1946 Bihar riots

Communal riots occurred in Bihar, India from 24 October to 11 November 1946, in which Hindu mobs targeted Muslim families.

Quotes

• After the excessive strain of the last two days I had a feeling of reaction and relaxation… This evening I returned by air from Bhagalpur. On arrival I learnt that the military had fired on a peasant mob in the rural areas some miles from here, and about 400 had been killed. Normally such a thing would have horrified me. But would you believe it? I was greatly relieved to hear it! So we change with changing circumstances as layers of fresh experience and feeling cover up the past accumulation... I have had horror enough during the past two days. Something incredible has happened here, or something that I would have refused to believe in, a few days ago. Hindu peasant mobs have behaved in a manner that is the extreme of brutality and inhumanity. How many have been done to death by them I do not yet know, but it must be a vast number. To think that the simple, unsophisticated, rather likable Bihar peasant can go completely mad en masse upsets all my sense of values... For a few days they had it their own way, with few checks or hindrances. And so when the news came that they have been stopped at last in one place and that 400 of them had died, I felt that the balance had been very slightly righted.
  • Nehru, letter that he wrote to Padmaja Naidu, dated 5th November 1946, nehru.sw2.vol.s01_text.pdf – Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Volume 15 Series 1, page 65ff in print ‘I am greatly relieved that 400+ Hindu peasants gunned down, balance slightly righted’: How Nehru justified killing of Hindus protesting against Noakhali massacre

• I have received a large number of letters stating that the Bihar Government had refused to indulge in firing and that it was only when I insisted upon it that this was agreed to. Some people imagine that I really took part in the firing. It is also usually stated that the casualties were very great. No doubt, you must have received many such communications, and the newspapers have also written much to this effect... “It does not seem to be realised by people that there is a vast difference between my going to Noakhali and my going to Patna. I went to Patna to meet old colleagues and discuss the situation with them and I stayed on at the request of those colleagues. It was not the Central Government inter-vening or overruling you. I couldn’t go in that capacity to Noakhali... .As for the firing, so far as I know, it was on a limited scale and, considering all that had happened, this firing was obviously not in excess of the situation. Indeed it erred on the other side. I was told that the total casualties would in no event exceed 250. That figure is by no means a big one considering everything.... If you agree with me, I suggest that a brief statement might be issued contradicting the report that the Bihar Government had refused to order firing and that I had personally ordered it. You could say that this and other reports are entirely unfounded and that your Government had asked for the military as early as 31st October and when they actually came they were given full discretion to meet the situation. As for me I stayed there at your invitation and I did not interfere in any way with your work or decisions. As for the firing I had nothing to do with it.”
  • Nehru, Nov 1946. letter to then Bihar CM Krishna Sinha aka Sri Babu (he remained Bihar CM till 1961). Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 15 series 1, pp. 94-5 in Print ‘I am greatly relieved that 400+ Hindu peasants gunned down, balance slightly righted’: How Nehru justified killing of Hindus protesting against Noakhali massacre

• Do you propose to repeat the unfortunate happenings in Bengal by killing the Muslims in Bihar? Is this the way in which you are showing your culture and civilisation of which you are so proud? .. You should be ashamed of your acts of lawlessness. I urge upon you to cry a halt even now and restore peace.
  • Nehru, speech at a public meeting at Monghyr dated 5 November 1946 which was published in ‘The Searchlight’ on 9th November 1946. – Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 15 series 1, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, page 61 in print ‘I am greatly relieved that 400+ Hindu peasants gunned down, balance slightly righted’: How Nehru justified killing of Hindus protesting against Noakhali massacre

• I wish to make it clear that the Government will take the most stringent measures to quell the disturbances. If the rioters do not repent for their acts and behave properly, the Government will not show any mercy towards them and they will be fired upon and bombed from the air if necessary... It is very shameful for you to resort to acts of lawlessness... By these acts you have proved traitors to your country and placed serious obstacles on the path of Swaraj. I want an assurance from you that you will give adequate protection to the Muslims even at the cost of sacrificing your all instead of thinking and acting in terms of retaliation for the happenings in East Bengal.
  • Nehru, Speech at Poonpoon on 4th November 1946, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 15 series 1, page 59 in Print ‘I am greatly relieved that 400+ Hindu peasants gunned down, balance slightly righted’: How Nehru justified killing of Hindus protesting against Noakhali massacre

Khosla G. D. (1989). Stern reckoning : a survey of the events leading up to and following the partition of India

Stern Reckoning by Justice Gopal Das Khosla Khosla G. D. (1989). Stern reckoning : a survey of the events leading up to and following the partition of india. Oxford University Press.

• The events in Calcutta and Noakhali could not fail to have repercussions in the neighbouring Province of Bihar.
  • pp 77 -82

• The happenings at Calcutta and Noakhali were associated with the Direct Action p an ol the League The Hindus could not help thinking that the campaign ot murder and loot in Calcutta and East Bengal was pait of a well-laid and prc-conceived design to intimidate and terrify the Hindus and the Congress so that they should be forced to concede Pakistan. Leaflets containing direct incitement to vio T cnce were recoveted from Muslims m various parts of Bihar.
  • pp 77 -82

• Shaheedul Haq of the Muslim Students Federation announced the basic creed of Jihad in the most provocative terms, saying, ‘‘for a Muslim the way to haven lay both in killing and being killed by a Hindu.’’... In the second week of October two Maulvis from Hyderabad (Deccan) were found m possession of three leaflets. These purported to have been issued by Allama Amiruddin Sahib of Najore, North-Western Frontier Province One of them was addressed to Mr. Jinnah and contained the following message . “ So far we have given sufficient time to Indian infidels. It is time to remove the darkness of infidelity and illuminate the whole universe by resplendent Islam. To accomplish this sublime cause we must slaughter the infidels as was done in the early days.” ... Another leaflet, found in circulation, was signed by one Habibur Rahman of Calcutta. This leaflet purported to contain the verbal directions of Mr. Jinnah and set forth elaborate instructions for the destruction of Hindu religion and culture, conversion and murder of Hindus, murder of nationalist Muslims, Congress leaders, and bestial attacks on Hindu women.
  • pp 77 -83