In November 1946, over 400 Hindu peasants in Bihar were killed in an indiscriminate Police firing. The peasants had been protesting against Muslim excesses in West Bengal’s Noakhali where according to documented evidence Hindus were massacred, thousands in number. According to International media reports of that time, the Hindu pogrom which was covered as ‘Bihar Communal Riots’ claimed the lives of thousands of Hindu peasants, hundreds of whom were killed in Police firing.
As per an Australian media report available (notably several documents, reports, and letters have been concealed or erased from records), officials estimated that more than 400-500 people were killed in one village in Bihar alone which excluded casualties from police firing. However, the media reports added that some Muslim refugees were also killed in some places.
1/7
— Savitri Mumukshu – सावित्री मुमुक्षु (@MumukshuSavitri) November 14, 2023
On Nov. 8, 1946, interim PM Nehru watched police open fire, killing 400-1000 Hindus in Nagarnausa, Bihar for retaliating against Muslims for Noakhali massacre (5000+ slaughtered, Lakhs raped) In a letter to Padmaja Naidu, Nehru expressed RELIEF that 400 Hindus were murdered! pic.twitter.com/tvCX14R2G4
The report added that the Viceroy Wavell had conferred the Interim government leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, the same day when hundreds of Hindu peasants were massacred in Police firing.
However, letters (pdf) exchanged among the top government functionaries of that time reveal that the Prime Minister of the Interim government Jawaharlal Nehru, who went on to become the First Prime Minister of India, was particularly “relieved” by the fact that more than 400 Hindus were shot point blank by Police.
In one such letter that he wrote to Padmaja Naidu, dated 5th November 1946, he expressed strange relief. Notably, Padmaja Naidu was the daughter of Sarojini Naidu and went on to serve as the 4th Governor of West Bengal from November 1956 to June 1967.
Nehru initiated his letter by stating, “..After the excessive strain of the last two days I had a feeling of reaction and relaxation…”
Explaining the entire episode, he wrote, “This evening I returned by air from Bhagalpur. On arrival I learnt that the military had fired on a peasant mob in the rural areas some miles from here, and about 400 had been killed. Normally such a thing would have horrified me. But would you believe it? I was greatly relieved to hear it! So we change with changing circumstances as layers of fresh experience and feeling cover up the past accumulation.”
While speculating about the crimes of Hindus, the Interim government’s PM Nehru blamed Hindu peasants of Bihar for their deaths by hundreds in firing by security forces.
He added, “I have had horror enough during the past two days. Something incredible has happened here, or something that I would have refused to believe in, a few days ago. Hindu peasant mobs have behaved in a manner that is the extreme of brutality and inhumanity. How many have been done to death by them I do not yet know, but it must be a vast number. To think that the simple, unsophisticated, rather likable Bihar peasant can go completely mad en masse upsets all my sense of values.”
Without mentioning the Hindu pogrom in West Bengal’s Noakhali, he claimed that Hindus had had an unabated run in Bihar to retaliate. In the letter, he further stressed that a right balance has been struck by giving go ahead for security forces to kill Hindus en masse. He continued saying, “For a few days they had it their own way, with few checks or hindrances. And so when the news came that they have been stopped at last in one place and that 400 of them had died, I felt that the balance had been very slightly righted.”
In another reference to the incidence, he tried to guilt trip Hindu peasants and called on them to give up self-defence by invoking their righteousness, as per excerpts from his speech at a public meeting at Monghyr dated 5 November 1946 which was published in ‘The Searchlight’ on 9th November 1946.
He said, “Do you propose to repeat the unfortunate happenings in Bengal by killing the Muslims in Bihar? Is this the way in which you are showing your culture and civilisation of which you are so proud? .. You should be ashamed of your acts of lawlessness. I urge upon you to cry a halt even now and restore peace.”
His earlier warnings for example one issued on 4th November underscores the allegations that the police firing on Hindu peasants was carried out at the behest of the Interim government which was led by Nehru himself.
While delivering a Speech at Poonpoon on 4th November 1946, he said, “I wish to make it clear that the Government will take the most stringent measures to quell the disturbances. If the rioters do not repent for their acts and behave properly, the Government will not show any mercy towards them and they will be fired upon and bombed from the air if necessary.”
He added, “It is very shameful for you to resort to acts of lawlessness.” He argued that instead of slogans like ‘Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai’ or ‘Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Ki Jai’, Hindus should sacrifice their own lives to protect their Muslim brethren.
He went further to call Hindu peasants traitors for speaking against atrocities of Muslims in the wake of Noakhali massacre and putting up hindrance to not let Noakhali repeat in Bihar’s Patna or elsewhere.
He further sermonised, “By these acts you have proved traitors to your country and placed serious obstacles on the path of Swaraj. I want an assurance from you that you will give adequate protection to the Muslims even at the cost of sacrificing your all instead of thinking and acting in terms of retaliation for the happenings in East Bengal.”
According to the Hindustan Standard and The Hindu newspapers of 6th November 1946, he made similar kind of remarks humiliating and guilt tripping Hindus in the wake of Noakhali massacre on the same day at Nadaul and Jahanabad.
In one of his speeches at Gaya, he was asked a question “Why did you not go to Noakhali?”He responded by counter questioning saying that he had done his part and was doing his best for East Bengal, but what have the public and others done about it?
Conspicuously, two weeks after his open admission and expressing relief about police firing on hundreds, if not thousands of Hindu peasants in Bihar, he sent a letter to then Bihar CM Krishna Sinha aka Sri Babu (he remained Bihar CM till 1961). In this letter, he dictated to the Bihar government to clear his name and assume responsibility for asking forces to open fire on Hindu peasants and also peddle that the casualties were on “limited scale” considering what had been transpiring back then.
He said, “I have received a large number of letters stating that the Bihar Government had refused to indulge in firing and that it was only when I insisted upon it that this was agreed to. Some people imagine that I really took part in the firing. It is also usually stated that the casualties were very great. No doubt, you must have received many such communications, and the newspapers have also written much to this effect.”
Regarding his visits to Noakhali and Patna, Bihar and differing responses, Nehru rationalised it by arguing that he went to Bihar to meet his colleagues in personal capacity but had none in Noakhali to visit there in person.
He said, “It does not seem to be realised by people that there is a vast difference between my going to Noakhali and my going to Patna. I went to Patna to meet old colleagues and discuss the situation with them and I stayed on at the request of those colleagues. It was not the Central Government inter-vening or overruling you. I couldn’t go in that capacity to Noakhali.”
Dictating the Bihar government on what to do to absolve him, he said, “As for the firing, so far as I know, it was on a limited scale and, considering all that had happened, this firing was obviously not in excess of the situation. Indeed it erred on the other side. I was told that the total casualties would in no event exceed 250. That figure is by no means a big one considering everything.”
Explaining in detail, he further added, “If you agree with me, I suggest that a brief statement might be issued contradicting the report that the Bihar Government had refused to order firing and that I had personally ordered it. You could say that this and other reports are entirely unfounded and that your Government had asked for the military as early as 31st October and when they actually came they were given full discretion to meet the situation. As for me I stayed there at your invitation and I did not interfere in any way with your work or decisions. As for the firing I had nothing to do with it.”
However, the liberal leader allowed the Bihar government to not remain bound by his word but rather to use their own statements, better-worded ones.
