Bhagalpur 1989: The Dark Chapter That Changed Bihar’s Politics
Traffic Jam near Bhagalpur railway station! (Image TRH)
As Bihar heads into elections, the Bhagalpur riots of 1989 resurface as a grim reminder of how religion, politics, and apathy combined to scar an entire generation — and alter the course of the state’s history forever.
By AMIT KUMAR
Bhagalpur, October 23, 2025 — Bihar is once again in election mode. But before ballots are cast and slogans fill the air, it is vital to revisit the nights when bullets spoke louder than votes — when religion, caste, and power turned neighbours into enemies.
This series, “Bihar Ka Kala Adhyay” (Bihar’s Dark Chapter), traces those blood-soaked moments that defined the state’s political and social fabric — from Naxal attacks and massacres to the Bhagalpur riots, the Jehanabad jailbreak, and the controversies surrounding Lalu Prasad Yadav’s rule.
The Bhagalpur riots of 1989 remain one of independent India’s deadliest communal convulsions.
The Day Bhagalpur Burned
On October 24, 1989, Bhagalpur — a bustling silk city on the southern banks of the Ganga — descended into communal madness. What began as a Ram Shila procession linked to the Ayodhya temple movement spiralled into mass violence after stone-pelting and bomb attacks broke out in the Tatarpur area, a Muslim-majority neighbourhood.
Police firing that day left three people dead and several injured — the spark that ignited an inferno lasting nearly two months. By the time the fires died down, over 1,000 people were dead, 11,500 homes destroyed, and 250 villages reduced to ashes. Most of the victims were Muslims.
Different official accounts put the death toll between 1,070 and 1,852, while commissions led by Justice Shamsul Hasan and R.N. Prasad detailed widespread destruction — including the loss of 600 power looms and 1,700 handlooms, crippling the city’s famous silk trade.
But behind every statistic lay human horror — stories of betrayal, fear, and unimaginable cruelty.
The Massacres That Still Haunt
The most horrific carnage unfolded in Chanderi village on October 27–28, 1989. After initial clashes, around a hundred Muslim villagers took shelter in a house, trusting the police and army to protect them. But the next morning, before the army could return, mobs dragged them out under false assurances of safety — and slaughtered them. When troops arrived, they found 61 mutilated bodies floating in a pond.
The Laugai massacre was equally chilling. Villagers were killed, their bodies buried beneath cabbage fields to erase evidence. Around 116 people were reportedly murdered. Years later, in 2007, 14 people, including a former police officer, were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Rumours, deliberately planted, had stoked the violence — including false claims that Hindu students had been killed in local lodges. The result was blind vengeance that tore Bhagalpur apart.
The Political Fallout
The Bhagalpur riots became a turning point in Bihar’s politics — a moral and electoral collapse for the Congress government of Satyendra Narayan Sinha, accused of grave negligence. He was replaced 42 days later by Jagannath Mishra, but the damage was irreversible.
In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, Congress shrank from 54 to just 4 seats in Bihar. By the 1990 Assembly polls, it was decimated — winning only 71 of 323 seats, while Janata Dal under Lalu Prasad Yadav swept to power.
Political observers believe the riots pushed Bihar’s Muslim voters decisively away from Congress, helping Lalu cement the Yadav-Muslim (MY) alliance that dominated state politics for decades.
Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Bhagalpur added controversy when he reversed the state’s decision to transfer the local SP — a move widely criticised as political interference.
Decades later, in 2005, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered a new judicial probe, whose report submitted in 2015 confirmed systemic failure, delayed justice, and lingering wounds that Bihar has yet to heal.
Why This Memory Matters Now
Bihar today has moved on from large-scale insurgency and kidnapping, but land conflicts, crimes against minors, and illicit liquor trade still pose deep social threats. Remembering Bhagalpur is not about reopening old wounds — it’s about acknowledging that justice delayed breeds silence, not peace.
As the state prepares to vote again, Bhagalpur’s ghosts whisper a timeless warning: when politics flirts with hate, it is the people who pay in blood.
(This is an opinion piece, and views expressed are those of the author only)
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