Ajay Kumar at 19:26, 5 September 2023

2023-09-05T19:26:33Z

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{{Short description|Anti-Muslim riots in Bihar, India}}
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{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = 1946 Bihar riots
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| date = 24 October 1946 – 11 November 1946{{sfn|Mitra|1990}}
| place = [[Bihar]], [[British Raj|British India]]
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Communal riots occurred in [[Bihar]], India from 24 October to 11 November 1946, in which Hindu mobs targeted Muslim families. The riots were triggered by the [[Great Calcutta Killings]], as well as the [[Noakhali riots]] earlier that year. [[Mahatma Gandhi]] declared that he would fast unto death if the riots did not stop. The riots were part of a sequence of communal violence that culminated in the [[partition of India]].{{sfn|Mitra|1990}}{{sfn|Das|2000}}

==Background==
The 1946 Bihar riots were part of a series of incidents of communal violence that occurred across North India.{{sfn|Kausar|2006}} The frequency of such riots increased in the 1930s and 1940s; in 1945 alone, 1,809 riots took place in [[Uttar Pradesh]], and 3,176 riots took place across the country in 1946.{{sfn|Kausar|2006}} On 16 August 1946, the [[All-India Muslim League]] proclaimed [[Direct Action Day]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], as part of their demand for [[Partition of India|a separate state for Muslims]]. Major riots ensued across the city, with 4,000 people being killed.{{sfn|Das|2000}} These riots triggered [[Communalism (South Asia)|communal violence]] across the country, including in Bihar.{{sfn|Das|2000}} The [[Noakhali riots]] that occurred from 10 to 21 October also provoked violence in Bihar.{{sfn|Mitra|1990}}

===June riots===
The trigger for the riots that occurred in June was a dispute concerning a false allegation that a woman whom Hindus stated had been abducted by Muslims.{{sfn|Ghosh|1994}} In the village of Andhana, a group of Hindus demanding that the woman be brought forward became violent and were fired upon by Muslims, leading to two fatalities. Hindus also killed four Muslim people.{{sfn|Ghosh|1994}}

===September riots===
More riots occurred in September 1946, once again triggered by a dispute over the alleged abduction of Noor Jahan, formerly known as Kalyani Devi.{{sfn|Ghosh|1994}} A group of 30,000 Hindus led by members of the [[Arya Samaj]] attempted to rescue Noor Jahan in the belief that she had been kidnapped from Calcutta during the Direct Action Day riots. The failure of this rescue attempt turned into a riot, in which 200 houses belonging to 144 Muslim families were burned down, and 14 people were killed.{{sfn|Ghosh|1994}}

==October–November riots==
The largest riots of the year occurred from 27 October to 6 November, during which period a large number of Muslims were killed by Hindus in retaliation for the Noakhali riots{{sfn|Markovitz|2015}}{{sfn|Mitra|1990}} that had occurred earlier that month.{{sfn|Khan|2007|p=68}} There was wide variation in estimates of the number of casualties. A statement given to the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] put the death toll at 5,000. ''[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]]'' estimated the number of fatalities at between 7,500 and 10,000, while the [[Indian National Congress]] put it at 2,000. [[Mohammed Ali Jinnah]] of the Muslim League stated that 30,000 people had been killed.{{sfn|Stephens|1963|p=111}} An unofficial report on 8 November stated that 500 people had been killed in one incident in which a village in [[Munger district]] was leveled by fire, and 100 people had died when a mob was fired upon by the military. Another estimate stated that 35,000 had fled the fighting.{{sfn|''The Washington Post''|1946}}

The riots were severe enough that [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], then the head of the [[Interim Government of India|interim government]], threatened to bombard rioters from the air.{{sfn|Markovitz|2015}} A statement from the provincial capital of [[Patna]] stated that military forces had been deployed against the rioters, and inflicted heavy casualties on them.{{sfn|''The Washington Post''|1946}} Some historians have stated that the province's Hindu premier did not permit British troops to fire on Hindu rioters, ignoring the complicity of the Congress party in the riots.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2006|p=5}} Others point out that the government was eventually able to put a stop to the violence in Bihar, unlike in other regions.{{sfn|Mitra|1990}}

On 5 November, [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who was in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], visiting riot-stricken areas, stated that he would fast unto death if the violence in Bihar did not stop within 24 hours. His statement was broadcast nationally by [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] leader [[Rajendra Prasad]].{{sfn|''The New York Times'' (a)|1946}} At the time, official reports stated that 400 people had been killed, while leaders of the Muslim league states that the real toll was 5,000–8,000 people. [[Mohammad Yunus (politician)|Mohammad Yunus]], a leader of the Muslim league, asked Muslims to observe the festival of [[Eid al-Adha|Bakr-Eid]], which occurred on 5 November, as a day of mourning.{{sfn|''The New York Times'' (a)|1946}}

On 5 November, Jawaharlal Nehru issued a statement, saying "We must put an end to this madness; we can argue later," and adding "What has happened and what is happening in certain parts of Bihar province is terrible and I can hardly believe that human beings can behave in such a manner."{{sfn|''The New York Times'' (a)|1946}}

==Aftermath==
Following the riots, the Muslim League said that it had received a large number of complaints from its members, which stated that they were afraid to leave their homes.{{sfn|Ghosh|1994}} On 17 November the Muslim League passed a resolution asking the [[Viceroy of India]] to act on the riots in Bihar. The resolution stated that Muslims in Bihar still felt a threat "to life or property," and that the disturbances might easily spread. The resolution also stated that [[Hugh Dow]], the governor of Bihar and the [[Indian National Congress]] were responsible for the massacre. The Muslim League stated that Hindu mobs had killed 30,000 people in the province.{{sfn|''The New York Times'' (b)|1946}} Historians such as Suranjan Das have referred to the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946 as the first explicitly political communal violence in the region.{{sfn|Das|2000}}

==Notes and references==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite journal |last=Das |first=Suranjan |date=April 2000 |title=The 1992 Calcutta Riot in Historical Continuum: A Relapse into 'Communal Fury'? |journal=Modern Asian Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=34 |issue=2 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0026749X0000336X |pages=281–306 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x0000336x |jstor=313064 |s2cid=144646764 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Ghosh|first=Papiya|title=The Virile and the Chaste in Community and Nation Making: Bihar 1920's to 1940's|journal=Social Scientist|jstor=3517853 |date=January 1994|volume=22|issue=1|pages=80–94|doi=10.2307/3517853}}
* {{cite journal|last=Kausar|first=Zeenath|title=Communal Riots in India: Hindu–Muslim Conflict and Resolution|journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs|volume=26|issue=3|date=December 2006|pages=353–370|doi=10.1080/13602000601141323|s2cid=145443416}}
* {{cite book|last=Khan|first=Yasmin|title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780300120783|url=https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite web|title=Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence|url=http://www.massviolence.org/India-from-1900-to-1947?cs=print|first=Claude|last=Markovitz|access-date=25 November 2015|ref={{harvid|Markovitz|2015}}}}
* {{cite journal|last=Mitra|first=Asok|title=The Great Calcutta Killings of 1946: What Went before and After|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=25|issue=5|date=3 February 1990|pages=273–285|jstor=4395903}}
* {{cite news|title=Gandhi Threatens Fast Unto Death|work=The New York Times|date=6 November 1946|ref={{harvid|''The New York Times'' (a)|1946}}}}
* {{cite news|title=Indian Moslems Ask Action on Bihar Riots|work=The New York Times|date=18 November 1946|ref={{harvid|''The New York Times'' (b)|1946}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Ian|title=Pakistan|year=1963|publisher=Frederick A. Praeger|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=Steven I.|title=Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521536059|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLpRFbLSxvAC}}
* {{cite news|title=Death to 500 as Riots sweep India Province|date=9 November 1946|newspaper=The Washington Post|ref={{harvid|''The Washington Post''|1946}}}}
{{Refend}}{{Riots in India}}

[[Category:1946 riots]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1946]]
[[Category:Anti-Muslim violence in India|Bihar]]
[[Category:Pakistan Movement]]
[[Category:Partition of India]]
[[Category:Massacres in India|Bihar]]
[[Category:1946 in British India]]
[[Category:Religiously motivated violence in India|Bihar]]
[[Category:Persecution by Hindus|Bihar]]
[[Category:1940s in British India]]
[[Category:October 1946 events in Asia]]
[[Category:November 1946 events in Asia]]
[[Category:1946 murders in India]]

1946 Bihar riots - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 19:26, 5 September 2023