“It is complete nihilism to propose laying down arms in a world where atom bombs are around. It is very simple: there is no way of achieving peace other than with weapons.”
― Karl R. Popper
Disclaimer:
Lest there be any possibility of inadvertently or intentionally or even insidiously misconceiving the message meant to be conveyed in this article, we emphasise at the beginning itself that our aim is not, we repeat, not to create any ill-will or disharmony among the public, nor to paint any group as the assailant and the other as affected, marauder and martyr, winner and vanquished. The intended message is exactly the opposite. We want to present the ideal picture of a cordial and concordant society with kaleidoscopic cultures living harmoniously as brethren till the advent of a crooked, corrupt, and coveted leader on one side and an inactive, naïve, utopian, crotchety leadership on the other side and the havoc played by both on the sentiments of gullible masses resulting in a colossal cataclysm in history.
Prologue
During ‘The First War of Indian Independence’ in 1857, the fervid fraternity between Hindus and Muslims fusing together and fighting with full force was a shocking revelation for the British. All along, they never had any battle with their own might but had been able to expand their jurisdiction just by breeding bitterness between two neighbours and subsequently crushing both of them. They understood that if they wanted to successfully continue their exploitation further, they had to forge enmity between the Hindus and Muslims. The creation and perpetuation of Hindu-Muslim antagonism was the most cataclysmic accomplishment of British imperial policy: the colonial project of “divide et impera” (divide and rule) fomented religious antagonisms to facilitate continued imperial rule. Power was transferred from the East India Company to the British government in 1858. As a safety valve to vent their emotions, they created the Indian National Congress in 1885.
The preliminaries thus completed, the first attempt was made in 1905 by Curzon who divided Bengal into two. To their surprise, this was vehemently opposed and they had to withdraw their step in 1911. But alas! the seed for separation was sadly sown in 1906 with the creation of the Muslim League. It takes a lot of time for the formation of a bee hive but, unfortunately, just a second to permanently destroy it.
Direct Action Day
The distrust between the two major communities had gone so deep that, during the discussions while finalising the plan for the transfer of power in 1946, Muslim League demanded autonomous and sovereign states in the northwest and the east as Pakistan. Jinnah was quite clear in his aim: ‘Either a divided India or a destroyed India’. Also, they were determined to get as much area for them as possible. They wanted the whole of Punjab and Bengal. However, East Bengal, where Muslims were the majority was industrially backward while the West, with a Hindu majority, was advanced. So, Jinnah wanted to annex the west also. He conceived a conspiracy with the connivance of Suhrawardy, the then Chief Minister of Bengal. He wanted to drive out the Hindus by attacking them in a surprise stratagem. 16 August 1946 was fixed as Direct Action Day.
Sequence Of Events
Suhrawardy assured the rioters that the police and military will not interfere. This was an open invitation to riot without any fear of police action. Numerous fiery speeches by clerics in Mosques encouraged the Muslims to riot.
Muslims returning from the meeting killed Hindu shop owners who had kept the shops open, burnt the properties of Hindus, and started a reign of terror in Calcutta. The worst killings happened on the 17th of August. Hindus were either killed or forced to flee out of fear. The diabolical genocide of Hindus was committed to converting Calcutta into a Muslim-majority area. The gruesome events are beyond description.
Gopal Patha Enters The Scene
Gopal Chandra Mukhopadhyaya, called endearingly as Gopal Patha was born in a Bengali Hindu Brahmin family living at Malanga Lane in the Bowbazar area of Kolkata.
He was a staunch nationalist and an ardent follower of Subash Chandra Bose. He detested Gandhi’s principle of non-violence. He was also a philanthropist and always helped people in distress and calamity through his organisation called Bharat Jatiya Bahini. He had 500-800 people in his organisation, comprised of well-trained wrestlers.
During the state-sponsored massacre of Hindus, it was shocking that while the Muslim leaders were inciting their masses into unbridled violence, their counterparts from INC sadly observed senseless, stoic silence!
Enraged at the killings by Muslims, and the inaction of the police as well as congress leaders, Gopal decided to take the reins and retaliate. He gathered his followers and instructed them to fight fire by fire and brutality with brutality. ‘For each one killing, you kill ten.’ was his order.
For the first two days of the carnage, the Hindus were taken by surprise and could not retaliate, as was correctly predicted by the cunning Suhrawardy. Meanwhile, Gopal had procured overnight all types of weapons like swords, knives, spears, pistols, grenades, etc. On the third day, the Hindu force suddenly entered the scene and retaliated with a formidable force. Hindus, propelled by the patriotic spirit and inspiring leadership of Gopal, dealt such a savage blow that it was the turn of the Muslims to retreat and literally run away! Suhrawardy’s cunning and crooked plan miserably failed. He was absolutely defeated. One commendable factor even during such an impetuous onslaught, Hindu youths did no harm to Muslim women, children, the aged, and the infirm.
Gopal Patha’s onslaught had brought Suhrawardy down to his knees. He was showered with abuses and scorn by both Indians and the British. To save his face and also his government. a humiliated and defeated Suhrawardy sent his confidants to Gopal Patha to stop the killings. Gopal Patha imposed a counter condition that the Muslim League’s cadre and goons should stop the killings first. A helpless and unpopular Suhrawardy had no option but to accept his condition. The next day on 21 August 1946 his government was dismissed. Later in an interview, he told a journalist that after independence on 15th August 1947, Gandhi’s secretary had sent Gopal a message to surrender his arms. He refused and retorted that where was Gandhi during the Great Calcutta killings? Also, he refused to meet Gandhi.
It goes beyond saying that had Gopal Patha not spearheaded the Hindu resistance from 18 August 1946 onwards against the state-sponsored Muslim mob violence, the entire area now known as West Bengal would have become a part of Pakistan in 1947. Thus East Bengal was saved from the clutches of Pakistan by the indomitable courage and patriotic spirit of a single individual, Gopal Patha and he should have been rightly celebrated as the ‘Father of West Bengal’.
Treachery Of Our Pseudo Historians
However, after independence, the historians who were entrusted with recording history, unfortunately, turned out to be dubious in their loyalty to our nation and quite frugal with the elucidation of truth. They completely concealed hundreds of events and heroes, obfuscated facts in equivocal diction, and, in the cases of locally popular figures whom they cannot hide, scandalously twisted the episodes, depicting them as negative characters. Vanchinathan is just one instance. A brave patriotic youth who sacrificed his life for our motherland is attempted to be portrayed as a religious fanatic and his adversary, collector Ashe, a knave to the core is shown as a hero and a victim! Veerapandiya Kattabomman, who bravely confronted the British was depicted as a dacoit of Telugu origin. On the other hand, one Marudanayakam, a loathsome liegeman of the British is now being painted as a patriot by some groups!
In the present case also, since our historians could not hide under the carpet the events on Direct Action Day nor the massive killings that followed, they chose the alternative of describing him as a goon, goonda, butcher, and gang leader, and the story continues. To add insult to injury, Wikipedia recently deleted the page of Gopal Patha based on a proposal by a Pakistani editor. It is a cruel irony that we have a Suhrawardy Avenue in Calcutta while Gopal Patha breathed his last unnoticed in 2005 by natural death.
Conclusion
Of course, Gopal Patha was propelled by a spirit of saving a fertile, prosperous chunk of our motherland from getting grabbed by the enemies while launching upon his lofty mission and not in anticipation of laurels from anyone. We can learn two vital lessons from his history.
1. The proximate lesson:
Nonviolence is not ipso facto always the answer while facing violence. Gandhi popularised a famous sloka to enforce his ideas. “अहिंसा परमो धर्मः|”. But the complete sloka runs like this:
अहिंसा परमो धर्मः| धर्म हिंसा तथैव च:||
[Non-violence is the ultimate dharma, but dharmic violence also is equally good.]
So, non-violence is not an instant panacea for all social problems. While it is definitely a virtue at the personal level for an individual to practise for his spiritual upliftment, it is unworkable and disastrous at the macro level. It is not easy to determine whether an act is dharmic or not. It is not a simple binary decision. The subject of Dharma is vast and deserves a separate dissertation.
In this case, but for the drive, determination, and dynamism taken in the right direction by Gopal Patha, we would have permanently lost the entire West Bengal.
2. The deeper lesson: [Subtle and more important]
Never fall prey to selfish leaders who try to divide us. It is significant to note that the British were able to expand their rule not by the inherent capacity and command of their own forces but by a deceptive and double-crossing trick of creating enmity among our own natives. Till the advent of the British, there was concord, camaraderie, and communal harmony among all sections of the society. While it is understandable, though not at all justifiable, that they successfully hatched up hostility among us, it is deplorable that their successors, instead of taking concerted steps to remedy the situation and restore comity, have, propelled by mean selfish motive, continued to foster the same societal separation, by compartmentalising them into several divisions, such as language, territory, caste, etc. For several decades even after independence, the pernicious mindset continues to prevail. For instance, in Tamil Nadu alone, there are powerful pockets of Kongu Vellalar, Vanniyar, Nadar, Mukkulatthor, etc. and people identify themselves only with their respective factions and not even as a Tamilian, let alone a Bharatiya citizen. On the other hand, our Sanatana Dharma advocates, ‘वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्।’, encompassing the entire world. We have gone to the extent of even branding our national leaders and sequestering them into territorial, ethnic, and linguistic cubicles. Now, to add fuel to the fire, a strong proposition is on the sinister agenda of a few petty, parochial parties to propose a caste-based census which, alas, if implemented, will be the last nail in the coffin of national integration. It should be halted ab initio.
Fortunately for us, however, we are now blessed with the most ideal leader, ideal in every respect, to inspire us with lofty values, not just by pontificating prescriptions from the podium but with his own personal, practical example. Now it is time for us to jettison all our petty, partisan prejudices and preferences and instead start telling our conscience, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Let us all unite and put our shoulders to the wheel for building a preeminent nation.
References:
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Parasuram Sharma is a retired bank officer and an octogenarian whose interests include Sanathana Dharmam, Samskritam, history and politics.
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