But Gandhi believed that what he was doing in Bengal was his duty, and that no matter what the compulsions, he could not leave his task unfinished. In a letter to Patel he wrote: 'I may not be able to prove it to you but I am convinced that my work here is of supreme importance. All of you veterans are there putting your shoulder to the wheel.... I am the only figure among ciphers here. Allow me, therefore, to continue here. If I can achieve something worthwhile, the whole country will be benifited; if I fail none will be any worse for it'. To Maulana Azad, who had suggested to him to make Calcutta his headquarters if he could not come and stay in Delhi, Gandhi replied: 'If the Ahimsa about which I have written so much and which I have striven to realise in practice all these years does not answer in a crisis, it ceases to have any value in my eyes. Your affection prompts you to say that if only I were near you, all would be well. The truth however is that so long as I cannot make good here, I can be of no use anywhere'.
'My walking pilgrimage,' he wrote to a friend in Europe, Mrs. Edmund Privat, 'gives me immense peace of mind. The upshot I do not know nor do I care to know. Man has no control over results. That is the sole prerogative of God. Hence I can sing with Cardinal Newman:
I do not see
The distance scene;
one step enough for me.'
Gandhi's refusal to leave Noakhali till his mission had borne fruit, created a dilemma for the Congress leaders. It was vividly expresseed in one of the letters written to him by Nehru: 'I know that we must learn to rely upon ourselves and not run to you for help on every occasion. But we have got into this bad habit and we do often feel that if you had been easier of access our difficulties would have been less'. But Gandhi was firm: 'I know that if I were free I could take my share in trying to solve the various problems that arise in our country. But I feel that I should be usless unless I could do something here.... We are all in the hands of the Power which we call God'.
In the end it was neither his desire, nor the persistent demand of the Congress leaders that prevailed. What Gandhi had referred to as 'the Power we call God' made him decide. It was neither to stay on in Noakhali, nor to rush to Delhi where there was a clamour for his presence, but it was to answer a desperate cry that rose from Bihar that took Gandhi away, never to return to what he referred to as his 'unfinished business' in East Bengal. While the situation in Noakhali was still unsatisfactory for Gandhi, tremendous pressure was being brought on him to go to Bihar. In a letter to Nehru on 6 February, Gandhi mentions his dilemma: 'Very great pressure is being put upon me to go to Bihar because they all say that things are not properly represented to me on behalf of the Bihar Government. I am watching'.
The number of letters requesting and demanding his presence in Bihar kept mounting by the day. Abusive and vituperative letters were sent to him in an orchestrated campaign by Muslim League hotheads. He scrutinised each one of them carefully. A letter received from the president of the district Muslim League from Monghyr in Bihar said: 'The atrocities committed by the Hindus in Bihar have no parallel in history. But not a word of sympathy for the Muslim sufferers of this province, and not a word of rebuke and reproach for the criminals could come from your mouth. Still you ask the Muslims to have faith in the nationalism advocated by you, in the "national" Congress supported by you and "national" leaders patronised by you. I would request you therefore, to come to Bihar at your earliest if you really want to serve humanity'. To this bitter and vastly exaggerated missive, Gandhi replied: 'Your letter is hysterical. I would like you to tell me how I can serve the Muslims better by going to Bihar. Whilst I do not endorse your remark that the atrocities committed by the Hindus in Bihar have no parallel in history, I am free to admit that they were in magnitude much greater than in Noakhali. I would urge you, as President of the Monghyr District Muslim League, to confine yourself to proved facts which, I am sorry to say, you have not done'.
Suhrawardy jumped into the fray and in his incorrigible way made a frivolous reference to Gandhi's 'inner voice'. Gandhi gently reminded him that the chief minister too had an inner voice, if only he would care to listen to it: 'I have seen in the newspapers a statement attributed to you which reads like a jibe at me. I would not expect that from you. Therefore I give you the credit of believing that I have the inner voice to which I listen. My belief is that all mankind has it. But the outside din and noise have practically deadened it for the vast majority of people. When my voice speaks I shall find myself in Bihar without any further prompting'.
While refusing to be goaded into taking a hasty step, Gandhi made all efforts to get at the truth. He sent Col. Niranjan Gill to Bihar to give him a report of the situation there. Gill's report exploded the myths propagated by the Muslim League, but what it said was damaging enough for the government of Bihar. Gandhi then sought a second opinion from Dr Syed Mahmud, a minister in the Bihar government: 'I cannot decide between the allegations of the Muslim League and what is reported to me from other sources about where lies the truth. I want you to write to me as to how far the League report is true'. Surprisingly Dr. Mahmud maintained a stoic silence. This made Gandhi even more impatient for the truth.
During his prolonged stay in Haimchar, Gandhi began to plan the next phase of his peace pilgrimage on foot through the district, which was to have begun on 2 March. He had drawn up an elaborate itinerary across the Charmandal area and covering parts of Noakhali and Tipperah. It then led back to Srirampur, from where he had originally started two months ago. From there he planned to start again and cover the other portions of Noakhali and Tipperah. However, this was not to be.
That evening Gandhi informed Satish Chandra Das Gupta of his intention to proceed to Bihar immediately. He described how, till the previous day, he had been planning to set out on the third phase of his pilgrimage but at the appointed hour found himself preparing to set out for Bihar instead. He referred to the report which he had received about the atrocities that were said to have been committed by the Hindus of Bihar and before which the happenings of Noakhali seemed 'to pale into insignificance'. He was as concerned about the welfare of the Muslims as of the Hindus. His mind made no distinction between the two. He had sent an urgent wire to the chief minister of Bihar and it was highly likely that this might be their last meeting for the time being.
Till 1 March, however, he had received no reply from the chief minister of Bihar. Before retiring he left instructions that his luggage was to be kept packed and ready for departure the next day. Although he lived with very few possesions and personal items, Gandhi had collected a vast number of books and correspondence. Among the things he would take with him to Bihar, were a Bengali dictionary and a note-book in which he did his daily writing exercise in Bengali. The 2nd of March was a gloomy day. Thakkar Bappa had taken it upon himself to supervise the winding up of Gandhi's camp and ensure that all the baggage was properly loaded on the jeep. The fog finally lifted at eleven and the sun shone through. For the first time in two months Gandhi was wearing his sandals. It was difficult for him to walk through the surging crowds to the waiting jeep. He was accompanied by Prof. Nirmal Kumar Bose, Manu Gandhi, Dev Prakash Nayar and Hamid Hunar. He had allowed Dev Prakash to join them to complete his probation in Nai Talim, Gandhi's new education programme, and Hamid so he could train under him in Hindustani work; the propagation of Hindustani was an integral part of his programme of Hindu-Muslim unity. All the others who hid originally accompanied him, he left behind to continue his work at the various centres. Satish Chandra Das Gupta was authorised to represent him in dealing with authorities during his absence.
The party reached Chandpur at 3.20 pm. Huge crowds surrounded the residence of the late Hardayal Nag, the grand old man of Chandpur, where arrangements had been made for Gandhi's stay. His last public prayer meeting in East Bengal was attended by over thirty thousand people.
Addressing the gathering Gandhi said that he was going to Bihar with the purpose of trying to establish peace. He expected to return to his chosen scene of service—
Noakhali—as soon as possible.
At 9.30 pm the party boarded a steamer. The last to take leave was Col. Jiwan Singh. As Gandhi scribbled out his final orders that he should send away his men, Jiwan Singh felt hurt and unhappy, thinking it was a dismissal for him. He was about to bid good-bye with a heavy heart when Gandhi wrote on another slip of paper: 'I do not want to lose you personally'. Jiwan Singh stayed on in Noakhali even after Gandhi's murder and added a footnote to the story of inter-dominion relations between India and Pakistan.
The following day, 4 March 1947, from 8.45 to 10 am, Gandhi was closeted with the chief minister of Bengal. Gandhi admitted that things in Bihar were not as well as he had been led to believe. That gave Suhrawardy his chance. With a note of bitterness mixed with triumph in his voice, he told Gandhi that Nehru and Dr. Rajendra Prasad had betrayed him. This hurt Gandhi deeply. When asked later if there was a likelihood of anything fruitful coming out of his talk with the chief minister, Gandhi replied in the negative. 'He is past master in the art of gab; he went on talking round and round; would not give me a chance to get even a word in edgewise concerning what was uppermost in my mind.'
At Howrah station, as the train carrying him to Patna was readied, Gandhi begged for alms for the Harijan fund. A steady stream of coins kept filling his outstretched hand.
As the train chugged towards riot-torn Bihar, the apostle of peace was lying on his bunk preparing for the ordeal ahead. Of one thing he was sure, as soon as he was assured that Bihar was on the path of peace, he would rush back to Noakhali. He knew that his work there was incomplete. The clouds of suspicion and hatred had still not been dispelled.
Destiny, however, had other things in store for him.
9
* * *
BIHAR MASSACRES
'An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.'
– Mahatma Gandhi
It was Bihar that had spurred on Gandhi politically in India, on his return from South Africa in 1915. Gandhi had been moved by the plight of the indigo farmers of Champaran, who were forced to grow indigo and pay heavy rent to British landlords, which turned them into virtual slaves. Gandhi had championed their cause and forced the colonial government to implement agrarian reforms and liberate the farmers. This success had catapulted Gandhi into a position of leadership in India's fight for freedom.
Reporting on the situation in Bihar, Nehru, in a note to Gandhi on 6 November 1946, wrote: 'Bihar is an impoverished agrarian state. Most of its landless rural populace seasonally immigrates to work in the fields of Punjab and other states. At least one member of every rural Bihari family immigrates to other states in search of work. More than a million Bihari immigrants lived and work in Calcutta as labourers, domestic help, rickshaw pullers, artisans and small traders. This was the segment which suffered the most during the riots in Calcutta. They lost their meagre belongings; their small businesses and many of them were slaughtered on the streets of Calcutta. Till 1911-12, Bihar was a part of the Bengal Province. A large number of Bengali Hindus lived in Bihar, relatives of these people were killed in the riots in Calcutta and then in Noakhali and Tipperah. The Calcutta and Noakhali survivors who had managed to flee the riots poured into Bihar and with them came tales of their suffering and gruesome descriptions of the massacres, forced conversions and the most passion rousing details of the crimes against their women. The abductions, rapes, forced conversions and marriages under duress to their abductors, this was a new development and it created a huge outrage amongst the Hindu population countrywide. A large number of Biharis were plunged into sorrow at the plight of their relatives and co-religionists. A wave of anger began to form in Bihar and the rest of India as the stories, embellished with each narration and many a times fabricated to suit the teller's political motives, began to spread. The time was right for those who saw an opportunity for political gains in this human tragedy'.
Nehru was, of course, referring to the Hindu Right-wing and the Muslim League. The Hindu Right-wing, which had been largely marginalised because of its collaborationist role, desperately needed an opportunity to reinstate itself in the political arena, in an India which was rapidly moving towards freedom. This was their opportunity. They had their cadre well-entrenched in the civil services and the police force. Now they would be activated to support and encourage the agenda of their political and ideological organisation; the country and its well-being be damned. The Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS got actively involved in spreading religious intolerance amongst the aggrieved peasantry of Bihar. They convinced the Bihari that his existence depended on whether he would allow the Muslims to live in their midst or drive them out. If allowed to stay, the Muslims would one day do a repeat of Calcutta and Noakhali in Bihar, unless they first drew blood. Meanwhile, the Muslim League also vitiated the atmosphere by instilling fear amongst the Muslims of Bihar, that they were susceptible to sudden attacks by the majority community. Both the communities were supplied with arms and ammunition. The inflammatory propaganda had reached a crescendo; all that was required was a spark.
The spark was provided in September 1946 in the village of Benibad in Muzaffarpur district. A local Muslim was reported to have abducted a Hindu girl from Calcutta. The Hindu community demanded that the girl be handed over to them and the Muslim agreed to do so in a couple of days. On the promised day a crowd of Hindus reached his home only to find it deserted: there was no sign of the girl or the man. The enraged Hindus gave vent to their anger and the Muslims bore the brunt of it. The police, unfortunately, could not reach the spot in time to prevent the tragedy, since the van, carrying a platoon of sepoys and a magistrate, broke down on the way. However, the guilty Hindus were prosecuted by the Congress party. In response, a pamphlet titled 'Present Miseries of the Hindus of Bihar', was issued by the provincial Hindu Mahasabha claiming that there was enough evidence to show that the Muslims in Bihar were planning an organised attack on the Hindus. The latter would be taken unawares and slaughtered like they had been in Calcutta and Noakhali. The 'nationalist, wise and brave act of the Hindus', was being repaid with extreme severity by the Congress government. The Hindus must, therefore, make it clear to the Congress that they would not allow the power they had given it to be abused!
A strong faction in the Congress began believing that an equally brutal response to the Muslim violence in Noakhali was necessary and justified. They could not say it openly, but their sympathy and support was with the band of Hindu avengers. During the Bihar massacre, many of them believed that this was a justified reaction; they were convinced that it was the strong response in Bihar that kept the 'aggressive' Muslims in check nationwide. These conflicting currents of ideology inherently weakened the Congress and emboldened both the sets of communal extremist groups—the Muslim League, and the Hindu Right wing. The administration and police were very widely infiltrated by active members of the communally extremist organisations. They, along with officers that supported the organisations, effectively sabotaged the government's attempts to bring the situation under control. In many places they even encouraged the acts of violence against the other religious groups. 'It is curious', wrote Nehru to Gandhi, 'how these very officers during the British regime carried out policies against India's national interests'.
Another incident that provoked communal violence occurred in Chapra, headquarters of the Sarna district, a town almost evenly populated by Hindu and Muslim citizens. The festival of Diwali fell on 24 October that year. Due to the losses suffered by almost every family, the celebrations were very low-key. Members of the Hindu Mahasabha instigated the Hindus to celebrate the day by seeking vengeance upon those who had turned their Diwali 'dark'. A prominent Muslim League leader congratulated a gathering of Muslims and asked them to rejoice as they had forced the Hindus to celebrate a joyless festival. 'Aaj Hinduon ke ghar mein maatam ho raha hai. Hum logon ko aaj jashan manana chahiye,' 'Today there is mourning in Hindu homes. Let us celebrate it by feasting and rejoicing'. This spread like wildfire through
out the town.
On 25 October, public meetings to condemn the massacres of Hindus in Bengal were held in many towns in Bihar, further aggravating an already tense situation. The government had permitted the meetings hoping that by doing so, the pent-up rage would be soothed. Instead, it led to igniting an out-of-control situation. By late afternoon and early evening riots had erupted in nine places in Chapra. Heavily armed mobs had taken to the streets. Overall fifty communal incidents were reported. Police opened fire on three occasions at three different places. Several instances of stabbing and rioting were reported. Rioting continued on the 26th; the superintendent stopped a large Hindu mob from attacking Muslim bastis of Chapra by firing thirty rounds. He was successful in dispersing this particular mob, but trouble rapidly spread to the rural areas of the district and continued in a planned manner for the next five days before it was brought under control.
The Bihar carnage is graphically described by Pyarelal in Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, Part I, Vol. 10 Book Two: 'The local Congress leaders began to arrive in the town from the 26th October. They started touring the interior. On their way they encountered mobs sometimes numbering 50,000. The mobs turned back when they were told that what they were doing might cost them Gandhi's life. By the 27th October all the Congress leaders of the district had arrived and after forming themselves into batches penetrated into the villages. From the 28th October onward no planned attack was reported at any place in the district. The Chief Minister arrived in Chapra on the 28th October in company with his colleague Dr. Syed Mahmud. What they saw flabbergasted them—"We started (by plane from Ranchi) on the 28th October and reached Chapra the same night. About hundred houses had been burnt in the town. About six thousand people had taken refuge in the district school and were in a very bad plight. The next day we went to Paigambarpur. It is a big village. About fifty houses had been burnt here. A similar number of men, women and children had been murdered and burnt in these houses. The police were there. The Muslims said that the Sub-inspector had joined the rioters. As soon as we reached Chapra, we sent some Congressmen. These people reached Paigambarpur by 3 a.m. even then they extricated three people from the fire and saved their lives. The police by that time had disappeared. When Sri Babu, the Chief Minister, and I went there, we saw some frightened women sitting under a tree crying. Skulls and bones met our feet as we trod through the lanes. A man, who had been burnt to charcoal, was found in a sitting posture in one house. In another house the fire was still smouldering. The door outside had been locked. One woman caught hold of our feet and began to cry. She said that the village watchman had snatched her baby from her lap and cut it into two. Sri Babu could not check his tears. He mentioned the incident next day in his speech at Muzaffarpur. Another woman said that she had given all her savings amounting to some thousands in order that the rioters might spare her two little children. The money was taken, and then the children were butchered in front of her. Most of the villagers were middle class people. Many Muslims complained that the Hindu collector of Chapra had played an important part in the riot. Some of the things that he was reported to have done and said were beyond description". (From Dr. Mahmud's report to Gandhi, 17 February 1947).
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