The unabated political violence in the State of West Bengal brings back the horrific memories of many gory incidents- the most prominent among them being ‘The Great Calcutta Killings’. Such brutal incidents need to be remembered so that we do not repeat our mistakes. Known as the ‘Direct Action Day’ or ‘The Great Calcutta Killings’ 16th August (1946) poised itself next to perhaps the Country’s Independence on 15th August (1947), a year later; the crux of the nationalistic struggle which finally led to India’s Partition. But unlike the latter, the former stands for an unprecedented hatred and bloodshed in the history of this country. “larkelenge Pakistan” (we will fight to get Pakistan)—the sentence spoken by a Muslim in Kolkatta (then Calcutta) on the morning of 16th August serves as ominous harbinger of what the Day would bring with itself.
It was on 16th August in 1946 that Jinnah declared Direct Action Day and called for Muslims all over the country ‘to suspend all business’. This was to pressurize the British Government to relent to the Muslim League’s demand of dividing the country on the basis of religion, thereby allowing the creation of Muslim dominated Pakistan. Direct Action Day marked the beginning of several acts of violence spread over a couple of days in what came to be known as the ‘Week of the Long Knives’. Members of one community rounded up members of another community and murdered them in cold blood using swords, knives, cleavers, guns and metal rods. The Day was thus forever etched in history as the Day which saw the surfacing of the most primeval of human instinct of violence in which were murdered thousands of Hindus.
In its Lahore Resolution in 1940, the Muslim League had demanded that Muslim-majority areas of India in the north-west and the east be constituted as ‘Independent State’. The Resolution passed on 23rd March 1940 said “…it is the considered view of this Session of the All-India Muslim League that no constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is designed on the following basic principle, namely, that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which Muslims are numerically in a majority, as in the North-Western and Eastern Zones of India, should be grouped to constitute Independent State in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.”
The Muslim League passed a resolution on 29th July 1946 declaring 16 August as a ‘Direct Action Day’ to be observed all over India as a day of protest. Immediately after the adoption of this resolution, Jinnah in the concluding session of the Council of Muslim League, declared, “Today we bid goodbye to constitutional methods… we have also forged a pistol and are in a position to use it.” On 31 July in Press Conference, Jinnah said that while both the British and the Congress were armed in their own way, one with weapons and the other with a threat of mass struggle, the Muslim League felt the need to forge its own methods and be prepared for a struggle to enforce its demand for Pakistan. He declined to discuss the details of the proposed Direct Action saying, “I am not prepared to tell you that now.”
Since Muslim League ruled over Bengal, it was chosen as place for demonstrating Direct Action. A Council of Action was formed; it choked out the Program. A leaflet containing a special prayer for this Direct Action was brought out. It announced, “ten crores of Indian Muslims who through bad luck had become salves of Hindus and the British would be starting a Jihad in the very month of Ramzan.” Another leaflet with Jinnah’s picture having a sword in hand was brought out, “We Muslims have had the crown and have ruled. Be ready and take your swords… O Kafer! ... your doom is not far and the general massacre will come!”
During the Direct -Action Program from 15th to 19th August, massive anti-Hindu riots took place in the city of Calcutta. These riots are the most notorious single massacre of the 1946-47 period during which large scale violence occurred in many parts of the country. These riots spread like a chain reaction, rapidly transferring contagion from Calcutta to the rest of East Bengal. The worst affected was Noakhali, where almost every Hindu was destroyed. The communal riots also ravaged Bihar, United Provinces, Punjab and the North-Western Frontier Province.
The occurrence of the mishap had a significant impact on Indian polity. The massive communal violence triggered by the Direct Action Day made several Congress leaders feel that the only way to get rid of Jinnah was to go for Partition of India. The British also came to the realization that they had lost any remaining vestiges of control so they started speeding up their exit strategy. The official records of the British indicate that their attitude had changed in wake of the riots and they had pushed for Gandhi and Nehru to concede to Muslim League’s demands. In the aftermath of Calcutta killings and other communal riots triggered by the observance of the Direct Action Day, Gandhi and Jinnah met to finalize Gandhi-Jinnah Formula. The Formula stated “The Congress does not challenge, and accepts that the Muslim League is now the authoritative representative of an overwhelming majority of the Muslims of India. As such and in accordance with democratic principles, they alone have an unquestionable right to represent the Muslims of India.” This major change in Congress’s attitude failed to reach a peaceful solution. Gandhi-Jinnah formula was followed by the Atlee- Wavell-Jinnah- Nehru Conference on 3-6 December 1946 in London which again failed. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel also wrote to Stafford Cripps on 15 December 1946, “You called the League delegation there to (London, December 1946) at a time when there was some realization that violence is a game at which both parties can play and the mild Hindu also, when driven to desperation can retaliate as brutally as a fanatic Muslim. Just when the time for settlement was reached Jinnah got the invitation, and he was able to convince Muslims once again that he had got more concessions by creating trouble and violence… but I will only say that if strong action had been allowed to be taken here, when Direct Action Day was fixed as the Day of demonstration in Calcutta, all this colossal loss of life and property and bloodcurdling events would not have happened. The Viceroy here took the contrary view, and every action of his since the great Calcutta killings has been in the direction of encouraging the Muslim League and putting pressure on us towards appeasement.”
As a matter of fact, the tide could not be turned after the communal riots of 1946 which were an outcome of the Direct Action Day. British Prime Minister, Atlee declared in the afternoon on 20th February 1947 before British Parliament that British rule would end on “a date not later than June, 1948.” If Nehru and Jinnah could be reconciled by then, power would be transferred to “some form of Central Government for British India.” If not, “they would hand over authority “in such other way as may seem most reasonable and in the best interests of the Indian people.” This was followed by the most unfortunate Partition of India.
Political violence has thus been an integral part of Bengal’s history. The causes for the narratives of this political bloodshed can be traced in the genealogy of the Political Parties who have ruled over West Bengal and the majority inhabitants of a particular community. The recent and ongoing political upheaval in the light of the ruling Trinamool Congress Party to retain hold of power it snatched from the Left almost a decade ago.
By Dr Suresh Kumar Agrawal
(The writer is Professor & Head, Department of English, Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner.)
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