Noakhali riots Quotes

“Jogendra Nath Mandal”

“Religion in Bangladesh”

“Wikipedia: Noakhali riots”

“It was estimated that 99 per cent of the non-Muslim houses had been looted and between 70 and 90 per cent of the houses had been burnt down.”

“The aim of the Noakhali Muslims was to terrorize the Hindus, dishonour their women, plunder their property. desecrate their gods and convert them to Islam.”

“As a matter of fact, the driving out of minorities had begun as early as November, 1946 with Noakhali, when the whole of Northern India was flooded with destitutes begging for a morsel or a piece of cloth to cover their shivering bodies.”

“Calcutta and Noakhali did not bring any condemnation from the League of these criminal attacks on minorities. Far from it-in the League Press the attempt was made to shift the responsibility, where there occurrences were admitted at all, on the Hindus.”

“Having thus failed in Calcutta, the Muslim League selected another venue in the district of Noakhali, where the Hindus were only 18 percent of the total population, for the nefarious deeds of arson, loot, abduction and rape of the Hindu women, mass-conversion of faith and killings.”

“The ‘Clarian Call’ was answered about a fortnight later in the shape of the Calcutta, Noakhali and other riots in Bengal, the ghastliest and most terrible seen till then in India, to be bettered in this respect only by the Muslim holocaust of the minorities in the Punjab, in 1947.”

“The immediate occasion for the outbreak of the disturbances was the looting of a Bazar in Ramganj police station following the holding of a mass meeting and a provocative speech by the person now arrested, wrote the Governor, alleged to be the organizer of the disturbances — Gholam Sarwar Hussein.”

“"I may stay on here for a whole year or more. If necessary, I will die here. But I will not acquiesce in failure. If the only effect of my presence in the flesh is to make the people look up to me in hope and expectation which I can do nothing to vindicate, it would be far better that my eyes were closed in death."”

“The destruction is so complete that, except for sheets of corrugated iron, the looting of _ which is in progress each night even at present, nothing remains but pathetic wreckage. . . . Large numbers of small personal temple-huts have been burnt out, images have been pulled down and smashed and at least one large and brick-built temple has been looted and desecrated.””

“It was the cry of outraged womanhood that had peremptorily called him to Noakhali. He felt he would find his bearings only on seeing things for himself at Noakhali. His technique of non-violence was on tried. It remained to be seen how it would answer in the face of the present crisis. If it had no validity, it were better that he himself should declare his insolvency. He was not going to leave Bengal until the last embers of the trouble were stamped out.”

“The condition of refugees was deplorable. Foodstuffs were unavailable and the price of rice when it could be obtained was Rs. 2 per seer. A large number of refugees had congregated at different places and their state was pitiable. At Faridganj on November 2 there were about six thousand refugees huddled on boats and sheltering in huts ashore. Many of them were suffering from dysentery and other diseases. Rescue parties sent from Calcutta were refused police protection and had to go back.”

“The Calcutta carnage was followed by the 'Noakhali Riot' in October 1946. There, Hindus including Scheduled Castes were killed and hundreds were converted to Islam. Hindu women were raped and abducted. Members of my community also suffered loss of life and property. Immediately after these happenings, I visited Tipperah and Feni and saw some riot-affected areas. The terrible sufferings of Hindus overwhelmed me with grief, but still I continued the policy of co-operation with the Muslim League.”

“[The first news of the Noakhali violence reached Bengal Congress Office in Calcutta on 15 October 1946 from the Party members in Noakhali in the form of a telegram, which read:] ‘Houses burned on mass scale / Hundreds burnt to death / Hundreds killed / Otherwise large number Hindu girls forcibly married to Moslems and abducted / All Hindu temples and images desecrated / Helpless refugees coming to Tippera District / Golam Sarwar leader inciting Moslems to exterminate Hindus from Noakhali…’”

“The Congress Working Committee meeting came soon after at Delhi, and its resolution on East Bengal contained the following observations: “Reports published in the press and statements of public workers depict a scene of bestiality and medieval barbarity that must fill every decent human being with shame, disgust and anger. “The Committee hold that this outburst of brutality is the direct result of the politics of hate and civil strife that the Muslim League has practised for years past and of the threats of violence that were daily held out in past months.””

“It was clear after Noakhali as to what India was to expect in the coming months-mass attacks on minorities in Muslim-majority areas, co-operation of Muslim police and the officials with the assailants, indifference of the British bureaucrats, and the hypocritical fathering of the League leaders of the responsibility for these occurrences on the minorities themselves. In the case of Calcutta the League leaders blamed it all on the Hindus-in the case of Noakhali and Tipperah, the figures of casualties and damage were understated to ridiculous figures, or just not noticed.”

“Anti-Hindu propaganda was started in Noakhali towards the end of August. Meetings were held throughout the district on August 29 which was the occasion of the /d festival, Rumours were spread through the district that bands of armed Sikhs had been imported from outside with the object of assaulting and murdering Muslims. The Maulvis in their waaz (sermon) preached hatred against the non-Muslims and warned the Muslims to be on their guard. Soon afterwards looting of Hindu shops and houses in various parts of the district began. Temples were desecrated and idols were broken.”

“From a relief centre in an East Bengal village, Miss Muriel Lester wrote on 6 November 1946: ‘‘Worst of all was the plight of women. Several of them had to watch their husbands being murdered and then be forcibly converted and married to some of those responsible for their death. Those women had a dead look. It was not despair, nothing so active as that. It was blackness..... the eating of beef and declaration of allegiance to Islam has been forced upon many thousands as the price of their lives... perhaps the only thing that can be quite positively asserted about this orgy of arson and violence is that it is nota spontaneous rising of the villagers.’’”