and curfews ruined them.
As usual a multiplicity of explanations for the outbreak of violence in Moradabad and elsewhere was offered instantly by the politicians and the press.
At the time of the massacare, Congress was in power in UP and V.P Singh was the Chief Minister.
Indira Gandhi, the then PM...
At the time of the massacare, Congress was in power in UP and V.P Singh was the Chief Minister.
Indira Gandhi, the then PM...
...consistent with her views in general concerning the sources of the country's problems, suggested "that foreign forces could be behind it." The formulation that ultimately emerged as the central gov's position on these riots was that "a neighbouring country," which of course...
...meant Pakistan, as well as "some communal parties" were behind it.
It was later revealed by the people of Moradabad, that rioting was planned by the Congress of Mrs Gandhi as she had decided to build Hindu vote-bank after her January 1980 electoral win. For her Muslims who...
It was later revealed by the people of Moradabad, that rioting was planned by the Congress of Mrs Gandhi as she had decided to build Hindu vote-bank after her January 1980 electoral win. For her Muslims who...
...ditched Congress in 1977 were no longer trustworthy. Like Narendra Modi during the Gujarat massacare of 2002, she too tried to cut Muslims to size and "teach them a lesson."
Almost 40 Eids later, there seems to be no institutional memory of that one-sided police attack on...
Almost 40 Eids later, there seems to be no institutional memory of that one-sided police attack on...
...Muslims and the cover-up by the Indian media (included prominent figures like Romesh Thapar, Krishna Gandhi and prominent outlets like Times of India, EPW) which built the narrative in a way which either criminalized the Muslims or tried to give it a communal spin.
The 2002 Gujarat massacare was neither unique nor the most terrible point of our history. Muslims have been murdered by the state throughout these seven decades of Independence.
The naked communalism of Adityanath's gov., the institutional sense of impunity that allows the...
The naked communalism of Adityanath's gov., the institutional sense of impunity that allows the...
...UP Police to run amok, the political marginalisation of the Muslims have not sprung from vacuum, they were developed during Congress regimes.
The post-2014 violences should not be seen as unique incidents but as a continuation with the State's 'secular' past.
The post-2014 violences should not be seen as unique incidents but as a continuation with the State's 'secular' past.
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