Yogi's move to table 40-year-old Moradabad riot report implicating IUML draws opposition criticism
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Lucknow: The Opposition front in UP has expressed concerns over the Yogi Adityanath government's plan to table a 40-year-old report about the 1980 communal riot in Moradabad. The report is expected to target the IUML while exonerating the RSS and the state police.
The opposition questioned the need for tabling a report about an incident that happened four decades ago, given that there are similar incidents of communal riots during Yogi Adityanath's tenure.
Meanwhile, the IUML, the party which is being blamed for the riots in the report, said that it will approach the President seeking a fresh investigation into the riot by a new commission, terming the report false and concocted in favour of the BJP as a trump card to play in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Moradabad riots erupted in August 1980 during the tenure of the Congress government under Chief Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh.
The report, which had been kept under wraps since its submission in November 1983, has become the centre of attention during the ongoing Assembly monsoon session. It offers a "clean chit" to the state police, the Police Arms Constabulary (PAC), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), absolving them of any direct involvement in the riots.
Instead, it implicates then-Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) state president Shamim Ahmed and local leader Hamid Hussain for allegedly inciting the violence.
However, the timing of this revelation has raised eyebrows. Critics argue that it conveniently coincides with the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, suggesting a potential political agenda behind the government's actions.
The IUML, which has been vocal in its dissent, claims that the report is riddled with inaccuracies and asserts that it plans to appeal to the President for a fresh judicial probe into the 1980 riots.
Kausar Hayat Khan, the national joint secretary of IUML, has accused the Adityanath-led BJP government of attempting to score political points by highlighting the alleged involvement of IUML in the riots.
Khan suggests that the government aims to create a perception that IUML, a supposed participant in the 1980 riots, is aligned with the opposition coalition, further deepening political divisions.
The Samajwadi Party president, Akhilesh Yadav, questioned the government's motives, insinuating that such reports tend to resurface conveniently during election seasons. The Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson, Surendra Rajput, went a step further, asserting that the move was an attempt to polarize society along religious lines, rather than addressing pressing issues affecting the public.
The report itself paints a complex picture of the events that unfolded in Moradabad over four decades ago. The violence that initially erupted at the Eidgah in Moradabad town quickly spread to other areas, including Sambhal, Aligarh, Bareilly, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), and the rural regions of Moradabad, lasting until early 1981.
With IUML being a marginal player in Uttar Pradesh politics, its alleged involvement in the riots takes centre stage. The report, authored by Justice Saxena, places the responsibility for the violence on the shoulders of IUML leader Dr Shamim Ahmed and his associates. The IUML, however, contests this claim vehemently, maintaining that it was the Congress government at the time that held the real culpability.