The Noakhali riots were a series of semi-organised massacres, rapes, and abductions of Hindus, combined with looting and arson of Hindu properties, perpetrated by Muslim mobs in the districts of Noakhali in the Chittagong Division of the eastern part of British Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) from October to November 1946, a year before India's independence from British rule.
It affected the areas under the Ramganj, Begumganj, Raipur, Lakshmipur, Chhagalnaiya, and Sandwip police stations in Noakhali district and the areas under the Hajiganj, Faridganj, Chandpur, Laksham, and Chauddagram police stations in Tipperah district, a total area of more than 2,000 square miles.
The massacre of the Hindu population started on 10 October, on the day of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, and continued unabated for about a week. Around 50,000 Hindus were marooned in the affected areas subordinate to the Muslim radicals.
Mahatma Gandhi camped in Noakhali for four months and toured the district on a mission to restore peace and communal harmony. In the meantime, the Indian National Congress leadership started to accept the proposed Partition of India, and the peace mission and other relief camps were abandoned. The majority of the survivors migrated to West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam in post-partition India.
Cause
On 10 October 1946, during the festival of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, a rumor reportedly spread in the Ramganj police station area (now in Lakshmipur District) that a Hindu monk named Triambakananda had visited the residence of Rajendralal Chowdhury, a local Hindu landlord. He has announced that from now on, instead of goats for worship, he will appease the goddess by offering the "blood of Muslims". The rumor quickly inflamed communal tensions in the surrounding area.
In nearby Shyampur Dayara Sharif, Gulam Sarwar Hossain, a local pir, learned of the alleged declaration and sent a letter to Rajendralal Chowdhury on the morning of 10 October seeking clarification. Receiving no reply, Hossain called a public meeting at Sahapur Bazaar, where he informed local Muslims of the rumor and urged them to act against the Hindu landlord. Following the gathering, mobs attacked Hindu-owned shops in Sahapur Bazaar, looting and setting them on fire.
On the following morning, 11 October 1946, violent crowds advanced to Chowdhury's residence, killed him, and allegedly presented his beheaded head to Gulam Sarwar Hossain on a silver platter. Subsequently, the riots started.
Prelude Communal tensions in Noakhali began soon after the Great Calcutta Riots between Muslims and Hindus. Although initially quiet, tensions had been building. During the six weeks leading up to the disturbances in Noakhali, the Eastern Command headquarters in Kolkata received reports indicating unrest in the rural areas of Noakhali and Chittagong districts. Village poets and balladeers composed anti-Hindu poems and rhymes, which they recited in marketplaces and other public gatherings.
Eid al-Fitr violence On 29 August, the day of Eid al-Fitr, tensions escalated into violence. A rumor spread that Hindus had accumulated weapons. A group of Hindu fishermen were attacked with deadly weapons while fishing in the Feni River. One was killed, and two were seriously injured. Another group of nine Hindu fishermen from Charuriah were severely assaulted. Seven were admitted to the hospital. Devi Prasanna Guha, the son of a Congressman from Babupur village under the Ramganj police station, was murdered. His brother and a servant were also assaulted. The Congress office in front of their house was set on fire. Chandra Kumar Karmakar of Monpura was killed near Jamalpur. Jamini Dey, a hotel worker, was killed near Ghoshbag. Ashu Sen of Devisinghpur was severely beaten at Tajumiarhat at Char Parvati. Rajkumar Choudhury of Banspara was severely assaulted on his way home.
The properties of six or seven Hindu families in Kanur Char were looted. In Karpara, a Muslim gang armed with deadly weapons entered the house of Jadav Majumdar and looted properties worth Rs. 1,500. Nakul Majumdar was assaulted. The houses of Prasanna Mohan Chakraborty of Tatarkhil, Nabin Chandra Nath of Miralipur, and Radha Charan Nath of Latipur were looted. Five members of the Nath family of Latipur were injured. The temple of the family deity of Harendra Ghosh of Raipur was desecrated: a calf was butchered and thrown inside the temple. The Shiva temple of Dr. Jadunath Majumdar of Chandipur was similarly desecrated. The household shrines of Nagendra Majumdar and Rajkumar Choudhury of Dadpur were desecrated, and the idols were stolen. The Durga images of Ishwar Chandra Pathak of Kethuri, Kedareshwar Chakraborty of Merkachar, Ananta Kumar De of Angrapara, and Prasanna Mohan Chakraborty of Tatarkhil were broken.
Communal propaganda
In 1937, Gholam Sarwar Husseini, a member of a Muslim Pir family, was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly on a Krishak Praja Party ticket. However, in the 1946 elections, he lost to a Muslim League candidate. Husseini's father and grandfather were pious Muslims. Their family served as the hereditary (caretakers) at the Diara Sharif in Shyampur, a site revered by both Muslims and Hindus. After the Direct Action Day riots in Kolkata, Husseini began delivering provocative speeches, inciting the Muslim masses to seek revenge for the Kolkata riots. In some places, Hindu shops were boycotted. In the Ramganj and Begumganj police station areas, Muslim boatmen refused to ferry Hindu passengers. In the first week of September, Muslims looted Hindu shops in Sahapur market. Hindus were harassed and molested as they returned to their native villages from Kolkata to spend the puja holidays. From 2 October onwards, there were frequent instances of killings, theft, and looting.
Events According to Governor Burrows, "the immediate occasion for the outbreak of the disturbances was the looting of a Bazar [market] in Ramganj police station following the holding of a mass meeting and a provocative speech by Gholam Sarwar Husseini." cited in Batabyal 2005, p. 277. That included attacks on the place of business of Surendra Nath Bose and Rajendralal Roy Choudhury, the former president of the Noakhali Bar and a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader.
Violence The riots started on 10 October, the day of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, when the Bengali Hindus were involved in puja activities. Ghulam Sarwar instructed the Muslim masses to march towards the Sahapur market. Another Muslim League leader, Kasem, also arrived at the Sahapur market with his private army, then known as the Kasemer Fauz.Kasemer Fauz literally means Kasem's army.
On 11 October, the private army of Gholam Sarwar, known as the Miyar Fauz, attacked the residence of Rajendralal Roychowdhury, the president of the Noakhali Bar Association and the Noakhali District Hindu Mahasabha. At that time of attack, Swami Tryambakananda of Bharat Sevashram Sangha was staying at their house as a guest. Roychowdhury fended off the mob from his terrace with his rifle for the entire day. At nightfall, when they retreated, he sent the swami and his family members to safety. The next day the mob attacked again. Rajendralal Roychowdhury's severed head was presented to Gholam Sarwar Husseini on a platter. According to Sucheta Kriplani, Rajendralal Roychowdhury had followed in the footsteps of Shivaji and Guru Gobind Singh and became a martyr, defending his faith and family honour. He reportedly refused to leave his family home to the Islamists. Acharya Kripalani, a staunch believer in non-violence, held that the resistance offered by Rajendralal Roychowdhury and his family was the nearest approach to non-violence.
Nandigram
Hindus from areas near Nandigram had taken shelter in the residence of Ramanikanta Nag. Initially the police protected them, repulsing the first attacks. The attackers then resorted to indiscriminate looting in the village. On 13 October, at 12 noon, a mob of 200 to 250 Muslims armed with deadly weapons attacked the Hindus in Changirgaon. 1,500 Maunds of paddy was burnt, and all the temples were destroyed. Hindu women were stripped of their shankhaShankha () is a bangle made of conch shell, traditionally worn by married Bengali Hindu women as a mark of their married life. and sindur. The men were forced to perform the namaz.
Ramganj police station
On 14 October, Jogendra Chandra Das, the M.L.A. 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. Their houses were being looted and set on fire with petrol, and they were being forcibly converted to Islam.
In the remote island of Sandwip, which had no motor cars, petrol was imported from the mainland to set the houses on fire. According to Rakesh Batabyal, the use of petrol and kerosene indicates the premeditated and organised nature of the attacks. In Sandwip, revolutionary freedom fighter Lalmohan Sen was killed when he tried to resist a Muslim mob from killing Hindus.
Violence broke out in the Ramganj police station area, in the north of Noakhali District, on 10 October 1946. The violence unleashed was described as "the organised fury of the Muslim mob". cited in Batabyal 2005, p. 272. It soon engulfed the neighbouring police stations of Raipur, Lakshmipur, Begumganj, and Sandip in Noakhali, and Faridganj, Hajiganj, Chandpur, Lakshman, and Chudagram in Tippera. cited in Batabyal 2005, p. 272. As per Gandhian Ashoka Gupta's report, at least 2000 Hindus had been forced to change their religion to Islam, six were forced to marry by force, and one person was murdered. However, the official estimate was 200. cited in Batabyal 2005, p. 273.
Forcible conversions When the news of the killings and forced conversions appeared in the news for the first time, Star of India, a newspaper patronised by the Muslim League, denied any incidents of forcible conversion. However, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, while answering a question from Dhirendranath Datta in the assembly, stated that there had been 9,895 cases of forcible conversion in Tipperah. The exact figure was not known for Noakhali, but it ran into thousands. Edward Skinner Simpson stated in his report that 22,550 cases of forcible conversion took place in the three police station areas of Faridganj, Chandpur, and Hajiganj in the district of Tipperah. Dr. Taj-ul-Islam Hashmi concluded that the number of Hindu women raped or converted was probably many times the number of Hindus killed. According to Justice G. D. Khosla, the entire Hindu population of Noakhali were robbed of all they possessed and then forcibly converted to Islam.
Official developments On 13 October, Kamini Kumar Dutta, the leader of the Indian National Congress in the Bengal Legislative Council, paid a visit of inquiry to Noakhali in his personal capacity, during which he interviewed Abdullah, the District Superintendent of Police. On 15 October, he met the Minister of Civil Supplies of the Government of Bengal, who was on his way to Noakhali. On his return he communicated with the Home Department of the interim government, seeking effective remedial measures and stating that it was impossible for anyone from outside to enter the disturbed areas without risking his or her life. He further stated that the authorities were anxious to hush up the entire episode from public inspection. No force had been sent to the disturbed areas until 14 October.