12-20-2005, 04:20 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Horrors Of Noakhali Massacre Of October, 1946
By:V.S. Godbole
150,000 unarmed Hindu men women and children were massacred by fully
armed Mohammedans in Chittagong and Noakhali (now in Bangladesh) in
October, 1946. After reading the news, Mr. Vishnupant Karkare of
Nagar, Maharashtra decided to travel to Noakhali to bring help to
the victims of the atrocities. He was joined by 11 other volunteers
(6 from Maharashtra, 1 from Punjab and 4 from Bengal). On his return
he published a booklet in December 1946. Here is a summary of his
eye-witness account.
* I traveled from Nagar to Nagpur, then to Raipur, addressed a
meeting of 7,000 in Raipur, got extracts from Savarkar's drama
Sanyast Khadga (Abandoned Sword) printed in Hindi as a message for
Bengali Hindus.
* I traveled from Nagpur to Calcutta. I soon realized how the Muslim
League government was harassing those Hindus who were trying to help
those affected by Moslem riots. Such helpers were not even released
on bail! I attended the relief center at Budge Budge - a suburb of
Calcutta. The refugees were grateful to receive clothing from
Maharashtra. I met an old Brahmin priest from Noakhali. Eight
members of his family were killed by Moham-medans. Only his mother
and the two children of his brother survived.
* The game of badminton was popular in Calcutta at the time. Despite
the news of Noakhali there was no suspension of badminton playing. I
visited two/three clubs and discussed the Noakhali riots with the
members. They said: "Oh well, the British rulers are behind these
riots. There is not much we can do." Despite having witnessed Moslem
riots in Calcutta itself just three months earlier, they were quite
unconcerned about the fate of the Hindus of Noakhali.
* I was shocked by the reception given to us by Dr. Shyamaprasad
Mookerjee. Even after learning that Karkare and the others had come
all the way from Maharashtra, hundreds of miles away to help, he
said: "Have you come to see a cinema? Do you want to write a story?
and so on." After calming down, he said: "What we need are fearless
volunteers who would go to riot affected areas. I welcome persons
like you. The irony is that it is the Hindu Mahasabha which is
offering all the help, but if elections were held today, the same
people would vote for the Congress party!"
* With my group I went to the Sealdah station to catch the
Chittagong Mail to Noakhali. At the station, I saw hundreds of
Moslem guards (of Jinnah). But there were also Hindu relief centers
flying the Bhagwa Dhwaj and working fearlessly alongside. There were
centers run by Veer Abhimanyu Sangh, Bharat Seva Sangh, National
Youth Center, Marwari Hindu Society and the Arya Samaj. The Congress
Party ran no such relief centers.
* Ours was the first batch of volunteers to go to the help of the
Hindus at Noakhali. The Mohammedans were surprised to see Hindu
Mahasabha flags and the slogans of Hindutva. The last railway
station was Goalundo. We traveled to Chandpur by boat. The first
batch of volunteers sent by the Hindu Mahasabha included an editor
of a Daily Newspaper of Calcutta. He had noted:
"Many people flocked to Chandpur after the Moslem inspired riots in
Noakhali. They were stranded, some four days waiting for a boat to
Calcutta. Boats had a limited capacity. The people were starving.
Hindus of Chandpur tried to give them food, but the Muslim League
government threatened them by saying: "If you give them food it will
mean that you have plenty of food and you will lose your ration
cards." Many refugees had no change of clothing. The only clothes
were those that they had on their persons when they fled.
"I was astonished to see the barbarity of Moslems even in Chandpur.
They distributed poisoned bananas (called chavai) to hungry refugees
who ate them eagerly. The poison had the effect of increasing body
heat, caused a burning sensation. Many died this way; there were
many children among the dead.
"Some 7,000 refugees starved to death at Faridganj. I saw Hindu
shops and properties looted and burnt. Moslems threatened that
anyone giving medical help to the Hindus will be killed."
Karkare continues:
* At Chandpur, we distributed whatever clothes we had with us. We
translated important parts of Veer Savarkar's play Sanyasta Khadga,
from Marathi to Bengali and distributed thousands of copies to
Hindus. However, people had been so brainwashed by the preaching of
non-violence for the last 25 years that they just could not believe
that Hindus could resist aggression.
* After Chandpur, we visited Daulatganj, Vipula, Sonaimuro and other
villages. Not one Hindu was alive in those places. At Sonaimuro, all
Hindus who had refused to embrace Islam were killed and buried.
Mohammedans proudly opened up the ditches and showed us the recently
buried dead bodies. They said: "This is how we will take Pakistan."
* We traveled to Chaumuhanis and Lakhipur - where the atrocities
surpassed those of Chengiz Khan and Aurangzeb. 25 Hindu virgins were
stripped naked and paraded in town. They were subjected to
indescribable violations. One and a half mile away there is a
village called Dalal Bazar. One famous Hindu Roy family lived there.
He had at least 80 kilos of gold and diamonds and valuables worth
millions. It is incredible that although he had 7 licensed guns in
his house, he fled without firing a single shot and left his women
and children in the hands of the Mohammedan hoodlums.
* I visited the following villages around Laxmapuri - Nandigram,
Hajiganj, Shreepur, Badalpur, Dattapara, Khilpada, Paikpada,
Ratanpur, Raipur, Panchamgwada, Langchar, Korpara, Gayagram,
Sapalipara, Silchur, Bamani, Karava, Mashinpur, Chandpur, Dharmapur,
Vasantpur, Bhavanipur, Samcharbad, Daxnahamchandi, Ababil, Rampur
and Shreeramganj.
The fantasy of economic fight:
* I must emphatically state that the riots and the massacre of
Hindus had no economic basis. It was purely and simply an attack on
Hindus by the Mohammedans. The affected Hindus came from all
backgrounds; there were congressites, socialists, communists,
followers of the Hindu Mahasabha; rich and poor; educated as well as
illiterate. The attackers were all Moslems of all kinds: ex-MLAs
like Golam Sarwar, government officers of all ranks and laborers.
They were united solely by the hatred for Hindus.
Some inspiring incidents:
* Paniala is a small village in Ramganj thana. One Priya Lal was a
simple middle class man. His wife was beautiful. A Mohammedan
hoodlum demanded that he should give away his wife to him. Priya Lal
was enraged. He snatched the sword of the hoodlum and killed him. A
fight ensued. As Priya Lal was outnumbered, his wife pleaded with
him to kill her first to save her from dishonor. Priya Lal did that
and later killed himself.
* Pachgaria is another village nearby. Babu Upendra Kumar Roy was a
wellknown Hindu. He was not a follower of the Hindu Mahasabha. He
was told to embrace Islam and let his beautiful niece Arati Devi
marry a Mohammedan youth. If they had fled, all the Hindus of the
entire village would be killed. He tried to buy off the Mohammedan
hoodlums. They accepted the money but still inisted on their
demands. All the members of the family decided to commit suicide.
Moslems intervened. Arati was forcibly married to the Mohammedan
youth in the presence of police superintendent Abdullah. The
District Officer Macmillan was stunned by the affair. He intervened
and saved the lady and her family from dishonor.
* Veer Rajendra Lal Roy Chowdhari:
Korpara, Post Ramganj, District Noakhali. Chowdhari was Chairman of
the Bar Association. After the massacre of Hindus in Calcutta
(August 16, 1946) it was only a matter of time when similar calamity
would befall Noakhali where Hindus were only 12% of the population.
On Sept. 9, 1946, Mohammedans under Golam Sarwar came barging in
Korpara. Chowdhari's Mohammedan servants asked him to run away to a
place of safety. He refused. Next day, the Moslems attacked his
house. Rajendra Lal and Swami Tryambakanand bluntly said: "We will
fight to the finish." Chowdhari used his gun. The Swami escaped with
his wife, led her to the safety of Ramganj police station and sent
telegrams to the Viceroy and important officials. 11 members of the
Chowdhari family died fighting. 9-year-old Dilipkumar was saved by
servant Yashoda Day. All the family members died fighting or were
burnt to death. They did not surrender.
* Shayestanagar:
Chittaranjan Das Gupta. He removed his wife and children to a place
of safety. But his mother refused to escape. Gupta fought with
Mohammedan attackers, killed 168 Moslems with his rifle. When only
two bullets were left, he shot his mother Durgadevi and then shot
himself to death.
THERE ARE MANY SUCH EXAMPLES OF HINDU HEROISM. WE SHOULD ALWAYS
REMEMBER THEM.
* Example of a courgeous Hindu woman:
In Lengchar, a Hindu woman was kidnapped by seven Mohammedan thugs.
They used to lock her up in a house and rape her at night. Somehow
our message of resistance to aggression reached her. She made a
cunning plan. One night she prepared a nice meal for all the thugs.
When they were fast asleep, she set the house on fire. She stood by
at the door and did not let any one escape. Her message was
clear; "if you dare kidnap a Hindu woman, you will have to pay for
it with your life." It was understood by the Mohammedans, at least
in this instance. It was such heroic deeds and Hindu reprisals in
Bihar that stopped Moslem fanticism, not Gandhi's non-violence.
............................................
Acharya Kripalani - President of the Congress Party, after his tour
of Noakhali wrote:
"A MESSAGE TO BENGAL"
I am clearly of the opinion that whatever the Government,
Provincial or Central, may or may not do, every Bengalee, male or
female, has to defend himself or herself by whatever means he or she
can think of. In this connection, I could keep before every Bengalee
the example of Shri Rajendra Lal Roy and his family who defied a mob
for full two days and fell fighting. Even as a believer in the
absolute non-violence, I hold that the resistance offered by Shri
Rajendra Lal Roy and his family, was the nearest approach to non-
violence.
http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/a...s/noakhali.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
By:V.S. Godbole
150,000 unarmed Hindu men women and children were massacred by fully
armed Mohammedans in Chittagong and Noakhali (now in Bangladesh) in
October, 1946. After reading the news, Mr. Vishnupant Karkare of
Nagar, Maharashtra decided to travel to Noakhali to bring help to
the victims of the atrocities. He was joined by 11 other volunteers
(6 from Maharashtra, 1 from Punjab and 4 from Bengal). On his return
he published a booklet in December 1946. Here is a summary of his
eye-witness account.
* I traveled from Nagar to Nagpur, then to Raipur, addressed a
meeting of 7,000 in Raipur, got extracts from Savarkar's drama
Sanyast Khadga (Abandoned Sword) printed in Hindi as a message for
Bengali Hindus.
* I traveled from Nagpur to Calcutta. I soon realized how the Muslim
League government was harassing those Hindus who were trying to help
those affected by Moslem riots. Such helpers were not even released
on bail! I attended the relief center at Budge Budge - a suburb of
Calcutta. The refugees were grateful to receive clothing from
Maharashtra. I met an old Brahmin priest from Noakhali. Eight
members of his family were killed by Moham-medans. Only his mother
and the two children of his brother survived.
* The game of badminton was popular in Calcutta at the time. Despite
the news of Noakhali there was no suspension of badminton playing. I
visited two/three clubs and discussed the Noakhali riots with the
members. They said: "Oh well, the British rulers are behind these
riots. There is not much we can do." Despite having witnessed Moslem
riots in Calcutta itself just three months earlier, they were quite
unconcerned about the fate of the Hindus of Noakhali.
* I was shocked by the reception given to us by Dr. Shyamaprasad
Mookerjee. Even after learning that Karkare and the others had come
all the way from Maharashtra, hundreds of miles away to help, he
said: "Have you come to see a cinema? Do you want to write a story?
and so on." After calming down, he said: "What we need are fearless
volunteers who would go to riot affected areas. I welcome persons
like you. The irony is that it is the Hindu Mahasabha which is
offering all the help, but if elections were held today, the same
people would vote for the Congress party!"
* With my group I went to the Sealdah station to catch the
Chittagong Mail to Noakhali. At the station, I saw hundreds of
Moslem guards (of Jinnah). But there were also Hindu relief centers
flying the Bhagwa Dhwaj and working fearlessly alongside. There were
centers run by Veer Abhimanyu Sangh, Bharat Seva Sangh, National
Youth Center, Marwari Hindu Society and the Arya Samaj. The Congress
Party ran no such relief centers.
* Ours was the first batch of volunteers to go to the help of the
Hindus at Noakhali. The Mohammedans were surprised to see Hindu
Mahasabha flags and the slogans of Hindutva. The last railway
station was Goalundo. We traveled to Chandpur by boat. The first
batch of volunteers sent by the Hindu Mahasabha included an editor
of a Daily Newspaper of Calcutta. He had noted:
"Many people flocked to Chandpur after the Moslem inspired riots in
Noakhali. They were stranded, some four days waiting for a boat to
Calcutta. Boats had a limited capacity. The people were starving.
Hindus of Chandpur tried to give them food, but the Muslim League
government threatened them by saying: "If you give them food it will
mean that you have plenty of food and you will lose your ration
cards." Many refugees had no change of clothing. The only clothes
were those that they had on their persons when they fled.
"I was astonished to see the barbarity of Moslems even in Chandpur.
They distributed poisoned bananas (called chavai) to hungry refugees
who ate them eagerly. The poison had the effect of increasing body
heat, caused a burning sensation. Many died this way; there were
many children among the dead.
"Some 7,000 refugees starved to death at Faridganj. I saw Hindu
shops and properties looted and burnt. Moslems threatened that
anyone giving medical help to the Hindus will be killed."
Karkare continues:
* At Chandpur, we distributed whatever clothes we had with us. We
translated important parts of Veer Savarkar's play Sanyasta Khadga,
from Marathi to Bengali and distributed thousands of copies to
Hindus. However, people had been so brainwashed by the preaching of
non-violence for the last 25 years that they just could not believe
that Hindus could resist aggression.
* After Chandpur, we visited Daulatganj, Vipula, Sonaimuro and other
villages. Not one Hindu was alive in those places. At Sonaimuro, all
Hindus who had refused to embrace Islam were killed and buried.
Mohammedans proudly opened up the ditches and showed us the recently
buried dead bodies. They said: "This is how we will take Pakistan."
* We traveled to Chaumuhanis and Lakhipur - where the atrocities
surpassed those of Chengiz Khan and Aurangzeb. 25 Hindu virgins were
stripped naked and paraded in town. They were subjected to
indescribable violations. One and a half mile away there is a
village called Dalal Bazar. One famous Hindu Roy family lived there.
He had at least 80 kilos of gold and diamonds and valuables worth
millions. It is incredible that although he had 7 licensed guns in
his house, he fled without firing a single shot and left his women
and children in the hands of the Mohammedan hoodlums.
* I visited the following villages around Laxmapuri - Nandigram,
Hajiganj, Shreepur, Badalpur, Dattapara, Khilpada, Paikpada,
Ratanpur, Raipur, Panchamgwada, Langchar, Korpara, Gayagram,
Sapalipara, Silchur, Bamani, Karava, Mashinpur, Chandpur, Dharmapur,
Vasantpur, Bhavanipur, Samcharbad, Daxnahamchandi, Ababil, Rampur
and Shreeramganj.
The fantasy of economic fight:
* I must emphatically state that the riots and the massacre of
Hindus had no economic basis. It was purely and simply an attack on
Hindus by the Mohammedans. The affected Hindus came from all
backgrounds; there were congressites, socialists, communists,
followers of the Hindu Mahasabha; rich and poor; educated as well as
illiterate. The attackers were all Moslems of all kinds: ex-MLAs
like Golam Sarwar, government officers of all ranks and laborers.
They were united solely by the hatred for Hindus.
Some inspiring incidents:
* Paniala is a small village in Ramganj thana. One Priya Lal was a
simple middle class man. His wife was beautiful. A Mohammedan
hoodlum demanded that he should give away his wife to him. Priya Lal
was enraged. He snatched the sword of the hoodlum and killed him. A
fight ensued. As Priya Lal was outnumbered, his wife pleaded with
him to kill her first to save her from dishonor. Priya Lal did that
and later killed himself.
* Pachgaria is another village nearby. Babu Upendra Kumar Roy was a
wellknown Hindu. He was not a follower of the Hindu Mahasabha. He
was told to embrace Islam and let his beautiful niece Arati Devi
marry a Mohammedan youth. If they had fled, all the Hindus of the
entire village would be killed. He tried to buy off the Mohammedan
hoodlums. They accepted the money but still inisted on their
demands. All the members of the family decided to commit suicide.
Moslems intervened. Arati was forcibly married to the Mohammedan
youth in the presence of police superintendent Abdullah. The
District Officer Macmillan was stunned by the affair. He intervened
and saved the lady and her family from dishonor.
* Veer Rajendra Lal Roy Chowdhari:
Korpara, Post Ramganj, District Noakhali. Chowdhari was Chairman of
the Bar Association. After the massacre of Hindus in Calcutta
(August 16, 1946) it was only a matter of time when similar calamity
would befall Noakhali where Hindus were only 12% of the population.
On Sept. 9, 1946, Mohammedans under Golam Sarwar came barging in
Korpara. Chowdhari's Mohammedan servants asked him to run away to a
place of safety. He refused. Next day, the Moslems attacked his
house. Rajendra Lal and Swami Tryambakanand bluntly said: "We will
fight to the finish." Chowdhari used his gun. The Swami escaped with
his wife, led her to the safety of Ramganj police station and sent
telegrams to the Viceroy and important officials. 11 members of the
Chowdhari family died fighting. 9-year-old Dilipkumar was saved by
servant Yashoda Day. All the family members died fighting or were
burnt to death. They did not surrender.
* Shayestanagar:
Chittaranjan Das Gupta. He removed his wife and children to a place
of safety. But his mother refused to escape. Gupta fought with
Mohammedan attackers, killed 168 Moslems with his rifle. When only
two bullets were left, he shot his mother Durgadevi and then shot
himself to death.
THERE ARE MANY SUCH EXAMPLES OF HINDU HEROISM. WE SHOULD ALWAYS
REMEMBER THEM.
* Example of a courgeous Hindu woman:
In Lengchar, a Hindu woman was kidnapped by seven Mohammedan thugs.
They used to lock her up in a house and rape her at night. Somehow
our message of resistance to aggression reached her. She made a
cunning plan. One night she prepared a nice meal for all the thugs.
When they were fast asleep, she set the house on fire. She stood by
at the door and did not let any one escape. Her message was
clear; "if you dare kidnap a Hindu woman, you will have to pay for
it with your life." It was understood by the Mohammedans, at least
in this instance. It was such heroic deeds and Hindu reprisals in
Bihar that stopped Moslem fanticism, not Gandhi's non-violence.
............................................
Acharya Kripalani - President of the Congress Party, after his tour
of Noakhali wrote:
"A MESSAGE TO BENGAL"
I am clearly of the opinion that whatever the Government,
Provincial or Central, may or may not do, every Bengalee, male or
female, has to defend himself or herself by whatever means he or she
can think of. In this connection, I could keep before every Bengalee
the example of Shri Rajendra Lal Roy and his family who defied a mob
for full two days and fell fighting. Even as a believer in the
absolute non-violence, I hold that the resistance offered by Shri
Rajendra Lal Roy and his family, was the nearest approach to non-
violence.
http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/a...s/noakhali.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->