The historic day of the Pran Pratishtha of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is near. On January 22, Ram lalla will be seated in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple being built on his birthplace. This historic occasion has created an atmosphere of joy and the spirit of devotion for Bhagwan Ram. Amidst the happiness over the “return of the king”, the Hindu society remembers all the Karsevaks who sacrificed their lives for the Ramjanmabhoomi from the era of Mughals to Mulayam Yadav. Back in 1990, the Mulayam Singh-led government inflicted more brutalities on the devotees of Lord Ram than even the Mughal tyrant Babur.
OpIndia undertook an on-the-ground investigation concerning those defenceless kar sevaks who were shot chanting the divine name of Bhagwan Ram and showed cruelty even towards the corpses. In this particular instance, the names of two paramilitary officers, Bhullar and Usman, are much discussed. The name Munnan Khan, however, was the most shocking revelation to emerge from the horrific adversity orchestrated by the then-Mulayam government. Four years earlier, the leftist propaganda portal ‘The Wire’ defended the same Munnan Khan. While playing the victim card, The Wire included a slew of misleading and inaccurate facts in their piece.
Karsevaks were massacred by a private gang
OpIndia was the first to reveal, citing a police officer stationed in Ayodhya in 1990, that Munnan Khan was somehow involved in the massacre of the unarmed devotees of Lord Ram. Following this finding, numerous surviving Karsevaks and family members of martyred karsevaks have stated that they learned in 1990 that a leader named Munnan Khan had been actively involved in the massacre. Kali Sahay, the son of martyr Ram Bahadur Verma of Sultanpur district, says that Munnan Khan was even provided with a helicopter to fire bullets on karsevaks.
According to Kali Sahay, the local people were aware in 1990 that Munnan Khan orchestrated the grisly murder of Ram Bhakts through his ‘private gang’. Kali Sahay also voiced suspicion that the bore of the bullets used to kill karsevaks was not official.
Uncertain if the attack was carried out by real or fake police
OpIndia talked to Rambhakt Raghuveer Singh, who participated in Karseva in 1990. Raghuveer Singh was injured in the lathicharge at that time. He stated that during Karseva, he heard the name Munnan Khan of Gonda. Raghuveer Singh said, “I had heard that Munnan Khan had ordered 2-3 trucks full of criminals in police uniforms to open fire there.”
Raghuveer remains unsure whether he was attacked by real police or Munnan Khan’s ‘police’ since defending his life was his first concern at the time. Raghuveer claims that during the chaos, he could not read anyone’s badge or nameplate.
Come to Ayodhya, you will get rewards there
In a conversation with OpIndia, Ram devotee Rajesh Kumar Sahu, who participated in the 1990 Ayodhya Karseva, also mentioned the name of Munnan Khan. He stated that when he returned from Ayodhya, locals informed him that Munnan Khan had taken his men, disguised in police uniforms, from the opposite road. It is said that Munnan Khan roamed in a government roadways bus with his accomplices in places where the movement of karsevaks was strictly prohibited. Rajesh Sahu’s neighbours informed him that Munnan Khan was telling the kar sevaks, “Chalo Ayodhya, wahin par phal milega (Come to Ayodhya, you will get reward there).” Rajesh said that Munnan Khan was also carrying weapons.
Fake PAC battalion involved in the massacre of defenceless karsevaks
Murari Lal Gupta, who was also involved in Ayodha Karseva in 1990, told OpIndia that he later found out that Munnan Khan had assembled a whole battalion of fake PAC to massacre the devotees of Lord Ram. Murari Lal Gupta also stated that the Munnan Khan he is referring to served as the Member of Parliament for Gonda. According to Murari Lal, these imposter PAC men opened fire on Ram devotees by climbing on to the roofs of temples around Hanuman Garhi. The ensuing shooting culminated in the martyrdom of dozens of karsevaks.
“Munnan Khan killed my father”: karsevak Ram Achal Gupta’s son says
Speaking to OpIndia, Sanjay, the son of Karsevak Ram Achal Gupta, who was gunned down at Ayodhya on November 2, 1990, said that as a child, he heard about Munnan Khan massacring Ram bhakts while wearing a police uniform. Sanjay said that his father was also a victim of the bullet fired by Munnan Khan.
Munnan Khan’s name written on the walls
Seema, the daughter of Ram devotee Vasudev Gupta, who was martyred on October 30, 1990, told OpIndia that she was very young when her father was shot, but she recalls that, in addition to paramilitary staff, the name of Munnan Khan came up for killing kar sevaks. Seema Gupta said that at that time, Munnan Khan’s name was seen written on walls at many places.
Chief Minister should order a probe into Munnan’s crimes
Martyred karsevak Aam Achal Gupta’s son Sanjay Gupta wrote a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on January 11, 2024. In this letter, Sanjay said he has convincing proof demonstrating that Munnan Khan had a hand in the 1990 karsevak massacre. Sanjay Gupta stated in the letter that if the 1987 Hashimpura incident in Meerut could be probed, why not the 1990 Karsevak massacre.
It is worth noting that in the Hashimpur incident, after 40 years, the police officers accused of shooting people from Meerut’s Muslim community in 1987 were sentenced by the court. Many of the then-police officers had died, and many had grown old.
Everyone bowed before Munnan Khan’s political might
OpIndia tracked out a police officer assigned to Ayodhya in 1990. According to the policeman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Territorial Police Force unleashed lathi charge on Ram devotees. The policeman stated that discussions about Munnan Khan’s attack on Ram followers and his associates near the Saryu River were ubiquitous at the time. Due to this attack, numerous Ram bhakts jumped into the swollen Saryu river, and their remains were never found.
The police personnel posted in Ayodhya further stated that at the time, many people, including the government and administration, were aware of Munnan Khan’s misdeeds, but his political standing was so strong that no action could be taken.
Who was Munnan Khan
Munnan Khan’s full name was Fasiur Rehman Munnan Khan. He was born on January 7, 1945, in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh. Gonda is a district that borders Ayodhya. Balrampur district was formerly part of Gonda. Many elderly people in Gonda believe Munnan Khan began his criminal career in the 1970s. Soon after, his network had expanded to Nepal. Meanwhile, in 1985, he ran for election on a Lok Dal ticket from the Katra assembly constituency in Gonda district. He won the election. After his five-year term ended in 1989, Munnan contested as an independent candidate for the Balrampur parliamentary seat and won the election.
Despite being a public representative, Munnan Khan’s criminal activities continued unabated. Accusations of land grabbing and inciting riots were levelled against him from time to time. In spite of this, owing to his political patronage, not just intersections but also villages in Gonda district have been named after him. Munnan Khan was also a father to five sons and two daughters. His son, Qasim, is also a history-sheeting criminal. OpIndia will soon publish a second exposé detailing Munnan and his family’s criminal and dark exploits.
When ‘The Wire’ became Munnan Khan’s shield
Unsurprisingly, in 2019, the Islamist sympathising leftist propaganda portal ‘The Wire’ eulogised Munnan Khan and gave him a clean chit whitewashing his crimes. Then, journalist Krishna Pratap Singh of ‘The Wire’ described Munnan Khan’s name as a figment of certain journalists’ imagination. In an article published on November 9, 2019, The Wire labelled the then-media persons who exposed Munnan Khan’s crimes in 1990 as ‘Hindu journalists’. In the same piece, The Wire described Munnan Khan as a ‘dominant socialist leader’ close to Mulayam Singh but cleared him of any offences.
In its report loaded with a fabricated narrative, ‘The Wire’ did not care to speak to the surviving Karsevaks or their families.
Another lie peddled by ‘The Wire’ in the name of Hindu-Muslim
Krishna Pratap, the communist writer of ‘The Wire’, has shrewdly shifted all of the blame for the firing on karsevaks from Munnan, and the then-Mulayam government, to the then-journalists. In the said report, he claimed that no Muslim officers were posted in Ayodhya during the 1990 firing. About a month and a quarter after The Wire’s story was published, TV9 Bharatvarsha journalist Hemant Sharma stated in one of his reports that CRPF Deputy Commandant Usman was among those who opened fire on the unarmed Karsevaks.
The Wire’s proactive reports against repressed truths
The Wire has also claimed that Munnan Khan’s dominant persona irked the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. However, The Wire did not mention that Muslim leaders such as Azimul Haq alias Pehalwan of the then-Faizabad (now Ayodhya) district and Zulfikarullah of the adjoining Sultanpur district had significant influence during Munnan Khan’s era. The obvious question here arises why would Vishwa Hindu Parishad or any nationalist journalist be inclined to use the name of a Muslim leader from a remote district rather than Ayodhya or a nearby district?
However, it said that around 2019, the Ram Mandir issue in the Supreme Court reached its climax and conclusive point. In such a case, with the prospect of hidden facts being exposed, outlets like ‘The Wire’ had made preparations in advance to come to the defence of their favourites at the right time.
Many hidden cases involving Munnan Khan, are yet to come to the fore. The relatives of the killed Ram devotees also want to expose the involvement of not only leader Munnan Khan, but also officials like Usman, in the 1990 massacre. All the suffering Karsevaks who talked about Munnan Khan’s wrongdoings are still alive. Many of the journalists from that time are still around. All of them have also stated that they will actively cooperate in the probe if initiated. The people of Bharat want to know the truth about the three-decade-old episode that caused the Saryu River to turn red with the blood of karsevaks.
