44% Hindus, 51% Muslims
Chief Minister of Maharashtra: Vasantrao P. Naik, Congress Party, December 1963–February 1975
Dreadful communal disturbances occurred in the state of Maharashtra in the towns of Bhiwandi, Jalgaon, and Mahad during this period. Since 1969, the situation in the Muslim-majority town of Bhiwandi had been tense. In October, Hindu leaders received anonymous letters threatening imminent revenge for the 1969 Ahmedabad riots. Publication of these letters in the press and an ensuing series of provocative speeches by communal organizations contributed to the escalating hate campaign. Adding to the uneasiness, the religious festivals of Muharram (Shia) and Holi (Hindu) coincided in March 1970.
Communal disputes arose over the Shiv Jayanti procession celebrating the anniversary of the Maratha warrior king Shivaji (1630–1680). Shiv Jayanti was first celebrated on a large scale in 1964, when the Shiv Jayanti Utsav Samiti (Committee for the Festival of Shiv Jayanti) organized it; lending the celebration an exclusively Hindu character and excluding the Muslim community from the festivities (whereas, they had previously participated as musicians). In 1970, the RUM (Rashtriya Utsav Mandal, Hindu communal organization close to the BJS) launched a campaign for the Shiv Jayanti procession to pass through the Muslim area of Nizampura, in close proximity to an important mosque. Despite the protests of Muslim leaders, the local administration allowed the procession to follow the controversial route. On May 7, the procession travelled through the area, shouting anti-Muslim slogans. The RUM campaign had attracted 3,000 to 4,000 people from nearby villages; they came armed with lathis (sticks). Some Muslims hurled stones at those marching in the procession, triggering a riot. Exaggerated rumors concerning the Bhiwandi disturbances, in turn, sparked off communal tensions in the town of Jalgaon on May 8.
In all, according to the Justice D. P. Madon Commission of Inquiry Report, the violence resulted in 164 deaths, of whom 142 were Muslims and 20 were Hindus. In Bhiwandi alone and in the adjacent villages of Khoni and Nagaon, the report said that 78 persons died: 17 were Hindus and 50 were Muslims.
***(Madon 1970), ***(Chatterji 1995: 25–33)