1/n Exactly 74 years back (10/10/1946) transpired the pogrom called the #NoakhaliHinduGenocide

In this thread I put forth the related details.

The truth freezes the tears of eyes.

The bad times of Hindus that had begun largely in Bengal from August 16, 1946, Calcutta.

2/n I must begin with basics around Direct Action Day.

The #DirectActionDay had set the Anti-Hindu Sentiments wave really big in Bengal.

the 18th day of #Ramadan was chosen for #DirectActionDay. It was chosen as the day because of significance of the Battle of Badr.

3/n July 1946, Jinnah held a press conference at his home in Bombay. He proclaimed that the Muslim league was "preparing to launch a struggle" and that they "have chalked out a plan".

Source: Halfway to Freedom: A Report on the New India by Margaret Bourke-White, pg 26

4/n On the next page of same book, Jinnah is quoted of talking about, "direct action" and warning of "bringing trouble".

5/n I refer to the same source as above.

The next day Jinnah announced 16/8/1946 as the #DirectActionDay and said- "We will either have a divided India divided or a destroyed India."

6/n Jinnah had warned of every possible unconstitutional steps on #DirectActionDay .

The working committee of Muslim League ensured to explain DAD to every Muslim throughout the country.

Source: Great Divide; Britain, India, Pakistan by V.Hodson, pg 166

7/n Hodson has also referred to Report to Viceroy Lord Wavell (The British Library IOR: L/P&J/8/655 f.f. 95, 96–107), to mention, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, requesting Governor of Bengal Sir Frederick Burrows to declare a public holiday on DAD.

8/n It indeed was an evil intention. Recall, Jinnah mentioning, destruction of India & Unconstitutional methods to be adopted on Direct Action Day.

Which further gets reinforced by Suhrawardy's claim on speech on 16/8/1946

Source of Snippet:John Keay. India: A history. p. 505.

9/n Suhrawardy in his speech at 2:00 PM on August 16, 1946, had clearly mentioned that he has made arrangements to keep police and army away.

The same has been mentioned in Frederick Burrows' Report to Viceroy Lord Wavell.

10/n What gets more interesting that the Communists of Bengal including Jyoti Basu had taken Anti-Hindu stands.

13/8/1946, he had given a press statement which expressed support to Muslims. Read this thread to know how Communists participated in riots. https://twitter.com/Aabhas24/status/1307220497491357697?s=20

11/n 13/8/1946 "Star of India", Muslim League's Mouthpiece had issued detailed instruction to all Muslims for the DAD.

It had clearly inflamed Religious Sentiment and war for it by talking of Battle of Badr.

Source: India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat

12/n The same notice had also called for complete hartal and general strike in all spheres of civic, commercial & industrial life except essential services.

13/n The notice proclaimed that processions would start from multiple parts of Calcutta, Howrah, Hooghly, Metiabruz and 24 Parganas, & would converge at the foot of the Ochterlony Monument where a joint mass rally presided over by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy would be held.

14/n The Muslim League branches were advised to depute 3 workers in every mosque in every ward to explain the League's action plan before Juma prayers. Moreover, special prayers were arranged in every mosque on Friday after Juma prayers for the freedom of Muslim India.

15/n The notice drew divine inspiration from the Quran, emphasizing on the coincidence of #DirectActionDay with the holy month of Ramzaan, claiming that the upcoming protests were an allegory of Muhammad's conquest of Mecca & establishment of the kingdom of Heaven in Arabia.

16/n Source for 12/n to 15/n : The Star of India, 12 Aug. 1946 (enclosed in S.J. Fletcher, American Consul General, to Secy. of State, Despatch No. 1033, 20 Aug. 1946, 845.00/8-2246 CS/HH, SDCF)

It is very clear from the sources that Pakistan Movement was a war against Kafirs.

17/n It is tough to ignore that Suhrawardy was indeed boss of goons and led Calcutta Underworld with hatred for Hindus.

Source: A Letter written to a senior British officer based at Fort William after the ‘Great Calcutta Killings’ by a senior intelligence operative

18/n One can read the whole letter here. It is brief report about #DirectActionDay which poits out:
1)Hindus had heavy losses
2)It seemed a plan to not let army control the situation http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/wo216-6621.jpg

19/n Suhrawardy during his speech on 16/8/1946 gave lots of provocative slogans. One of them was-“Maar ke lenge Pakistan, lad ke lenge Pakistan, le kar rahenge Pakistan, Allahu Akhbar, nara-i-takhbir”.(We will kill & fight to create Pakistan,we are determined to create Pakistan.)

20/n @tathagata2 is one scholar who has well documented plight of Bangali Hindus during those riots of 1946-7. Below I quote from his writings:

21/n “The constables of the Calcutta Police were, as a rule, recruited according to what was known as the A.B.C.D. rule – which meant that they were drawn all from the districts of Arrah, Balia, Chhapra and Deoria. ++

22/n ++These are districts around the boundary of the United Provinces and Bihar, in the area generally known as Bhojpur. People from this area are well-built, tough and loyal – almost ideal police constable material. There was just one problem that Suhrawardy had with them. ++

23/n ++They were all devout Hindus, and moreover, worshippers of Lord Hanuman, the Hindu God who personifies strength, manliness and undying loyalty to his master, Lord Rama. They, therefore, could not be trusted to carry out the designs that Suhrawardy had in mind.
++

24/n ++“In order to get round this problem Suhrawardy turned to Niaz Mohammed Khan, the ICS officer who, while District Magistrate of Midnapore, had carried out (Bengal Governor) Herbert’s nefarious designs of crackdown on the participants in the Quit India movement.

25/n ++The idea was to Muslimise the Calcutta Police. Why the Calcutta Police in particular? Because Calcutta had already been chosen by the Muslim League as the theater of the bloodbath that had been scheduled on 16th August 1946, in what they would call ‘Direct Action’.

26/n ++“Niaz Mohammed Khan, under Suhrawardy’s orders journeyed to the Northwest to recruit Punjabi Muslim and Pathan constables for the Calcutta Police.

27/n ++Pathans are Pashto-speaking Muslim tribesmen inhabiting the barren hills of the frontier, and are divided into a large number of tribes such as Afridi, Mohmand, Waziri, Khattak, Yusufzai etc. ++

28/n Blood feuds among them between different tribes or different groups in the same tribe are still very common. These tribes are by nature extremely fierce and cruel – in fact they had been extensively used in British jails in India for application of third-degree methods.

29/n ++Under the benign leadership of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar party a considerable number of them had become mellowed and come closer to the Indian mainstream, but this had made little difference to the people away from towns like Peshawar and Kohat. ++

30/n There was another feature that should be mentioned. Because their womenfolk were all kept in strict purdah– the Pathans are first cousins of the present-day Afghan Taliban–these rural Pathans had no respect for women, nor were they accustomed to seeing women out in the open.

31/n I have quoted @tathagata2 till 30/n

As per the accounts of British police and intelligence officers, special coupons for gallons of petrol were issued in the names of Muslim League ministers, & this petrol was used to make petrol bombs by Muslim League goons.

32/n The reports also state that -One month’s food ration was withdrawn and stocked to feed 10,000 Muslim League musclemen and goons.

33/n While Jinnah wanted a destroyed or divided India (quoted tweet), Hindu Mahasabha always batted for undivided India. This things becomes evident from documentation by Suranjan Das in his book Communal Riots in Bengal, 1905–1947 https://twitter.com/Aabhas24/status/1314872404741562369?s=20

34/n Suranjan Das writes, "During the pre-riot days the Hindu Mahasabha organized a number of rallies in Dacca to advocate the cause of Akhand Hindusthan and condemn the recent legislative measures of the Huq ministry. Akhand Hindusthan was a plea for a united India."

35/n As per eye-witness accounts trucks came down Harrison Road in Calcutta, carrying Muslim men armed with brickbats and bottles as weapons to attack Hindu-owned shops.

An attempt was clear to kill Hindus.

Source: Margaret Bourke-White, Halfway to Freedom

36/n Muslim League ensured obstacles to Police and they sat in Control Room.

Source: "A City Feeding on Itself: Testimonies and Histories of 'Direct Action' Day" by Debjani Sengupta

37/n There is abundant to write about #DirectActionDay but I without wasting much tweets will move towards the details of #Noakhali_Hindu_genocide from 38/n but I think the tweets till 36/n has set it clear that what was pumping up that happened 74 years ago.

38/n After the pogrom of Hindus in and around #DirectActionDay, anti-Hindu sentiments was very high in the land of Bangal.

Kali Prasanna Mukherjee has documented in his book "Behind The Partition Of The Country", pg 36 about anti-Hindu Poems that began post DAD.

39/n I'm using "Proceedings of the Bengal Legislative Assembly (PBLA). Vol 77. Bengal Legislative Assembly." as the source for tweets (39/n-45/n)

August 29, 1946, Eid al-Fitr, Group of Hindu fishermen were severely assaulted with deadly weapons while fishing in the Feni River.

40/n They sell propaganda of Pogrom by Hindus on a pious day like Eid al-Fitr but documentation says otherwise.

Devi Prasanna Guha, the son of a Congress Leader was murdered while one of his brothers and a servant were assaulted.

41/n The Congress office in front of his house was burnt. Chandra Karmakar was killed near Jamalpur. Jamini Dey was killed near Ghoshbag. Ashu Sen was badly assaulted at Tajumiarhat. Rajkumar Choudhury was severely assaulted on his way home.

The pogrom against Hindus had begun.

42/n Apart from the 7 Hindu families of Kanur Char at Karpara, the house of Jadav Majumdar and looted with properties worth Rs. 1500. Nakul Majumdar was assaulted. The houses of Prasanna Chakraborty , Nabin Nath & Radha Charan were looted too. Nath family of Latipur was injured.

43/n Temples too were attacked on what they call the pious day of Eid al-Fitr.

They butchered a calf and threw it inside The temple of the family deity of Harendra Ghosh of Raipur & desecrated it too.

Shame!

44/n They used the same model for the Shiva temple of Dr. Jadunath Majumdar of Chandipur. They desecrated the household shrines of Nagendra Majumdar and Rajkumar Choudhury of Dadpur & stole the Murtis of diety.

45/n The images of Durga Devi in temples of Ishwar Chandra Pathak of Kethuri, Kedareshwar Chakraborty of Merkachar, Ananta Kumar De of Angrapara and Prasanna Mohan Chakraborty of Tatarkhil were mutilated.

They were behaving no different than Marauder Ghori. Shame!

46/n 74 years ago!

According to Gov Burrows, The provocative speech of Gholam Sarwar was the root of violence at Bazar in Ramganj.

The business of Surendra N Bose & Rajendra Choudhury, the former president of the Noakhali Bar & a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader was attacked.

47/n The source for 46/n:
Communalism in Bengal: From Famine To Noakhali, 1943-47
By Rakesh Batabyal, pg 277

48/n Now, I'll talk about eye-witness explanation of what happened there.

The mob was shouting: we want Hindu Blood, we want Sanyasi's head, we want Rai Saheb's head.

Source: Communalism in Bengal: From Famine To Noakhali, 1943-47 by Rakesh Batabyal, pg 277

49/n Golam Sarwar was himself leading a mob of 700 Muslims. They were shouting: "Hindur rakta chai..."

Isn't it relating similarly to #TahirHussain leading in #AntiCAARiots of 2020?

Source: Communalism in Bengal: From Famine To Noakhali, 1943-47 by Rakesh Batabyal, pg 278

50/n They were literally shouting: Hindur rakta chahi...

The Muslims of Noakhali were blood thristy.

51/n As per eye witness accounts the Rioters were persuading to get people out of house by assuring safety at oath of Quran. But...they cheat the holy Quran too to kill Hindus but burn countries (Sweden) if a Kafir burns Quran... Hypocrites

Source: Communalism in Bengal, 278

52/n Rajen Babu's chopped head gave them enormous joy. Why not, there was also a special reward for his "head".

Source: Communalism in Bengal, pg 279

I just feel how much joy would they have drawn by making 400 stabs to #AnkitSharma

53/n On 11 January 1947, the corpses of the Roychowdhurys were exhumed from a swamp in Azimpur and brought before Mahatma Gandhi's prayer assembly at Lamchar High School.

Weren't the #TahirHussain doing the same practice ?

@KapilMishra_IND , they never changed!

54/n Does it not remind you of #AntiCAARiots preparation by #TahirHussain gang?
@advmonikaarora note the modus operandi (snippet).

55/n 14-10-1946, Jogendra Chandra Das, the MLA from Chandpur, Tipperah, wrote to Jogendra Nath Mandal stating that thousands of Scheduled Caste Hindus had been attacked in Ramganj police station area in Noakhali.

56/n Their houses were being looted and set on fire and they were being forcibly converted to Islam.

Can you observe, dalits were targetted exclusively.

Source for 55-56/n: Bharat Bibhajan by Bipad Bhanjan Biswas p. 44.

57/n The use of kerosene and petrol indicates the premeditated and organized nature of the attacks because the attacking crowd, as one victim informed, had "an abundant stock".

Source: Communalism in Bengal: From Famine To Noakhali, 1943-47, By Rakesh Batabyal, Pg 274

58/n Revolutionary Lalmohan Sen, a communist was killed when he tried to resist a Muslim mob from killing the Hindus.

Please note he was a COMMUNIST.

Sandip Bandopadhyay has mentioned it in "Itihasher Dike Fire Chhechallisher Danga"

59/n Even Ashoka Gupta, a Gandhian reported that during Mahatma Gandhi's visit to the area, at least 2000 Hindus were forced to change their religion to Islam, 6 were forced to marry by force & one was murdered on Oct 10, 1946

You may read the report here http://www.india-seminar.com/2002/510/510%20ashoka%20gupta-noakhali.htm

60/n The women were stripped of their shankha and sindur and forced to recite the kalima. The women saw the worst of the atrocities.

This is An affidavit attesting to atrocities on Hindu women.

One who understands Bangali, may be able to read it.

61/n MA Khan states that approx 95% of Hindus were forcibly converted into Islam. (He also states that approx 100,000 Hindu & Sikh women were raped & similar number enslaved in Partition Riots).

Source: Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism, and Slavery

62/n Edward Skinner Simpson reported that 22550 cases of forced conversions in areas of Faridganj, Chandpur & Hajiganj in the district of Tipperah were observed.

63/n Dr. Taj-ul-Islam Hashmi mentioned that the number of Hindu women raped & converted was perhaps many times the number of Hindus killed.

64/n G. D. Khosla, mentions in his book "Stern Reckoning" the entire Hindu population of Noakhali was robbed of all they possessed and then forcibly converted to Islam.

65/n Suhrawardy, stated in the assembly while answering a question from Dhirendranath Datta, that there had been 9895 cases of forcible conversion in Tipperah. (though it was larger, 62-63/n)

Source: Communalism in Bengal: From Famine To Noakhali, 1943-47 By Rakesh Batabyal

66/n Adding this important thread by @From_Himalaya , which documents excerpts from diary of Nirmal Kumar Basu, secretary of MK Gandhi. It speaks about forced conversions, rapes and massacres.

DIsgusting! https://twitter.com/From_Himalaya/status/1314807440391766017?s=20