Three firing incidents — Khatima, Mussoorie, and Rampur Tiraha — cut through the history of the Uttarakhand statehood movement like fault lines, and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami invoked all three on Sunday, 27 September 2026, demanding they never be forgotten by the state or the nation.

Posting in Hindi, CM Dhami wrote: 'राज्य आंदोलन के दौरान खटीमा, मसूरी और रामपुर तिराहा गोलीकांड को उत्तराखंड कभी नहीं भूल सकता.' — 'Uttarakhand can never forget the Khatima, Mussoorie, and Rampur Tiraha firing incidents during the statehood movement.' He added that it is necessary to remember these 'dark chapters of history' because the making of Uttarakhand is inseparable from the struggle and sacrifice of its agitators.

What happened at Khatima, Mussoorie, and Rampur Tiraha in 1994

The three incidents trace back to 1994, the most turbulent year of the Uttarakhand Andolan — the sustained popular agitation demanding that the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh be carved into a separate state. Protesters, students, and activists mobilised across the region, and the state machinery responded with force at multiple flashpoints. Police opened fire on agitators at Khatima and Mussoorie, and a particularly remembered episode unfolded near Rampur Tiraha in October 1994, when Uttar Pradesh police fired on a group of Uttarakhand activists and students.

The agitation eventually succeeded. On 9 November 2000, Uttarakhand was formally carved out of Uttar Pradesh and granted statehood — a milestone that the state's political class across parties holds as foundational.

SP in UP, Congress at the Centre — Dhami names the governments

CM Dhami's post is pointed in its political attribution. He explicitly states that at the time of the shootings, the Samajwadi Party was in power in Uttar Pradesh and the Indian National Congress was at the Centre. The Samajwadi Party government in UP was led by Mulayam Singh Yadav during the peak of the agitation — a name that carries particular weight in Uttarakhand's political memory.

By naming the parties in power during the crackdown, Dhami draws a direct line between those governments and what he calls 'dark chapters of history.' The framing is one that BJP leaders in Uttarakhand have consistently employed — contrasting the sacrifices of the agitators with the actions of the then state and central governments — and it carries particular resonance as the state approaches the anniversary of its founding each November.

Memory as political identity in Uttarakhand

The invocation of the 1994 firing incidents is not merely historical. In Uttarakhand's political culture, the Andolan and its martyrs function as the moral founding narrative of the state — its own version of a freedom struggle. Politicians who can credibly claim proximity to that sacrifice, or who remind voters of who stood against it, hold a distinct rhetorical advantage.

With Uttarakhand's statehood anniversary on 9 November approaching, such commemorative messaging is expected to intensify. Dhami's post signals the start of that season — and puts the opposition firmly on notice that the memory of 1994 will remain live political terrain.