Lets Kill Gandhi

by Gandhi, Tushar A.

  On 2 September, the Congress ministers took oath of office with Gandhi's blessings who had returned to Delhi and was again staying at his camp in a tenement of the Harijan Colony. In the early hours of the morning, he scribbled a short message for the members of the new government to remind them that they must not forget to redeem the pledges which they had made when the Congress was in the wilderness. His 'instrument of instructions' was brief and included this sentence: 'You have been in my thoughts since the prayer. Abolish the Salt Tax. Remember the Dandi March. Unite Hindus and Muslims. Remove untouchability. Take to Khadi'.

  While addressing the gathering after the evening prayer, Gandhi spoke at length about the significance of the day and the responsibilities that came with it. He added that India had long waited for this and called it a red-letter day in the country's history. He congratulated the British government for having resolved an age-old issue by peaceful settlement.

  Gandhi wanted to return to Sevagram Ashram as soon as the interim government was installed but the newly sworn in ministers prevailed upon him to stay in Delhi and guide them. And so he stayed on in Delhi through the hot September month when the city is prone to dust storms and sweltering heat. Watching all that he had fought for frittered away, corrupted and destroyed, unfortunately by those whom he had trusted the most, Gandhi prepared himself to face the storm which his unfailing instinct had warned him about.

  While the political scenario in Delhi was becoming more and more complex, the newly appointed Cabinet found that they were systematically being obstructed in their work by the colonial administration. Wavell was still desperately trying to woo Jinnah to get him to participate in the interim government. He asked the Congress to keep some of the Cabinet posts vacant for the League. One of the posts he wanted to retain for his favourites was the Home ministry. This almost lead to the resignation of the Congress ministry; Patel had always made his preference for the Home ministry known, asking him to vacate it was akin to asking for his resignation. But hanging on to their favourite ministries cost the Congress, and subsequently the nation, dearly. It was thus that the Finance ministry fell into the lap of the Muslim League. The Congress had given the treasury of the nation into the hands of a party which wanted to break the nation at any cost. The harassment that the Congress ministers subsequently faced was one of the reasons for their ultimate capitulation on the issue of the partition of India.

  After the interim government was sworn in, Wavell's partiality towards the League became very apparent; he kept cajoling Jinnah to agree to join the interim government and kept entertaining their demands. Finally, Gandhi expressed the opinion that the time had come when the viceroy needed to be counselled by a more competent constitutional expert. This mildly worded advice was an undisguised hint that the soldier-diplomat was lacking in constitutional legalities. After prolonged negotiations and many concessions, the Muslim League finally agreed to be a part of the government.

  Events, meanwhile, were unfolding rapidly in other parts of the country. The ghost of Direct Action Day was coming back to haunt the nation. As the Muslim League joined the interim government, the first reports about the horror unleashed in Noakhali, the marshy district of Bengal, started trickling in. The reports were several days late, but when they were publicised they horrified the entire country. The Muslim League had systematically carried out a vicious campaign in the interiors where Muslim majorities existed: Hindus were depicted as enemies and the Muslim populace was exhorted to prepare to get Pakistan by force. Several inflammatory pamphlets and a map of 'Pakistanised' India were widely circulated. India was renamed 'dinia', the land of believers, and was divided into half a dozen 'stans'— Faruqistan, Osmanistan, Bangistan, and so on. Pakistan was shown sprawling across the west, east and south. Hindustan was shown as a tiny patch in U.P, and the rest of the land was depicted as corridors linking the various units of Pakistan. The seas surrounding India were 'Pakistanised' too. Through fantastic theories and fiction, the existence of Pakistan was linked with the Atlantis legend. The Muslim National Guards were reorganised and armed and preparations for avenging Calcutta were on a military footing. Reports of lawlessness and near anarchy in eastern Bengal appeared in the newspapers with alarming regularity. A letter published in the Statesman of 12 September, ostensibly written by a Muslim said: 'When I was travelling on August 14 [two days before the Direct Action Day], I saw some Muslims freely selling long knives at the railway stations. When after the events at Calcutta I was again travelling by train on August 26, a Muslim gentleman occupied a first class compartment next to my second class. At every stop he incited the Muslims to butcher the "Mirjafri" [traitors] non-League Muslims and Hindus alike and illustrated this advice by gestures, the fanatic was a high ranking Leaguer'.

  Kamini Kumar Dutta, a member of the Legislative Council from Comilla in East Bengal, issued a press statement, published in the Amrit Bazar Patrika, 19 September 1946: 'What has alarmed us and the minority community in East Bengal, is the perilous, narrow margin which now divides order from anarchy in East Bengal. Muslim League propagandists are spreading exaggerated stories of alleged brutal atrocities said to have been committed by the Hindus upon the Muslims in Calcutta and this propaganda ... is making the situation perilous to maintenance of law and order. To our knowledge a highly placed Muslim Official was heard declaring that thousands of dead bodies will be seen ... strewn over the country in no time. Once there is a large scale outbreak in any part of East Bengal, conflagration will spread throughout'. Another report in the Statesman dated 30 September said: 'Life and property are unsafe in Eastern Bengal. Gangsters operate on railway lines, stop trains at places of their choice, rob and carry away the booty by boats or bullock carts before the news reaches the next station'. Shaheed Suhrawardy, the premier of Bengal, admitted that his government was aware of the situation in eastern Bengal. 'Yes, I have seen reports of this unfortunate communal tension in East Bengal. We must all deplore it,' he said. But the government did nothing.

  Pyarelal wrote in Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase Part I, Vol. 13: 'The Frankenstein of communalism had burst its bonds but its keeper's concern was not that it had escaped but that its first performance was not up to the mark'.

  Gandhi's intuition had proved accurate. The fires of violence had been lit. Only time would tell how much of the country it would consume before it was brought under control.

  NOAKHALI BURNS

  Noakhali lay in one of the most remote and inaccessible parts of the Gangetic delta; in the southwestern part of the Chittagong Division in East Bengal, now known as Bangladesh. It is crisscrossed by an intricate network of canals called khals. These waterways were the only means of transport; land transport was mainly over narrow footpaths and shanko, small rickety bridges built of bamboos over the khals. The region experienced heavy rainfall and messages would take long to reach the authorities. The soil was fertile with an abundance of coconut and betelnut palms, which formed a canopy through which sunlight struggled to penetrate. Banana, papaya, litchi, pineapple, citrus fruits and mangoes grew in abundance. The water bodies teemed with fish. But behind the enchanting facade lurked danger. The hamlets were widely scattered and isolated from one another by thick jungles, fields of tall jute and countless water canals.

  East Bengal also had its share of economic divisions, which led to resentment. The Muslim majority largely comprised poor artisans and impoverished farm labourers, while the Hindu minority had educated middle class, rich traders and zamindars. Thus there was also an economic angle to the already vitiated religious situation that lead to what was, till then, one of the most brutal, systematic and planned communal massacres.

  It started on 10 October 1946. But for nearly a week there were no reports of the calamity in Noakhali. The first reports of disturbances in East Bengal were released to the press by the Bengal Press Advisory Committee on 14 October: 'Reports of organised hooliganism in the district of Noakhali have reached Calcutta. Riotous mobs with deadly weapons are raidi
ng villages, and looting, arson and murder are continuing since ... October 10, on a very large scale. Forcible mass conversion, abduction of women and desecration of places of worship are also reported. Areas affected so far are reported to be over 200 square miles of the Sadar and Feni sub divisions. Approaches to the affected areas are being guarded by armed hooligans.

  'Among the large number of people reported to be murdered or burnt alive are the president of the District Bar with family, and a prominent Zamindar of the district. Inquiries at official sources in Calcutta revealed that the Military and armed police have been rushed to the affected areas, which comprise the entire Ramganj, parts of Begamganj, Lakshmipur, Raipur, Senbagh, Feni, Chagalanaiya and Sandwip thanas.'

  Another message informed that all movement to and from the affected areas were being closely guarded 'by hooligans, armed with deadly weapons'. The telegram also referred to 'the planned organisation behind this terrible carnage, arson and loot'. After a show of concern over the planned calamity executed by him and his party, Suhrawardy pleaded his inability to visit the affected areas since he had to rush to Darjeeling where the governor was holding a Cabinet Meeting. 'It seems odd,' commented the Statesman on 18 October, 'that, despite evidence of administrative breakdown in a part of the Province for weeks notoriously menaced by just this sort of catastrophe, there should have been no movement yet of Governor or Chief Minister to the point of catastrophe. The one remains in Darjeeling, the other has gone to join him there'.

  Within ten days the trouble spread to the northern parts and the neighbouring district of Tipperah. A reporter from the Statesman mentioned that for thirteen days 'about 120 villages in Ramganj, Lakshmipur, Begamganj and Senbagh thanas in Noakhali district, with a population of 90,000 Hindus and nearly 70 villages in Chandpur and Fraidganj thanas in Tipperah district, with a Hindu population of about 40,000 remained besieged by hooligans'. Inspector-General of Police, Taylor, stated that the hooligans 'were armed with guns and various types of other weapons and they were still defiant and not afraid to face the police and the military'. As the mob proceeded 'they cut telegraph wires, demolished bridges, dammed canals and damaged and barricaded roads, making ingress and egress to and from the invaded localities impossible'.

  The newly elected president of the Congress, Acharya Kripalani, accompanied by Sarat Chandra Bose and other Congress leaders, flew over the affected areas on 19 October. The plane flew at almost tree-top level to enable the leaders to get a clear view of the situation on the ground. They saw a mob demolishing a bridge, while groups of people could be seen gathered at strategic places. The chief minister, who flew with the group on their return, did not seem to be moved by the plight of his people; he was busy taking photographs of the burning villages.

  A picture of what was happening in the remote districts of eastern Bengal was soon emerging from reports of various official, unofficial and press sources. The Military Intelligence Branch in New Delhi received despatches according to which an ex-member of the Bengal Legislative Council, Mian Ghulam Sarwar, was the kingpin of the riotous mobs. He had systematically carried out a propaganda of hate; had provided arms and monetary inducements to the rampaging mobs, and was still spearheading the campaign against the Hindus in the districts of Noakhali and Tipperah. The authorities claimed that a warrant had been issued for his arrest but he had gone underground, while local eyewitnesses claimed that Sarwar was still actively leading the campaign of genocide.

  Some villagers did manage to escape, either by buying their way through or with the help of their neighbours. These refugees from the affected districts began arriving in Calcutta and other safe places in western Bengal and Bihar, carrying horrifying stories of the devastation. The country suddenly woke up to the situation in Noakhali. Now the Hindu fanatics got into the fray: cries for vengeance were heard at every shakha of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. The revenge-seekers were not going to the rescue of their co-religionists in Noakhali, but were headed for Bihar and Calcutta to wreak vengeance on the unsuspecting Muslim population there. But this was still some time in the future.

  What happened in Noakhali can be illustrated by a couple of accounts by the survivors. A young girl, the sole survivor of a well-known family from a village in Noakhali under the Ramganj police station, narrated the incident where her whole family was slaughtered. On the morning of 11 October, she said, a group of village people came to their house and threatened that if the householders did not contribute Rs. 500 to the fund of the local Muslim League, they would be murdered, their property looted and their houses burnt. The money was immediately paid. After a short while, a huge menacing crowd surrounded the house. One of the members of the family tried to pacify the mob, but before he could utter a word the leader wielding a dao, a heavy curved long knife, beheaded him. Then they attacked the eldest man in the house. After butchering him they seized his second son and placed him on the body of his father. His hysterical mother threw herself on her son and pleaded with the mob to spare him. The men beat the woman till she fainted and then attacked the son. The girl rushed out, clutching Rs. 400 in cash and gold ornaments, hoping to buy her father's life. The leader snatched the money and ornaments from the girl and chopped off her father's head.

  An editorial in the Statesman published on 25 October commented: Arson, looting, murder, abduction of women, forced conversions and forced marriages, are everywhere and by every investigator spoken of as the characteristics of the lawlessness. After the Calcutta catastrophe of August, there had been ample cause for strong precautions particularly on that very part of the map where renewed catastrophe has now occurred. Arrests of the miscreants seem to have been few. Energy has been miserably wanting somewhere'. Referring to the plea that a complete breakdown in communication was a major factor leading to a delay in restoring law and order, the report further added: 'It is not an adequate explanation for the public mind. It is bad country, but the hooligans manage to move about and the police have the general public to help them with information, they are not operating in Japanese occupied country during the war time'.

  Muriel Lester, the English pacifist, was in India at that time. On hearing about the catastrophe, she rushed to establish a relief centre in Noakhali. She sent back a report in the first week of November which was published in the Hindustan Standard on 6 November, which said: 'The worst of all was the plight of the women. Several of them had had to watch their husbands being murdered and then be forcibly converted and married to some of those responsible for the killings of their husbands and family. These women had a dead look. It was not despair, nothing so active as that. It was utter blankness.... The eating of beef and declaration of allegiance to Islam has been forced upon many thousands as a price for their lives.... Perhaps the only thing that can be quite positively asserted about this orgy of arson and violence is that it was not a spontaneous uprising of the villagers. However many goondas may live in Bengal, they are incapable of organising this campaign on their own initiative. Houses have been sprayed with petrol and burnt. Who supplied this rationed fuel? Who imported stirrup-pumps into this rural area? Who supplied the weapons?.... The goondas seem to think that they really are the rulers of this beautiful area of Bengal. One sees no sign of fear among those who had stood by and watched destruction, tyranny and aggression; anxiety as to the future punishment does not seem to exist'.

  'Shah Sayed Ghulam Sarwar Hussaini, Pir Saheb of Daria Sharif, village Shampur, Noakhali', as he was known among his followers, became the de facto dictator of Noakhali. He initiated some of the most barbaric attacks and massacres in the region. One of the thorns in his flesh was Rai Saheb Rajendralal Chowdhury of Chowdhurybadi, Karpara, president of the Noakhali Bar Association who had organised local defences against the growing lawlessness and thus earned the wrath of Sarwar. A few days prior to the outbreak of violence, a hermit from Bharat Sevashram, Trayambakananda, had come to Chowdhurybadi and stayed with Rai Saheb. The sadhu wanted to revive the practice of sitala puja in Hindu badis, h
ouseholds. The puja was performed by anointing the idol of the goddess with the blood of a freshly sacrificed goat. However, a rumour spread throughout the surrounding villages that the blood of a Muslim would be used at the next puja. On hearing this, Sarwar was a like a man possessed.

  On the morning of the 10th, Sarwar summoned Rai Bahadur; but suspecting foul play, the latter refused to go. At 8 am that same morning, Sarwar addressed a mob of several thousand gathered in Shampur Bazaar, and declared that he wanted the heads of Rai Saheb Rajendralal of Karpara and Sadhu Trayambakananda. He instigated the mob and let them lose in the bazaar. All the Hindu shops in the bazaar were looted and burnt and a temple was completely ravaged. The mob now divided itself into three gangs and went off in different directions. One group attacked Ramganj Bazaar, the other went towards Dasgharia Bazaar and destroyed the Thakur Mandir there. The third group attacked the kachcheheri, office, of Suren Bose, zamindar of Narayanpur. Suren Bose had been warned by a local police officer of the danger and advised to flee to safety that very morning, but he refused, saying, 'I do not want to leave my brethren behind.... I must ... face death with them'. When the mob reached his house he opened fire on the mob, but he was soon captured and hacked to death, along with five other members in the house. The house was then set on fire and the bodies were thrown into the inferno.

  The next morning, on the 11th, at about 8 am, Chowdhurybadi was attacked by a gang of forty to fifty rioters shouting 'Allah-o-Akbar', and in Bengali 'Hindur Rakta Chai', 'we seek the blood of Hindus'. Chowdhury was well prepared for an attack. He along with his son and some young men of the badi confronted the mob some distance away from the main house. In the fight that ensued three or four attackers were killed, and the rest fled. But within a few hours they returned, accompanied by a ten-thousand strong mob armed and baying for the blood of the Chowdhurys. Rajendralal's family members and other residents took refuge on the roof and barricaded themselves. One of his bodyguards, Kali Prasanna Raut, had positioned himself on the roof and opened fire, killing nearly thirty to forty attackers. When the firing ceased, the attackers returned and set the house on fire. The men were stripped, stabbed and tied to trees. Then in full view of their families, they were hacked to death. Rajendralal was led to the backyard where he was forced to lean over a butchering block. His head was severed and triumphantly presented to Ghulam Sarwar. The women were led to different locations and molested. Some of them were brought back and given shelter in a neighbouring badi. Rajendralal's wife and a group of other women took refuge in the badi of one his Muslim servants, from where they were rescued on 18 October by Abdul Gofran, the minister of Civil Supplies.