It happened a long time ago but the wounds inflicted on the Hindu psyche are too deep to be forgotten. The great massacre of Calcutta in 1946 is a story of collusion between the mullah, neta, government & british. Everyone was guilty of the murder of Hindus - whose only fault was that they belonged to the Sanatan Dharma.
16-08-1946 – DIRECT ACTION DAY was a blood soaked day. It marked the final escalation of the Hinduphoic propaganda of Jinnah & his muslim league. This day & those that followed were days of blood & violence, of rape & murder, of arson & loot were unique – the muslim league government had played an active role in the genocidal massacre of Hindus of Bengal. They colluded with the British overlords to protect the rioters, hamper rescue attempts, provide logistical support to the rioters. Their target was the Hindu – man, woman, child no one was spared. At the end of these riots 5,000 – 10,000 Hindus were dead, 15,000 wounded & maimed, countless displaced and nameless numbers converted.
Jinnah used religion to force partition of India. In doing so he unleashed violence so brutal, so genocidal in scale that it remains unmatched in world history. Jinnah’s campaign of hate, religious supremacy & propaganda had marginalized nationalist muslims. Nationalist voices were stifled – sometimes by social boycott & sometimes by murder, all perpetrated by the goons of Jinnah. But the Hindus were the prime targets of hate and brutal persecution.
By sheer force of hate filled demagoguery, Jinnah had caused an irreparable rift between Hindus & muslims. His followers went a step further in demonizing Hindus. Condemned as idolaters, kaffirs & inferior/slave to the “masterful muslim”. An example of their systemic Hindu hate is shown below where a reproduction of a pamphlet published by Jinnah’s acolyte Humayun Akhtar, titled “How much is the difference?”
It was only a matter of time this festering anger would explode. Explode it did – with such brutal violence that the ruling British were caught unprepared. The Hindus were at the sharp end of the jihadi’s sword and they bled. But as soon as Hindus tried to organize themselves to offer resistance, Gandhi would swoop in with his entourage peddling his sermons of “Ahinsa” & condemning any defensive retaliation by the Hindus.
The spiral of violence can be traced in the following instances of riots/pogroms against Hindus –
Jinnah had declared that the general elections of 1946 would be like a plebiscite for Pakistan. Taking his lead, the Bengal Muslim League, in 1945, adopted a resolution for the same, declaring –
“We are therefore in the midst of war as the General Election is going to be the first pitched battle for Pakistan with enemies of muslim India.”
16th August, 1946 – the day will live in infamy and shame. This was the day when the world got a glimpse of what Jinnah’s call for Direct Action meant and what his vision of Pakistan held for the Hindus.
On the surface of it, Direct Action Day was aimed at opposing the British but in reality it was a call to all muslims to massacre Hindus in such numbers and with such brutality that partition of Hindustan would become a fait accompli. Secret messages were passed on to muslims exhorting them to brutal massacre of Hindus. Below is an example of the type of secret messages that were used by muslim league –
PS – Read points “o” to “s” with special attention to point “p”
SLOGANS OF WAR – by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Khwaja Nizamuddin
1. Larke lenge Pakistan 2. Maarke lenge Pakistan 3. Saala Hindu lok ko maar dalo 4. Nara- i – takbeer
August 16, 1946, the league and its supporters march to and assemble at the Octerlony Monument (Currently known as Shaheed Minar) in Calcutta. By 3:00 pm tens of thousands muslims (estimated vary between 60,000 to 200,000) had assembled at the site. They are whipped into frenzy by the League leaders by fiery speeches and images of glorious death in the course of Jihad against the kaffir Hindus. The warnings of impending violence are ignored by the muslim league administration (It was muslim league that was in power in Bengal at the time).
HOUR WISE REPORTS OF MURDER & RIOTING source: CDCE reports 1946 among other sources
Riots & organized violence had started even before the congregation at the monument park. Reports of stabbings, murder etc had already started trickling in –
As the rioting spread all over Calcutta, Hindu areas were cut off and isolated by blocking roads and bridges with barricades of dustbins tied to iron rods. Suhrawardy, in his speech at the monument maidan tells the mob there, that the police and the army had been “restrained” ie the police would not interfere when the muslim mobs would attack and raped Hindus. This was achieved by roping in Bengal Governor Fredrick Burrows. To get rid of the police presence Calcutta, help came from Niaz Mohammed Khan, an ICS (today’s IAS) officer & DM of Midnapore. The Calcutta police was predominantly Hindu, but Nia Mh. Khan started recruiting Punjabi muslim & Pathans as constables (Pathans were chosen for their religious fanaticism, violent mindsets. One more reason for selecting Pathans was that they kept their women in Burqas and had no respect for women in general. hey were unaccustomed of seeing women walkk around freely (a feature limited to Hindu women). This inflammed them and countless Hindu women had to face the consequences of their lust.
The Hindus of Bengal lost everything – their fathers and sons were butchered and converted to islam. Their mothers and daughters were raped kidnapped sometimes converted to islam and sometimes sold as sex slaves to other muslims. Those who were converted were forced into marriage with their rapists and condemned to a life of inhuman misery.
HOWRAH – Sharif Khan, leader of Howrah Muslim League & MLA organized and led mobs at Salkia, Shibpur, Kalibabu’s Bazar etc. The obs started looting Hindu shops and forcing & beating Hindu shop owners to close shops. On 17th, August, 1946, mobs burn down 15 boats at Bichali Ghat.
The DM of Howrah reported that muslim league volunteers & mobs tried to rob the Railway Yard at Howrah and disrupt the train services. East Bengal Muslim Khalasis clash with Hindus by the side of Ferry yard, BN Railway. The yard is looted and set on fire. All marine barracks are looted. Commissioner of Burdwan reports (based on reports Superintendent of Police) that lorry loads of muslims were brought to raid the boats and loot the yards
METIABURZ, KIDDERPORE – Monstrous violence was witnessed in Metiaburz. Entire Bastis were wiped out. Conservative estimates put over 600 Hindus dead. Kesoram Mills of the the Birlas with over 500 laborers was attacked and the entire population of Hindu laborers was butchered by the muslim mobs. The scene was so horrific that Biswanath Das Ex-PM of Orissa, had come to Calcutta to verify the extent of massacre.
BALLYGANJ, SOUTH CALCUTTA – More tales of gruesome tales of muslim league engineered riots come out of this area. On 20th August report of 2 dead bodies were found stuck in the sewage pumping station, Mr Keating , personnel assistant to Chief Engineer, W&B Department reported dragging out a total of 110 dead bodies from the sewage lines & caves.
MOMINPUR AREA, SOUTH WEST CALCUTTA – More bodies (20) are dragged out of the sewage lines & pumping stations in Mominpur.
PARK CIRCUS AREA – Reports of murder of a saintly old Doctor (who served the poor muslim & hindus of the area) was murdered along with his son. He had to witness the gangrape & murder of his wife and daughter before he too was killed. The report was filed by his colleagues.
KASAI BUSTEE – This bustee is a big slum located in Sasthitala Street, near Narkeldanga. HS Suhrawardy visits the bustee on 16 & 17th August 1946. His visit intesified the ongoing butchering. His stooge Rajab Ali instigated the muslims of the area and he led the mob that butchered 4 Hindus in the morning of 16th. He set fire to 2 Hindu bustees near the Kasai Bustee & they defiled the temple and Shiva linga in Sasthitala. They also desecrated the iodls of Shitla Mata & Shiv ji and threw them in the drains
HINDUS BUTCHERED IN GAS STREET AREA – The massacre did not let up on 17th August,1946. The muslim mobs move to Gas Street Area (where riots had taken place on 16th also). the muslim mobs dragged out Hindus from their homes and roos and butchered them in the streets. The mob raped the women in the street denying them even the smallest shred of dignity before butchering them. The young girls were probably raped and then taken away to be sold or converted.
THE COLLUSION – POLITICIANS & POLICE HELP THE RIOTERS
HS SUHRAWARDY – THE BUTCHER OF BENGAL – This man is rightly called the Butcher of Bengal. He instigated, led and protected the rioters. He famously declared – ” You have 24 hours to establish Pakistan” Suhrawardy’s role aas the Butcher of Bengal is also attested by Bangladeshi historian Haroon-ur-Rashid in his book The Foreshadowing of Bangladesh: Bengall Muslim League & Muslim Politics, 1906-1947
The deck for violence was stacked and ready. Muslim League was in power in Bengal by collective votes of muslims & poor harijans (dalits). They had the police, staffed by violent pathans & punjabi muslims, the maulvis and maulanas had given them religious sanction and declared the violence against Hindus as righteous AND they had the tacit support of the British government.
Mr, Osman, the mayor of Calcutta & the prime minister issued special coupons for Muslim League goondas for work from 15th to 18th August, 1946 (the period when the British governor, in collusion with HS Suhrawardy, had declared a public holiday) . Being a holiday, no petrol ration coupons were issued for Hindus. These coupons were used to procure petrol to fill tanks of lorries & buses to transport musim league volunteers/rioter from one place to another. The remaining petrol was used to make petrol bombs. The Mayor Mr Osman used his position to get corporation lorries for the above purpose. This is corroborated by statement of one Mr. Ispahani, Agent of Grain Procurement who stated that he supplied lorries to muslim league which were decked in muslim league flags & used to ferry its workers. They even damaged the petrol pump that supplied them and murdered its proprietor. This man Ispahani was a devout muslim and had even participated & made fiery speeches at the jalsa at Octerlony Maidan.
The great massacre of Calcutta has many tales of such brutality, that no sane man can read them & keep his sanity. It beaks my heart to write some of them here. BUT these stories need to be told for they are not simple stories. They are the tales of the dead and forgotten. The Hindus were betrayed – by leaders they followed, the government they voted for, the Police who were supposed to protect them. They were mostly, betrayed by the effete Gandhian philosophy of one sided Ahinsa. MK Gandhi’s version of Ahinsa would have the Hindus to just lay down and die instead of picking weapons to protect themselves.
What did MK Gandhi do in the aftermath of the riots? NOTHING – he sat on indefinite fast. The muslims did not care too much for his brand of politics, so all that these fasts did was, it forced Hindus to keep quite, not retaliate against the brutal massacre. The man even went ahead and asked Hindu women to consume poison if raped by muslim (Strangely asking Hindu women to do violence unto themselves but not oppose or harm the muslim rapist by trying to protect themselves from rape) He asked Hindus to not pick up weapons and keep following the tenets of his version of one sided Ahinsa.
MK Gandhi, in his naivety or something else, went around Calcutta with HS Suhrawardy – the Butcher of Bengal. He preached non violence to Hindus, in company of the man who instigated their genocidal massacre. He did not go to any muslim areas as they had refused to listen to anything Gandhi had to say.
à suivre dans la partie 3 : Dacca’s Date with Death
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