In October 1990, there was a major communal riot in Bijnor, a town in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Stemming from a celebratory procession by local Hindu groups, it was the most destructive riot in the wake of concurrent Hindu nationalist campaigns, which eventually led to the demolition of Babri Masjid. The riots were also characterized by phases of passive and active complicity of the state machinery.
Official estimates put the death-toll at 87; unofficially, the count varies from around 200 to 300 with most of the dead being Muslims.
Background
Amrita Basu et al. notes that there was a near-total absence of any communal riots at Bijnor before 1988. A few distinct events manifested across the politico-religious sphere in the following years, that led to the gradual build-up of animosity and did serve as a precursor to the riots.
Municipal elections
In the 1988 municipal elections, a Muslim lawyer - Zafar Khan, from BSP was elected as the chair, having defeated Sandip Lal, a fellow Hindu contender from BSP, who was also backed by BJP. Effectively, it was more of a religious fight than political. Notwithstanding the demographic skew against Hindus, Lal was poorly educated and corrupt (contra Khan) and his history of switching political allegiances drastically hampered his chances; the election also saw a lower voter turnout among Hindus.
Soon enough, the elected Hindus in the council (most of whom were prominent faces of communal outfits) accused Khan of being partisan in the distribution of funds and appointments at key posts including Vice Chairman, which was traditionally allotted to opposition. The claims of fund misuse and partisan appointments have been since located to be entirely unfounded; a Muslim was illegally installed as the Vice Chairman, in absence of Khan, via a conspiracy hatched by the Hindu councilors.
Along while, there were multiple attempts to bring a no-confidence motion against Khan esp by weaponizing the nominated members, but none managed to succeed esp that he was close to Mulayam Yadav, the then-chief minister from BSP (who changed nominated members at will). The last such attempt was in June 1990.
Property dispute
In around July 1990, there was a huge fracas about the fate of vacant land adjoining a mosque.
The Hindu councilors along with local members of RSS claimed that the property belonged to a Hindu, who was settled elsewhere but failed to pay taxes. On notification by the municipality of pending usurpation, he did pay the dues but yet Khan had evicted him to unilaterally allot the property to a Muslim, who was supposedly planning to inaugurate a beef shop. A local daily The Bijnor Times, (which was promised with favors by Lal, shall he were elected) heavily aided in the amplification, so as to discredit Khan. The allegations were unfounded in that the municipality owned the land, since long back and there was only a single request for renting out the property, which the entire council had approved of.
On 25 August, a group of Hindus, led by Bajrang Dal, occupied the property and were soon reinforced in large numbers, as rumors spread of an impending attack by Muslims. After a bout of stone-pelting between the communities, local police vacated the property by force and arrested the agitating Hindus. An old Muslim woman was killed by a ricocheting bullet and another Muslim died in the hospital, later. In light of the volatile situation, the municipality temporally stalled the scheduled land-allocation, in what was conceived as a victory by the Hindus.
Ram-jyotis
In the wake to the Babri Masjid demolition, VHP organised a cross-state tour, wherein karsevaks went about in a procession with flame-torches and sought to rekindle the Hindu spirit. The then BSP government chose to prohibit them from entering the town by installing a barricade over the lone entry-bridge, fearing communal disturbances.
In response, thousands of Hindu women formed into a flash mob, stormed the bridge in active defiance of state orders, and enabled the Ram-jyotis into the town. This proved to be a major turning point as to the inclusion of women in physical manifestations of Hindu nationalism, and for the female-inflicted violence, that would form a major part of the Bijnor riot.
