Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav’s close associate and senior party leader Swami Prasad Maurya made a controversial statement on Wednesday (10th January 2024) in which he defended Mulayam Singh Yadav’s firing order on karsevaks by branding the Ram devotees who travelled to take part in the temple liberation movement in 1990 as troublemakers and miscreants. The statement has been opposed by a wide range of politicians, including some leaders from within the Samajwadi Party.
The OpIndia team spoke with the families of the victims and surviving karsevaks, as well as the locals of Ayodhya, to obtain information about the 1990 atrocity. We learned that during that time, a political leader by the name of Fasih-ur-Rehman Munnan Khan, popularly known as Munnan Khan had participated in the killings. The karsevaks who were far from the disputed structure were also reportedly murdered.
Who granted MP Munnan Khan permission to commit mass murder?
A former police officer stationed in Ayodhya in 1990 spoke to OpIndia on condition of anonymity. He unveiled that he received information in the year 1990 about the involvement of the then Balrampur MP late Munnan Khan along with his associates in the attacks on the karsevaks. His full name was Fasih-ur-Rehman. According to the ex-official, the local administration and the government were aware of Munnan Khan’s onslaught on the karsevaks. However, his influence in politics was so strong that no one even mentioned him. Some of Rudauli’s surviving karsevaks who witnessed the incident also brought up his name during the interview with OpIndia.
According to them, Munnan Khan was riding in a bus with his aides while dressed as a police officer. He used to tell the karsevaks, “Come sit in the bus. Let us give you the prasad of Ayodhya.” No karsevak knows how Munnan Khan who was posing as a cop was permitted to travel by bus while the karsevaks were being apprehended even while walking.
Sanjay, son of Ram Achal Gupta and Kali Sahay, son of Ram Bahadur Verma the karsevaks who sacrificed their lives for Ram Mandir also conveyed that MP Munnan Khan was directly involved in the slaughter of karsevaks. Some local residents remarked that Munnan Khan and his people not only fired on the karsevaks but also posed as police and abducted the Ram devotees in a bus to a location unknown to this day.
Munnan Khan was an MLA from the Katra assembly constituency under Gonda district from 1985 to 1989 after which he became an MP from Balrampur district from 1989 to 1991. He was considered close to senior Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders. An intersection in Gonda district is also named after him. He died in 2009.
in light of Swami Prasad Maurya’s comments, the family members of the karsevaks who were martyred want to know if Munnan Khan’s actions were legal or allowed by the Samajwadi Party. We’ll soon be sharing with you our second report which will detail Munnan Khan’s criminal past, dark activities and cruel conduct.
Murder of those far away from the Ram Janmabhoomi
Shivdayal Mishra, a karsevak who lives in the Gonda district talked to team OpIndia. He was shot twice in the leg during karseva in 1990. He divulged that he had taken the bullets at the border of the Gonda district which is at a considerable distance away from the ‘hot zone’ that was the Ayodhya town, especially the area around Ram Janmabhoomi site. The doctors who were sitting in the temporary tents at the time on government instructions fled the shelter out of fear of being shot by the police.
Abhishek, the son of deceased karsevak Mahavir Prasad Agarwal expressed that he was deeply hurt by the statement of Mulayam Singh Yadav which followed his father’s death. Abhishek stated that on 2nd November 1990, his father was shot dead near Karsewakpuram which was a long way from the babri structure.
Simultaneously, Suresh, son of victim Ramesh Pandey informed OpIndia that his father had been shot close to Shaheed Gali. Numerous Lord Ram worshipers were killed there. Hanumangarhi is situated between this area and the contested structure which is located far distant.
Karsevak Ram Achal Gupta’s son Sanjay disclosed to OpIndia that his father was shot on 2nd November 1990 in front of the Ayodhya police station which is not far from the earlier controversial structure. Ramtej, his brother, was performing karseva at the time. He is a living eyewitness to the tragedy in 1990. According to Ramtej, all of the karsevaks were gathered around and chanting Ram Bhajans (devotional songs of Lord Ram) as the bullets were fired at them.
Helicopters also shot bullets at unarmed karsevaks
Ayodhya’s local elders also told OpIndia that karsevaks had arrived unarmed in 1990. According to karsevak Raghuwar Singh of Rudauli locality in the Ayodhya district, shots were fired on 2nd November 1990 as everyone assembled to visit Janmbhoomi. A helicopter was hovering a few kilometres away from the disputed structure.
Seema Gupta, the daughter of martyr karsevak Vasudev Gupta stated in an interview with OpIndia that her father and other Ram devotees were killed with the help of a helicopter. A helicopter with green lights was circling over Ayodhya in the sky then. The cops would open fire at the exact moment when the chopper would fly down and its lights would turn red.
The son of another martyr karsevak Ram Sevak Verma, Kali Sahay Verma informed us that not only the cops on the ground but some armed personnel aboard the helicopters were also firing. He highlighted that the pellets penetrated his father’s body at an oblique angle and suspects that his father was shot from above.
‘Muhammad Usman and JS Bhullar were the leaders of the firing team‘
All the elders and karsevaks who reside in Ayodhya still remember the names of JS Bhullar and Muhammad Usman. They were both paramilitary officers. JS Bhullar along with his team used to camp at Maharaja Inter College in Ayodhya. The location of Maharaja Inter College where he used to bathe is also remembered by the locals due to the cruelty displayed in 1990.
An incident involving Bhullar was recounted by a local citizen who requested to remain unnamed. According to the witness, on 30th October 1990, a chopper came from Lucknow with orders to fire following which scared the local cops. They didn’t want to shoot at the karsevaks and were firing bullets into the air.
The source added that after JS Bhullar noticed gunfire in the air, he approached these police officers and reprimanded them. He aimed and fired at a Ram devotee who was walking by. The moment the bullet struck, the person went down and instantly passed away. JS Bhullar then chuckled and commented, “This is how you shoot.”
The other squad led by Muhammad Usman was raining bullets at the same time. He reportedly held the position of Deputy Commandant within the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). It is believed that he and his unit were present when the karsevaks were killed in large numbers close to Shaheed Gali and Digambar Akhara. All of them shot the Ram devotees in the head and chest, instead of aiming for the legs as security personnel are supposed to, as per locals.
Ayodhya’s elders often say that the locals cops were not involved in the shooting, but it was the paramilitary central forces. A battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police is also mentioned in this context.
According to the ex-officer, external forces were summoned to initiate gunfire. After the Ayodhya slaughter, a poem gained popularity in the local areas which bore the lyrics, “The earth trembled and the sky cried when bullets were fired in Ayodhya.” It further reads, “When Uttar Pradesh police refused, cops were called from Tibet.
