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In the year of 1946 Muhammad Ali Jinnah the
then President of the Muslim League called for Direct Action Day in demand for a separate Muslim homeland. That led to the shameful event of Great Calcutta
Killings where thousands of Hindus and Muslims were killed in riots. It led to
the anti-Hindu movement and hatred.
In Bengal province, it was the government of
Muslim League under the guidance of Husein Shahy Suhrawardy. As Jinnah openly
provocateur Muslims to wage war and hatred against Hindus, Suhrawardy did
nothing to maintain harmony and peace in the City of Joy.
After that Noakhali riots took place these
are a series of loot, rapes abductions and forcible conversions of Hindus in the
hands of Muslims happened during the months of October-November 1946.
Noakhali is a district in the Chittagong division
in erstwhile British India and was a Muslim predominant place historically.
According to estimates around 5000 people were killed and 40000- 50000 Hindus
were forcibly converted. Loot, arson, and rapes were rampant and many Hindus
were held captive in specific villages.
These all started in the day of 10 October 1946
in the day of Kojagori Lakshmi Puja and
went on for a week. The Mastermind of this whole incident was Sarowar Huseini a
former legislator of Krishak Praja party who started gathering and provoking Muslim
masses through hate speeches and called for an attack on Hindus on this day.
Hundreds of Hindu women were raped and 50000-75000
people were forced to take shelter in camps in Comilla, Chandpur, and Agartala.
Thousands remained marooned in Muslim
dominated villages. They were forced to sign papers stating that they were converting
to Islam at their free will so that no one can trace these forcible conversions.
Even to get out of the villages Hindu people needed
permits from the Muslim guards of the village. The rampage continued and the government did nothing to control the situation. These people were also forced to pay a subscription to Muslim League membership and pay jizyah to the imams.
The situation was so critical that they were
forced to wear Muslim caps all day and when the officials visited they were told
to take off them so that officials couldn’t understand the gravity of the
situation.
The situation couldn't be controlled and Hindu
exodus continued where these Hindu refugees were subjected to poverty and deprivation Mahatma Gandhi visited the place to control
the situation and went on for a fast. He
lived there for four months but nothing changed. There remained underlying tension
in the minds of Hindus and they remained unwilling to move to the villages.
Gandhi's peace mission totally failed and when Gandhi left there was a pure sense
of lawlessness all over the Noakhali district.
Government officials visited and tried to
cover up the incident by citing that only 500 people died out of the massacre.
After all this, partition happened and these Hindu
refugees migrated to Assam and Calcutta and took shelter in refugee camps after independence.
Written By- Bodhiswatta Mukherjee
Edited By - N. Nargis Fathima
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