1989; September 28: Badaun (Uttar Pradesh)

56% Hindus, 43% Muslims

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh: Narain Dutt Tiwari, Congress Party, June 1988–December 1989

Riots erupted in Badaun (Uttar Pradesh). Tensions rose over the issue of Urdu-slated to become Uttar Pradesh’s second official language. On September 27, the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, All India Students’ Council) organized an anti-Urdu procession in the town. Riots occurred on September 28, the day the Urdu bill was introduced in the state’s legislative assembly. Students from Islamia Inter College organized a pro-Urdu march and attacked a Hindu college. Arson and killings began, with armed men firing at passers-by from the town’s rooftops. The riot claimed 27 lives according to some media reports. Other accounts assessed the total at more than 60 killed. Violence also spread to the countryside. During an attack on the Kasganj–Kashipur train, 13 passengers were killed by a mob. Other sources put the death toll of this attack at 24.

**(The Times of India 29/09/1989); **(The Times of India 01/10/1989); **(Frontline 14–27/10/1989: 108); **(India Today 31/10/1989: 19); ***(Saksena 1990: 2)