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Partition and Bengal (1947 1957)

Sahil Avi Kapoor | 20140121136

Memory begins where history ends Pradip

Kumar Bose

The partition of the Indian Subcontinent is remembered as the turning point, a

defining chapter in the history of South Asia and the world. The Britishers rapidly

decolonized around the globe post the world war, but most of these political

liberations came in particularly dilapidated states. Much in the same way, the

Indian Subcontinent in 1947, saw its most volatile self culturally, socially, politically

and economically.

The exchange of patriots the Hindus coming to India from West Punjab, and the

Muslims leaving for Pakistan was most significantly a one-time affair in the case of

Punjab. But what is conveniently forgotten, and in fact hardly known by many, is

the fact that for Bengal the influx and outflow of people continued in large

measures till many decades after the partition. In fact, this cross border movement

still continues on Indias eastern borders in varied forms. And as recorded by S.

Gopal (1992) in his book Selected Work of Jahawarlal Nehru, the countrys first

prime minister had confessed at a press conference in 1950 that Bengal had

suffered more from partition than any other part of the country. Punjab had surely

suffered from large scale mass killings and rioting, but the partition and its after

effects had rendered Bengal into an economically and culturally crippled state.

Towards the west, the lands and properties left behind by the Muslims helped the

Hindus coming in from Pakistan to settle down in Punjab. The government even

made special efforts to take account of the losses incurred by the evacuees, and

provided them suitable compensation in immovable as well as variable assets.

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The situation in Bengal was not at all the same, neither were the evacuees offered

compensation nor any help in rehabilitation.

The influx of refugees from East Pakistan came in multiple phases. The upper class,

land owning and middle income strata came in first, between 1946 and 1949. The

next major batch of refugees consisted of mostly daily wage labourers and small

farmers, following the successive incidents of massacres in 1949 50. Lack of

political will and poor execution also resulted in the out and out failure of the

Nehru Liaquat Act, which sought to provide a way for the exchange of refugees.

Even the move to impose the passport regime for Pakistanis to enter India largely

backfired, for it led to mass panic and a now or never situation in the minds of

the people. This resulted in another round of a large, chaotic and fluctuating influx.

The cross border movement finally reached the crescendo when West Pakistan

unleashed genocide on the Bengalis in 1964.

The Jabar Dakhal Colonies and Class Politics

For the upper middle class population that flowed into Bengal in the late 1940s,

Calcutta was the most favoured destination. The refugees flocked to the city in

the wake of jobs, and housing opportunities with old friends. These upper class

refugees chose not to take shelter in the refugee camps, also because of their

class supremacy over the poor refugees. Meanwhile, illegally occupied land,

belonging to private landowners or the government were forcibly occupied by

the poor class that also poured into the city. This led to the formation of jabar

colonies across Calcutta, as well as the Hooghly and Howrah regions.

Meanwhile, these squatters also tried to collect themselves and demand justice

and rehabilitation thorough violent attacks. The government on the other hand,

instead of providing hope, came up with the Eviction of Persons in Unauthorized

occupation Land Bill that cemented its anti-refugee stand. This situation gave

birth to agitational politics and the formation of The United Central Refugee

Council. The UCRC started an aggressive campaign against this bill, and were of

the opinion that the government had no right to evict them forcibly without

having provided viable sanctions for stay, healthcare and food. They sought to

let every squatter know his / her rights and started an intensive propaganda

campaign involving and organizing all refugee organizations. They further worked

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towards building an empowered volunteer force in each colony area for the

security of lodged refugees. Emboldened and motivated, they even started to

collect funds to mobilize the disruptive band of politics. This agitational activism

was a marked change in the way India saw its civil societies. This vibrancy, this

new found vocal strength was a proactive resistance to the rehabilitation vote

bank politics of the Communists in Bengal and the Government of India. Later,

even when the Leftists gained influence among the refugees, they were never

able to make them their political vote banks or puppets. This revolutionary style of

politics had provided the shelter seekers a shared memory and a distinct personal

identity.

The Refugee Camps

The struggle of the Jabar Dakhal colonies was a stark contrast to the life at the

refugee camps set up as shelter for the displaced migrants. Although, according

to initial plan, the migrants were to be sent across different parts of the country

for resettlement, instant and viable arrangements couldnt be made. Thus, each

camp in West Bengal held far more refugees than its capacity and living

conditions were dismal. The Indian Government setup three main types of

camps, Permanent Liability camps, Womens camps and worksite camps. As the

womens camp mostly comprised of women who did not have any male

members to support them, the Government was quick to grant them permanent

resettlements around the camp area. Special efforts were made to counter the

falling morales due to long stays at the camp. This included the initiative to keep

willing, able bodied men busy with development work in and around the camp

sites. PL camps were granted to refugees recognized to be unfit for any

employment. It included young orphans, invalids and old people.

In most cases, tunnel shaped huts and barracks originally used by the allied

soldiers during the war were used as refugee camps. The refugees, who used to

come filled up into trucks and trains, were literally stuffed into these camps.

Overpopulated camps were supplied with additional tents to live under. Thus, life

was sub human at best.

The Government, initially, had no thought out plan for the rehabilitation of

refugees. It was only much later, in 1955 that the Government sought to provide

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assistance for ad hoc resettlement under the Byanama Scheme. As is

documented by P.K. Chakrabarty (1999) in The Marginal Men: The Refugees and

the Left Political Syndrome in West Bengal, under this scheme, the refugees were

allowed to choose small plots of land which they could then buy against

government loans. These loans were granted according to the occupational

backgrounds of the refugees. This scheme too, backfired because of gross

misappropriations and lack of organization in giving out these loans. Even when

suitable loans were handed out, there was a wide spread shortage of cultivable

land in and around the camps.

Finally, following the Indian Governments decision to oversee a sending out of

excess refugees outside West Bengal, caused widespread resentment among

the Bengalis. The camp dwellers launched multiple simultaneous satyagrahas,

demanding improved living conditions and proper rehabilitation. The

government, not paying any heed to the movement, continued to carry out the

exodus, which then caused a large scale civil disobedience movement. The

movement again did not last long, but again like in the case of the movement in

the Jabar Dakhal colonies, the refugees in the camps found one common identity

bound together by a history of scarcity and depravity.

Conclusion

Partition destroyed the economic and cultural backbone of Bengal. It was surely

not an easy phase for the displaced in Punjab as well, but at the least there were

government assistance and many could start life afresh. The Bengali settlers faced

a different, tougher, most constant challenge, an everyday fight for existence, a

life made up of shattered dreams.

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References

Abhijit Dasgupta, The Politics of Agitation and Confession: Displaced

Bengalis in West Bengal, in Sanjay K. Ray (ed.), Refugees and Human

Rights: Social and Political Dynamics of Refugee Problem in Eastern and

Northeastern India, (Jaipur: Rawat), 2001, pp.98-100

S.Gopal, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol. XIV, Part.1, New Delhi,

1992, p. 6 and p.23

B.S. Guha, Studies in Social Tensions among Refugees from East Pakistan,

(Calcutta: Government of India Press), 1959

Samir Kumar Das, State Responses to the Refugee Crisis: Relief and

Rehabilitation in the East in Ranabir Samaddar (ed.), Refugees and the

State: Practices of Asylum and Care in India, 1947-2000, (New Delhi: Sage),

2003, p.107.

Prafulla K. Chakrabarty, The Marginal Men: The Refugees and the Left

Political Syndrome in West Bengal, (Calcutta: Naya Udyog), 1999, pp. 280-

90.

Anasua Raychaudhary, Life After Partition: A Study on the Reconstruction

of Lives in West Bengal