Direct Action Day

Dead and wounded after the 'Direct Action Day' which developed into pitched battles as Muslim & Hindu mobs attacked and killed each other across Calcutta in 1946, the year before independence Direct Action Day , also known as The Great Calcutta Killing , was on 16 August 1946—a day of widespread riot and manslaughter in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal province of British India . The day also marked the start of what is known as "The Week of the Long Knives". The Muslim League and the Indian National Congress were the two largest political parties in the Constituent Assembly of India in the 1940s. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India for planning of the transfer of power from the British Raj to the Indian leadership proposed an initial plan of composition of the new Dominion of India and its government. However, soon an alternative plan to divide the British Raj into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan was proposed. The Congress rejected the alternative proposal outright. Muslim League planned general strike ( hartal ) on 16 August to protest this rejection, and to assert its demand for a separate Muslim homeland. The protest triggered massive riots in Calcutta . In Calcutta, within 72 hours, more than 4,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 residents in the city of Calcutta were left homeless. Violence in Calcutta sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali , Bihar , United Province (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab , and the North Western Frontier Province . These events sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India . But the most dangerous riots in India took place in Calcutta , Noakhali (now in Bangladesh)and Bihar . After the riots were stopped in Noakhali , the Muslim league claimed that only 500 Hindus were killed in Noakhali, but the survivors said that more than 50000 Hindus were butchered. The Hindu population in Noakhali was nearly annihilated. Report to Viceroy Lord Wavell . A City Feeding on Itself: Testimonies and Histories of ‘Direct Action’ Day . Muslim Societies: Historical and Comparative Aspects . Halfway to Freedom: A Report on the New India . India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat . Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. : |first= has generic name ( help ) ; External link in |series= and |title= ( help ) Das, Suranjan (2000).

Dead and wounded after the 'Direct Action Day' which developed into pitched battles as Muslim and Hindu mobs rioted across Calcutta in 1946, the year before independence Direct Action Day ( ) (16 August 1946), also known as the Great Calcutta Killings , was a day of widespread riot and manslaughter between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal province of British India . The day also marked the start of what is known as The Week of the Long Knives . The 'Direct Action' was announced by the Muslim League Council to show the strength of Muslim feelings both to British and Congress because Muslims feared that if the British just pulled out, Muslims would surely suffer at the hands of overwhelming Hindu majority, which resulted in the worst communal riots that British India had seen. The Muslim League and the Indian National Congress were the two largest political parties in the Constituent Assembly of India in the 1940s. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India for planning of the transfer of power from the British Raj to the Indian leadership proposed an initial plan of composition of the new Dominion of India and its government. However, soon an alternative plan to divide the British Raj into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan was proposed by the Muslim League. The Congress rejected the alternative proposal outright. The Muslim League planned a general strike ( hartal ) on 16 August, terming it as Direct Action Day, to protest this rejection and assert its demand for a separate Muslim homeland. In those days the situation in Bengal was particularly complex. In the province, Muslims represented the majority of the population (56%, as against 42% of Hindus) and were mostly concentrated in the eastern part. As a result of this demographic structure and specific developments, this province was the only one in which a Muslim League government was in power under the provincial autonomy scheme introduced in 1935 in coalition with the Europeans, and against the hurdle of strong opposition from the Congress, the Communist Party of India and also from a Hindu nationalist party, the Hindu Mahasabha . The latter was supported by many members of the rich Marwari trading community, composed of immigrants from Rajasthan, who largely dominated the economy of central Calcutta (although European capital was still important). In consequence, the inhabitants of Calcutta, 64% Hindus and 33% Muslims, were by then divided into two highly antagonistic entities. Against this backdrop, the protest triggered massive riots in Calcutta . More than 4,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours. This violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali , Bihar, United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab , and the North Western Frontier Province . These events sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India . Report to Viceroy Lord Wavell . A City Feeding on Itself: Testimonies and Histories of ‘Direct Action’ Day . Muslim Societies: Historical and Comparative Aspects . Halfway to Freedom: A Report on the New India . India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat . Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. : |first= has generic name ( help ) ; External link in |series= ( help ) Das, Suranjan (May 2000). JSTOR 313064 . : Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laysource= , |laysummary= , |laydate= , and |quotes= ( help )

Casualties Deaths 4,000 of Hindus in pre-1947 India Direct Action Day (16 August 1946), also known as the 1946 Calcutta Killings , was a day of widespread communal rioting between Muslims and Hindus in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal province of British India . The day also marked the start of what is known as The Week of the Long Knives . The Muslim League and the Indian National Congress were the two largest political parties in the Constituent Assembly of India in the 1940s. The Muslim League had demanded, since its 1940 Lahore Resolution , that the Muslim-majority areas of India in the northwest and the east, should be constituted as 'independent states'. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India for planning of the transfer of power from the British Raj to the Indian leadership proposed a three-tier structure: a centre, groups of provinces, and provinces. The "groups of provinces" were meant to accommodate the Muslim League demand. Both the Muslim League and Congress in principle accepted the Cabinet Mission's plan. However, Muslim League suspected that Congress's acceptance was insincere. Consequently, in July 1946, it withdrew its agreement to the plan and announced a general strike ( hartal ) on 16 August, terming it as Direct Action Day, to assert its demand for a separate Muslim homeland. Against a backdrop of communal tension, the protest triggered massive riots in Calcutta. More than 4,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours. This violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali , Bihar , United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab , and the North Western Frontier Province . These events sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India . of Bengali Hindus against Muslims in India Sarkar, Tanika; Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar (2017). Calcutta: The Stormy Decades . Report to Lord Pethick-Lawrence . Report to Viceroy Lord Wavell . In Narula, Monica (ed.). OCLC 607413832 . : |volume= has extra text ( help ) L/I/1/425. In Sato Tsugitaka (ed.). Muslim Societies: Historical and Comparative Aspects . Halfway to Freedom: A Report on the New India in the Words and Photographs of Margaret Bourke-White . In Islam, Sirajul ; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh .

1946 sectarian violence in British India Casualties Deaths 4,000 of Hindus in pre-1947 India of Bengali Hindus against Muslims in independent India Direct Action Day (16 August 1946) was the day the All-India Muslim League decided to take " direct action " for a separate Muslim homeland after the British exit from India. Also known as the 1946 Calcutta Killings , it was a day of nationwide communal riots. It led to large-scale violence between Muslims and Hindus in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal province of British India . The day also marked the start of what is known as The Week of the Long Knives . While there is a certain degree of consensus on the magnitude of the killings (although no precise casualty figures are available), including their short-term consequences, controversy remains regarding the exact sequence of events, the various actors' responsibility and the long-term political consequences. There is still extensive controversy regarding the respective responsibilities of the two main communities, the Hindus and the Muslims, in addition to individual leaders' roles in the carnage. The dominant British view tends to blame both communities equally and to single out the calculations of the leaders and the savagery of the followers for whom were criminal elements. In the Indian National Congress ' version of the events, the blame tends to be squarely laid on the Muslim League and in particular on the Chief Minister of Bengal, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy . The view from the Muslim League, which is partly upheld in Bangladesh , the successor state to East Pakistan , is that Congress and the Hindus in fact used the opportunity offered by Direct Action Day to teach the Muslims in Calcutta a lesson and to kill them in great numbers. Thus, the riots opened the way to a partition of Bengal between a Hindu-dominated Western Bengal including Calcutta and a Muslim-dominated Eastern Bengal (now Bangladesh ). The All-India Muslim League and the Indian National Congress were the two largest political parties in the Constituent Assembly of India in the 1940s. The Muslim League had demanded since its 1940 Lahore Resolution for the Muslim-majority areas of India in the northwest and the east to be constituted as 'independent states'. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India for planning of the transfer of power from the British Raj to the Indian leadership proposed a three-tier structure: a centre, groups of provinces and provinces. The "groups of provinces" were meant to accommodate the Muslim League's demand. Both the Muslim League and the Congress in principle accepted the Cabinet Mission's plan. However, the Muslim League suspected the Congress's acceptance to be insincere. Consequently, in July 1946, the Muslim League withdrew its agreement to the plan and announced a general strike ( hartal ) on 16 August, terming it Direct Action Day, to assert its demand for a separate homeland for Muslims in certain northwestern and eastern provinces in colonial India . Calling for Direct Action Day, Muhammad Ali Jinnah , the leader of the All India Muslim League, said that he wanted 'either a divided India or a destroyed India'. Against a backdrop of communal tension, the protest triggered massive riots in Calcutta. More than 4,000 people died and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours. The violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali , Bihar , United Provinces (modern day Uttar Pradesh ), Punjab (including massacres in Rawalpindi ) and the North Western Frontier Province . The events sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India . Calcutta: The Stormy Decades . Report to Lord Pethick-Lawrence . Report to Viceroy Lord Wavell . Calcutta: The Stormy Decades . In Narula, Monica (ed.). In Sato Tsugitaka (ed.). Muslim Societies: Historical and Comparative Aspects . Halfway to Freedom: A Report on the New India in the Words and Photographs of Margaret Bourke-White . In Islam, Sirajul ; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh . Concerning the Noakhali riots, one British officer spoke of a 'determined and organized' Muslim effort to drive out all the Hindus, who accounted for around a fifth of the total population. Similarly, the Punjab counterparts to this transition of violence were the Rawalpindi massacres of March 1947. The level of death and destruction in such West Punjab villages as Thoa Khalsa was such that communities couldn't live together in its wake.