In India more than 10 states have their State Days which are observed with reverence. 22 March is Bihar Divas, 30 March is Rajasthan Divas, 1 April is Utkal Divas and so on. However West Bengal which was formed to safeguard the religion, culture and safety of Bengali Hindus and other non Muslims is yet to have its own day to celebrate. Absence of West Bengal Day and subsequently recent move to change the name of the state is to erase the history of formation of this state from the minds of the Bengalis. We therefore remind you the history of formation of West Bengal on 20 June 1947.
We must understand that West Bengal is not just a geographical entity, a land mass of western part of UndividedBengal. West Bengal is an idea, an idea which upholds the civilisational continuity of five thousand years, upholds the religious and cultural traditions of India. Bengal has been mentioned in Indian cultural milieu from the days of Mahabharata. India is the land of Seven Rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri.
The Ganga finally meets the sea through Bengal. But Bengal was violated by Islamic invasion at the beginning of 13th century and remained under Islamic regime more than 500 years. During this period Islamic zealots destroyed all major Hindu Temples and Buddhist Vihars, destroyed all books and cultural relics and converted nearly half of the population by the strength of sword. As Raja Rammohan Roy said that it was a divine providence, that British defeated the Muslim Ruler in 1757 and then Bengal again started to reconnect with Indian culture and civilisation along with western civilisation.
However during British rule, communal appeasement of Muslims paved the way to the demand of Pakistan, the homeland for Indian Muslims. Before the British decided to leave India after Second World War offering independence, the partition of India on religious line was made inevitable. In 1935 under India Act, first time a kind of elected governments started to rule Indian provinces under direct British rule. In Bengal, Muslims were given more shares in the seats in Legislative Assembly. When in 1946, partition of the country was final, the question of partition of Bengal (also Punjab) became a burning issue.
Then a great person appeared in the scene. Dr Shyma Prasad Mookerjee, an academic in totality, stood up for the rights of Bengali Hindus after seeing the return of black cloud of Islamic rule by Muslim League government in Bengal. Muslim league tried to include Bengal in Pakistan by calling for “Direct Action Day” on 14th August, 1946. This started Great Calcutta killing with Islamic violence but was equally retaliated by Hindu mob later. To take revenge, in October 1946, Islamic goons carried out genocide in Noakhali. So Dr Shyma Prasad Mookerjee, a great supporter of Indian unity, now called for partition of Bengal to create Hindu homeland.
Shyamaprasad’s call for creating West Bengal had a great support from all major Bengali intellectuals like Prof Jadunath Sarkar, Prof Ramesh Ch Majumdar, Scientist Meghnad Saha, Litterateur Suniti Chattopadhyay and others. Later the Congress party of Bengal also joined. So the idea of West Bengal took shape, a place where Bengalis of Indian civillisational background will live safely to practice their culture and religion, their families and women will not be violated by Islamic bigots. Only communists remained loyal to Pakistan and demanded to handover all Bengal to East Pakistan.
So finally it was decided that the future of the states like Bengal and Punjab with sufficient Hindu and Muslim presence will be decided by voting in the legislative assembly. As per the plan, on 20 June the issue of Bengal partition was decided upon by the members of the Assembly. Several rounds of voting were held. On the question of joining the 'present constituent Assembly' (ie, the Indian Union), the division of the joint session of the House stood at 126 votes against the move and 90 votes in favour. Then the members of the Muslim-majority areas (East Bengal) in a separate session passed a motion by 106-35 votes against partitioning Bengal and for joining a new Constituent Assembly (ie, Pakistan) as a whole. This was followed by the separate meeting of the members of the non-Muslim-majority areas (West Bengal) who by a division of 58-21 voted for partition of the province and joining Indian Union. It must be mentioned that a single majority vote in favour of partition by either notionally divided half of the Assembly would have decided the division of the province under the rule. So Hindu including all Scheduled caste members voted to form West Bengal and join India. West Bengal was formed on 20 June 1947.
After the partition of India in 1947, within a year the situation started to settle down in Western border because of population exchange in Punjab. East Punjab (Indian part of Punjab) had 33.09% of Muslims in 1941 which got reduced to 1.8% in 1951 and has not increased much till today. In fact it was B. R. Ambedkar who categorically stated long before partition in 1940 that ‘That the transfer of minorities is the only lasting remedy for communal peace is beyond doubt’.
However in West Bengal opposite happened. Unfortunately Jawaharlal Nehru, Premier of India, signed a notorious treaty known as Nehru-Liaquat Treaty in 1950 which allowed the Muslims to return to West Bengal. Two ministers of Nehru cabinet from West Bengal ,Dr Shyma Prasad Mookerjee and Khitish Chandra Niogi, veteran Congress leader, resigned from cabinet. After the formation of Bangladesh in 1972, Muslims from Bangladesh started to infiltrate in millions, aided by 34 years of Left rule and now pro-Islamic Trinamul Congress rule. So in case of West Bengal the Muslim population of 19% in 1951 increased to 27% in 2011 and now it is more than30%. It may be remembered that as millions of Hindu refugees have also come from East Pakistan and Bangladesh, there should have been actually increase in Hindu population in percentage.
West Bengal’s existence is dependent on two factors: 1) Sufficient majority of Hindu population as in 1951. This requires identification and deportation of more than 10 millions of Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators. 2) Protection of Indian culture and religion and safety of its citizens. Recent activities by Left and TMC rulers have posed serious threat to it by expulsion of Taslima Nasreen, attacks on Hindus at Deganga, Bongaon, Dhulagarh and other places, attack at Kaliachak, explosion near Bardhaman, stopping of Saraswati Puja and intervention on Durga Puja immersion ceremony, killing of students protesting forcibly inclusion of Urdu and may such instances.
To attain these goals we need introduction of Article 371 in West Bengal to preserve Indian and Bengali culture and passing of Citizenship Act to prevent demographic change to ensure full protection of all Hindu refugees.
It is now time for all of us to come forward to ensure the existence of West Bengal as dreamt by our great forefathers. It is also our best homage to Dr Shyma Prasad Mookerjee, the creator of West Bengal. We appeal to all organizations, all political parties and West Bengal Government to observe West Bengal day.
Published by Dr Mohit Ray for PachimbangerJanya, Kolkata. May 2019.