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Jamshedpur Riots,1979 : Judicial Report on RSS participation
Jamshedpur, April 1979 Toll: 108 (Muslims: 79; Hindus: 25) Probe: The Jitendra Narain Commission of Inquiry
In 1978, a Ram Navami akhara was established in Jamshedpur’s tribal Dimna Basti. The mission noted: “This is, by itself, a significant development, indicative of some design, considering that the Adivasis, not being Hindus, did not perform Hindu religious worship...� Sonaram Manjhi, a tribal, sought permission to take out a Ram Navami procession through Road 14, which passed through a Muslim area. The local administration refused permission.
The controversy surfaced again the following year. RSS leader and MLA Dina Nath Pandey led the city’s various akhara samitis in insisting upon taking the procession through Road 14. On April 7, pamphlets were distributed asking people to assemble near Road 14 at 11 am on April 11, and forcibly take out the procession. On April 10, the administration persuaded Muslim leaders to agree to the procession taking Road 14.
On April 11, the administration managed to get the procession to start early, and it passed Road 14 without incident. But Pandey suddenly arrived and stalled the marchers, warning that they wouldn’t move until BK Trivedi, who had been arrested a few days earlier, was released from judicial custody.
By 11 - the time notified in the pamphlet - a huge crowd had gathered near Road 14. Most were armed. The procession then moved into the adjoining Muslim area. Some stone-throwing sparked off bloody rioting.
“The chain of events...provided the occasion for the anti-socials amongst the Muslims to assert themselves and assume the leadership of the community,� opined the commission. On March 31 and April 1, the RSS divisional conference in Jamshedpur was addressed by the then chief Balasaheb Deoras.
The commission quoted Deoras extensively and said: “...the speech of Shri Balasaheb tended to encourage the Hindu extremists to be unyielding in the demands regarding Road 14. Secondly, his speech amounted to communal propaganda. Thirdly, the Shakhas and camps held during the conference presented a militant atmosphere to the Hindu public. In the circumstances, the commission cannot but hold the RSS responsible for creating a climate for the disturbances that took place on the 11th of April, 1979 and thereafter...�
The commission also believed that the akhara samitis in Jamshedpur were controlled by the local RSS leadership. (Various commissions have commented on the RSS’ links with organisations which are floated for specific causes, and which have played dubious roles in communal riots.)
The commission concluded: “Dina Nath Pandey was a member of the RSS, his actions followed a line which was in fulfilment of the general scheme of the Hindu communalists of Jamshedpur, and they were also aimed at achieving the plan announced in the leaflet circulated by them. His conduct had thus directly contributed to the outbreak of the riot...�
Significantly, the commission said the riot was fomented to consolidate the political objectives of the Jan Sangh, forerunner of the BJP. On Pages 103-104, its report makes a detailed analysis of the “true intentions� of the Jan Sangh in the context of the collapse of the Janata Party and emergence of the BJP.
The commission concluded: “...the RSS played their role in this matter, motivated by the long-term political objective of gaining strength for their political wing, simultaneously with propagating their doctrine...�
Jamshedpur, April 1979 Toll: 108 (Muslims: 79; Hindus: 25) Probe: The Jitendra Narain Commission of Inquiry (Courtesy: The Hindustan Times, March 12, 2000)