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Noakhali Riots of 1946 – The Incident Which Changed Everything for the Hindus!

Introduction

October, whenever one thinks of it, it brings the charming images of floret lotus, the smell of incense from the Durga Puja pandals in Bengal, idols of Maa Durga scattering her divine halo over the devotees with the Laxmi puja and Diwali following up. This month of festivity, colors, and light fill the pounding heart of the Hindus with glory and passion. But amidst the festivities, recollection of this month invokes memories from the past when Hindus were fighting for their lives, not from the Britishers but their own people just when India was about to break the shackles of long-term bondage. The country was about to see the light of independence drowning the Hindus of Noakhali (present Bangladesh) into an eternal phase of darkness. Marking the date to be 10th of October, 1946, on the eve of independence, several districts in Bengal saw the brutality of the Muslim community against the Hindus in the districts of the Chittagong Division of Bengal (now in Bangladesh) which includes Noakhali district and Tipperah district covering an area of 2 thousand square miles. This heart-melting massacre, which targeted mainly the Hindu minority population started on 10 October 1946, and this was the day of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja. It continued unabated for almost a week. It is estimated that more than 5,000 were killed and thousands were forcibly converted to Islam.

Reflections from the past

The horror of the Noakhali riots is fresh in the hearts of Hindus even after 75 years of partition. Muslims participated in organized massacres with the leaders of the Muslim League fanning the fire of anger with their provocative speeches. The Muslim leaders of the League left no stone unturned to incite the riots to bring the proposal of partition into a reality. Muslim mobs primarily began targeting local Hindus and brutally killing them with heinous weapons and finally started slaughtering Hindus indiscriminately across Noakhali. They did not stop to mass killings, cases of abduction, mass rape of Hindu women, looting of households along with forced conversions became a common event in the area for more than a month. Young girls were raped by Jihadi Muslim men who preferred calling them a squad member of “Miyar Fauz”. Married women were forced to remove their sankha and sindoor and offered as a treat to the rioters. Numerous men were beheaded for trying to protect the dignity of their women. Scheduled Caste Hindus were attacked in the Ramganj police station area in Noakhali, their houses were looted and set on fire, and were being forcibly converted to Islam. Instances of cattle being slaughtered and thrown inside the Mandirs worshipped by Hindus became a daily event. No help was offered from the officials who were witnessing the wiping out of the people leaving a Noakhali soaked in the blood of the Hindus and tears of our women.

On mass genocide

Investigation proved that the whole scheme of this mass genocide was premeditated and planned. The attackers used petrol to set the houses on fire. In the remote island of Sandwip, which had no motor cars, petrol was imported from the mainland to set the houses on fire and hence confirmed the premeditated nature of the riot.

Though the recorded number of killings counted up to 5000 by the hooligans of Miyar Fauj the unrecorded ones are uncountable. Almost 3.5 lakhs were forced to convert to Islam. Needless to mention that women were raped in hundreds. And thousands of shops were vandalized along with innumerable burnt houses. Hindus ran off to different districts to save their lives and preserve the dignity of their women abandoning their households which were later occupied by the local Muslims. With the growing atrocities over the Hindus from October till the end of November, no relief or help came from the neighbouring areas as the majority was the Muslims. Everyone in and around Noakhali participated in the heedless butchery of the Hindus, some actively, and some silently. Nobody was there to hear the sky-breaking cries of the Hindu wives, sisters, and daughters while being raped by groups of Muslim men. Nobody heard the weeping of our children whose parents were butchered in front of their eyes leaving them orphaned for a reason they never realized. And relief came after the Muslims satisfied their appetite for revenge and vengeance. When the tension got reduced to a certain level, help came along with the scavengers who came to relish the bodies in bits and pieces scattered all over the land.

Aftermath

As a consequence of the whole riot, people got informed about the incident through newspapers. This was the time when most of the social and political organizations from India came for relief activities. The organizations that extended their helping hands were Bharat Sevashram Sangha, INC, the Communist Party of India, Hindu Mahasabha, the Indian National Army of Bose, Arya Samaj, etc. but normalcy could not be confirmed until the partition of Bengal. Gandhi visited the affected areas to spread his message of non-violence and pleaded with the rioters to stop the mass brutality. Although he failed in his objective, his presence brought in some calm but could not restore peace. On the other side, police personnel were attacked when the few Hindu families that were left were escorted to safe houses. As soon as the news of Noakhali reached all over the country, Ashutosh Lahiri, the General Secretary of Hindu Mahasabha, went to Chandpur without further delay. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, and Pandit Narendranath Das, along with other workers, went to Comilla and entered the sensitive areas with military escorts.

On 20th October, a meeting of the Chattogram Mahila Sangha presided over by Nellie Sengupta, passed a resolution that the organization would work for the relief and recovery of the abducted Hindu women in Noakhali. The Noakhali Relief Committee was formed with the resolution of providing relief and rehabilitation to the dispossessed and victimized Hindu women. Even after all these operations, Hindu families could not return to their homes for months out of fear. Although the migration of people stopped after relief measures were organized, it started on a larger scale after the partition of the country was announced. This time, the refugee influx was into the border of Assam, Tripura, and the areas that became present in West Bengal. Later an ordinance was passed by the government of Bengal prohibiting the press from publishing any information in public related to the incident. The government tried to cover up the whole incident by suppressing any kind of provocation that can increase religious tension. And the government also denied shouldering any responsibility for the riot to escape criticism.

Linking the present with the past

Innumerable riots took place even after the Noakhali incident where Hindus were killed in masses. Even now whenever Hindus are affected in any corner of the world the burning fire of Noakhali creeps into the mind and boils the blood of the Hindus. The recent incident that took place in Comilla district of Bangladesh where Durga Puja pandals were vandalized, temples were demolished instigating fury among the Hindus living in Bangladesh bring back the images of Noakhali into the mind. It’s not new that the religious tolerance of the Hindus is taken for granted. But as the Hindus believe –

“Yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata
Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam
Dharmasangsthapanarthay sambhabami yuge yuge”
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4,

Verse 7-8

Hindus also believe that we can protect our Dharma whenever calamity befalls us. So, let us all walk in the path of Dharma without any prejudice in heart and also not forget the sacrifices of Hindu men and women who suffered and whose blood reeked in the air of Noakhali till date.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noakhali_riotshttps://hindugenocide.com/islamic-jihad/noakhali-massacre-of-1946-5000-hindus-killed-3-5l-forced-to-convert-to-islam/

https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/this-day-in-history-oct10/

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