Bengalis Amnesia
Dr. Ghosh Dastidar
It is almost 20 years since Bangladesh became independent and 44 years for Indian independence. We,
Bengali speaking people need to remember the special significance of these dates. When we celebrate our
independence days, we need to realize the significance of these days and the sacrifice of the people
behind it.
I want to remind a special aspect of these days, which I feel we are forgetting very quickly.
Some may say what is the need for remembering the past, especially when it is painful? I feel if we do not
analyze and understand the significance of our painful days, we will face even worse days in future. As
the saying goes - Unless we learn from history, we are doomed to repeat its mistakes. I feel we Bengalis,
have learned very less from the history. We all suffer from amnesia to certain extent.
During WWII, Hitler unleashed a total destruction on Jews and Indian-origin gypsies (later included
socialists, communists and Slavs). The word holocaust became widespread to identify Hitler's decimation
of his victims. If you consider undivided Bengal from 1947, I think we faced at least three holocausts in
last 40-45 years. When I say that to fellow Bengalis, they ask, "How did you find three holocausts? It
difficult to find even one". I think the problem lies in our mindset.
A lot of you have heard about famine from 1950 or 1942. During the 1942 famine six to ten million
people died from starvation and related causes. Woodhead Commission (appointed by British
government) mentioned 1.5 million dead in just seven districts. Apart from direct starvation, a lot of
people died from mal nutrition and related diseases. According to Calcutta Anthropological Department,
3.4 million died from starvation. American professor Paul Green estimated the number to be 3.5 million.
Sadly enough, that year we had bumper crop in Bengal, much higher than average year. Incidentally,
districts like Chottogram, Kumilla, Barisal, 24 Parganas(including Calcutta), that had more proindenpendence struggle faced most acute famine. In addition, Khulna and Noahkhali also faced moderate
famine. British government proclaimed that they need more grains from Bengal to feed the British army
in Janpanese and German battlefields. In addition, they confiscated all the boats and ships from south
Bengal, from Medinipur to Noahkhali. According to government records they destroyed 66,500 vessels to
stop the advancing Japanese army using them in future. However, a lot of people say this wa done to
dampen the spirit of the freedom fighters. What ever the root cause was, the famine was created by
humans, and lot of us remember it as man-made disaster. But, how many text books in school mention
this?
Our second holocaust was during 1947 partition and independence of India and Pakistan. Soon after the
first partition of Bengal (1905), Bengalis from Calcutta to Dacca had gottten used to communal riots.
Those memories are not very strong in our minds. However, those riots were very small in magnitude. It
started to magnify from 1946, since the 'Direct Action Day" called by Muslim League. One of these riots
were in Calcutta in August 1946, which we remember as "Great Calcutta Killing". Later in that year,
thousands of people died in communal riot in Noakhali. Do we have any memorial for Calcutta or
Noakhali riots? Communal riots have become a part of our culture, we have stopped caring about the
victims of riots. The riots subsided a little after 1964. However, according to govornment records, about