01-02-2006, 12:15 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-06-2006, 02:55 AM by Bharatvarsh.)
The following is a quote from "My People, Uprooted A Saga of the Hindus of Eastern Bengal by Tathagata Roy" which once again shows that it was Hindu counter rioting that saved Hindus in Calcutta not the law and order or police which many are so fond of repeating like parrots during riots like the Gujarat ones:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"From the next day however, that is August 18, Suhrawardy's goons and
compatriots (some of whom had nothing to do with the riots) started
getting a taste of their own medicine. The lead was taken by the
Hindu Kalwars (ironmongers and scrap dealers) from Bihar and U.P.,
who were then joined by Sikhs and Hindu Bengalis. Armed with
crowbars, Kripan (the Sikh dagger), swords and other lethal weapons
they set out to avenge the last two days' depredations. In this they
showed an incredible ferocity that was not hitherto known to exist in
them. As with Hindu dwellings, there was also widespread torching in
Muslim areas. Suhrawardy was probably not prepared for any reprisals
from Hindus whom he must have taken as followers of Gandhi, and
therefore necessarily incapable of violence. The massacre of Muslims
in retaliation therefore took him by complete surprise. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>It is
primarily these reprisals that forced him to call a halt to the
devilry that he had, by unspeakable abuse of state power, unleashed.
Meanwhile the atrocities rolled on to the 19th, by which time the
Hindus had more than evened the score. A senior Imperial Police
officer told Ashok Mitra that on the 18th Suhrawardy was found
sitting forlornly at the Lalbazar control room table, mumbling to
himself `My poor, innocent Muslims'!</span>
[url=http://bengalvoice.com/uproot_chapter3.htm#_edn39"]http://bengalvoice.com/uproot_chapter3.htm#_edn39"[/url]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"From the next day however, that is August 18, Suhrawardy's goons and
compatriots (some of whom had nothing to do with the riots) started
getting a taste of their own medicine. The lead was taken by the
Hindu Kalwars (ironmongers and scrap dealers) from Bihar and U.P.,
who were then joined by Sikhs and Hindu Bengalis. Armed with
crowbars, Kripan (the Sikh dagger), swords and other lethal weapons
they set out to avenge the last two days' depredations. In this they
showed an incredible ferocity that was not hitherto known to exist in
them. As with Hindu dwellings, there was also widespread torching in
Muslim areas. Suhrawardy was probably not prepared for any reprisals
from Hindus whom he must have taken as followers of Gandhi, and
therefore necessarily incapable of violence. The massacre of Muslims
in retaliation therefore took him by complete surprise. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>It is
primarily these reprisals that forced him to call a halt to the
devilry that he had, by unspeakable abuse of state power, unleashed.
Meanwhile the atrocities rolled on to the 19th, by which time the
Hindus had more than evened the score. A senior Imperial Police
officer told Ashok Mitra that on the 18th Suhrawardy was found
sitting forlornly at the Lalbazar control room table, mumbling to
himself `My poor, innocent Muslims'!</span>
[url=http://bengalvoice.com/uproot_chapter3.htm#_edn39"]http://bengalvoice.com/uproot_chapter3.htm#_edn39"[/url]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->