The 1987 Meerut riots that marred Uttar Pradesh are a classic instance of the Congress Party’s soft-Hindutva politics. Congress’ power in UP has waned over the last three decades since it was in power of one of the most important states in the country to a mere seven MLAs in 2017. This could be because of its failure to devise an effective strategy to counter hardline Hindutva.

There is no accurate data available of how many people lost their lives due to the riots, but on the basis of accounts by government officials, and relatives of the victims-it can be estimated to be no less than hundred. The summer of that year was the story of the inaction of the Congress as the city was ripped by communal riots for around three months. None of the accused were every brought to book.

Congress’ seeds of loss were sown in 1986–the party ruled the state as well as the centre. Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister and Veer Bahadur Singh was Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister. This was the year when the gates of the Babri Masjid were opened in Ayodhya and religious rites were allowed take place inside the disputed structure triggering riots in Meerut, Moradabad, Kanpur, Allahabad and many other cities.

One of the worst incidents of that time was the event of May 22 at Hashimpura. 19 personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) allegedly rounded up 42 Muslim youths from the Hashimpura mohalla, shot them and disposed of their bodies in the Gang Nahar canal and Hindon river. There has been no justice so far.

One month after the Hashimpura massacre, on June 23, the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) published a report collectively prepared by Justice Rajinder Sachar, IK Gujral, AM Khusaro, Dilip Swami and KC Gupta. The Congress party’s role in the riots was established beyond doubt. The PUCL report, then-Ghaziabad SP Vibhuti Narain Rai’s book and the accounts of victims clearly established the party’s guilt in the matter.

Mohsina Kidwai was the Member of Parliament from Meerut during the riots of 1987. She was the Urban Development minister and a prominent Muslim face in the Congress party. In his book, Hashimpura 22 May: The Forgotten Story of India’s Biggest Custodial Killing, Rai discusses how the family of the victims approached Kidwai at her home in Delhi and received no help. However, they were advised by someone there to approach parliamentarian Syed Shahabuddin instead.

To further add to the suspicion around the Congress Party, one central minister and a prominent face Jammu & Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Saeed resigned from his post in protest against the widespread riots across Uttar Pradesh. The then-Tourism minister was the only one to do so.

Sachar, a member of the committee constituted by PUCL, returned from Meerut and wrote to UP’s CM Veer Bahadur Singh informing him of what was transpiring on the ground and the alarming death toll. He demanded that the CM take cognizance of the situation. He also forwarded a copy of the same letter to the then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi but neither the state nor central government took it seriously.

BJP MP Subramaniam Swamy, who had then marched from Meerut to Delhi demanding justice for victims, had leveled serious charges against prominent Congress politician P Chidambaram who was the Minister of State under the Home Ministry and had visited Meerut just before the events in Hashimpura. Swamy accused Chidambaram of not informing Parliament about the riots. In 2012 he filed a petition requesting a second trial in the matter which was rejected by the court. The officials also took Chidambaram to task for his lackadaisical approach to the riots.

The families and victims of the Hashimpura massacre accuse the state machinery for brutality against them and the governing party for not meeting with them. Gandhi did visit Meerut to take stock of the situation but did not go to Hashimpura. Yaqoob Saifi, whose younger brother Mehtab was one of the 42 unarmed Muslim men, claimed that LK Advani had arrived to meet Hindus residing in Hashimpura. Advani was questioned by Muslim survivors and victim’s families for what happened to them. Were there incidents of Muslims attacking Hindus? Saifi recalls how Advani lowered his head in shame unable to answer.

Saifi was imprisoned in Abdullahpur jail for 22 days and was beaten. He said that none of the committees probing the massacre had ever contacted him for recording his testimony. Members of committee, he said, would only meet people from first few houses of the lane rarely venturing into the interior. Saifi’s account tells us just how serious the fact finding committee was.

A photograph by Indian Express’s photographer Praveen Jain shows a group of men being escorted away by the PAC. They were later made to sit in trucks and taken to Fatehgarh and Abdullahpur jail. The PUCL report has a mention by the DM of Meerut of deaths in custody due to torture. Those that survived remember everything they underwent.

Mohammad Fahim’s broken fingers never joined again properly. He recalls how he had just sat down to have lunch when the police and PAC entered their house. They took all the three brothers to Fatehgarh jail. They broke his fingers and he had injuries to his head. In an effort to spare his brothers, he smeared his blood on their faces to make it seem they had also been tortured. He was in the prison for a month.

It has been 30 years since the Meerut riots. Congress’ soft approach to Hindutva politics seem to have backfired. UP was the last nail in the coffin of Congress. It was the massacre in Hashimpura that saw the Congress’ Muslim vote base lose faith in them, and find salvation elsewhere, in the conveniently formed Samajwadi Party.

In the 1985 assembly elections the party had 269 legislators and formed government. In 1989 they had only 94 MLA and lost power. In 1989 Mulayam Singh Yadav, for the first time, became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the BJP adhering to its hardline Hindutva stance, secured 57 seats. At present the same BJP has secured 325 seats in the recent assembly elections and Yogi Adityanath is Chief Minister while Congress had been wiped off from the political scenario of the state.

The author can be contacted at contact@newslaundry.com

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