The 1925 Indian riots refers to the sixteen communal riots which occurred throughout

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Reported as being among the worst were in March in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, during September in

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...

, at Arvi in the

Wardha district Wardha district (Marathi pronunciation: �əɾd̪ʰaː is in the state of Maharashtra in western India. This district is a part of Nagpur Division. The city of Wardha is the administrative headquarters of the district. Hinganghat, Pulgaon, Ar ...

and in

Solapur Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with a branch line ...

Aligarh

The Aligarh riot occurred on 22 September in the

United Provinces of British India The United Provinces of British India, more commonly known as the United Provinces, was a province of British India, which came into existence on 3 January 1921 as a result of the renaming of the ''United Provinces of Agra and Oudh''. It corre ...

(now

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

). Of the sixteen communal riots that occurred that year, it was counted as one of the most severe. The

London Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (f ...

wrote two stories on the riots. The riot, was confined to Aligarh which is in the top five of most riot prone cities in India. According to a report from the

Singapore Free Press ''The Singapore Free Press'' was an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore. History The paper was founded as Singapore's second English-language newspaper by William Napier, Edward Boustead, Walter Scott Lorrain and Geo ...

, on 24 September 1925, it had been said the rioting was caused by

Mohammedan ''Mohammedan'' (also spelled ''Muhammadan'', ''Mahommedan'', ''Mahomedan'' or ''Mahometan'') is a term for a follower of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. It is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muham ...

throwing stones at some Hindus during the festival of

Ramlila Ramlila (Rāmlīlā) (literally 'Rama's lila or play') is any dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Rama according to the ancient Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' or secondary literature based on it such as the ''Ramcharitmanas''. It particularly ...

, the Hindus retaliated and in the ensuing violence sixty Muslim men and women were injured and twelve Hindus were hospitalized.

Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (5 December 1905 – 8 September 1982) was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir Abdullah was the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (later rena ...

speaking at a

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

conference at Aligarh likened the year-long violence to the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, arguing that the most serious danger that Muslims had ever had to deal with was the current Hindu resurgence. The official number of those killed in the riot was six, four Muslims and two Hindus.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{refend

Riots A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...

Sectarianism Conflicts in 1925