The 1964 Kolkata riots: The tragedy of displaced Bengali Muslims hidden behind the shadow of Partition.
The catastrophic disaster that Partition inflicted on Bengali lives in 1947 was not one-sided. Just as nearly 1 million Hindu refugees left their hearth and home in East Pakistan to enter India, approximately 700,000 Muslim refugees likewise abandoned their homeland in India to enter the then East Pakistan. Regardless of Hindu or Muslim identity, the suffering and human tragedy on both sides were virtually equal.
However, calling the picture of Partition’s tragedy painted by Kolkata-centric intellectuals in West Bengal through their writings and discussions a one-sided campaign or propaganda would not be an exaggeration. As much discussion as there has been—and continues to be—in literature, cinema, and newspapers regarding the agony of uprooted Hindu refugees from East Pakistan, we see no such discussion or literature concerning the uprooted Muslim refugees who moved from India to East Pakistan. Consequently, a biased and erroneous perception regarding the disaster of Partition took root in the public consciousness of West Bengal, which should never have happened.
Furthermore, the horrific atrocities, oppression, murders, abductions, and waves of sexual violence unleashed by the Urdu-speaking West Pakistani military junta upon the Bengali-speaking population of the then East Pakistan in 1971 were in no way communal. Even so, when the Liberation War broke out, among the estimated 7,236,000 refugees who entered India from Bangladesh, nearly 95% were Bengali Hindus. The presence of Bengali Hindus standing on their native soil and fighting against the Pakistani occupiers was negligible. Among the approximately 3 million Bengalis killed (or 300,000 according to varying accounts) while fighting the Pakistani military forces, almost all were Muslims. Yet such is the power of propaganda that many in West Bengal believe that during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, atrocities, murders, and rapes selectively targeted only Hindus, and that these were committed exclusively by Muslims (with hardly any mention of the Pakistani Khan soldiers).
Amidst all this one-sided propaganda, the horrific violence in Kolkata—whose victims were primarily Bengali Muslims—has been buried. After the 1946 riots, this was the first severe religious violence to strike Kolkata. In organized phases, attacks were carried out against the lives, honor, and property of Muslims. Official figures placed the death toll between 100 and nearly 500, and around 70,000 Muslims were forced to flee, leaving behind their homes, mosques, and graveyards. As a result, once Bengali Muslim-dominated areas across vast stretches of Kolkata from Sonarpur to Shyambazar—such as Jadavpur, Selimpur, Omarpur, Jodhpur, Tollygunge, Gariahat, Sealdah, Maniktala, Kankurgachi, Bagmari, and Beliaghata—became almost devoid of Muslims.
On December 27, 1963, a sacred relic (a few strands of hair) of the Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), was stolen from the Hazratbal Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir. This incident sparked protests and mass movements across India as well as the then West and East Pakistan. The protest movement eventually erupted into violent riots targeting the minority Hindu community in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), resulting in the deaths of 29 Hindus. Due to the terrible situation during the riots, several hundred Hindu refugees crossed the border into West Bengal. This incident triggered retaliatory attacks against Muslims in the rural areas of West Bengal.
Reports of violence against Hindus in East Pakistan reached Kolkata’s urban and suburban regions through local media and incoming refugees. Late on the night of January 8, 1964, an enraged Hindu mob forcibly shut down Muslim-owned shops in the Sealdah area of Central Kolkata.
On January 9, public meetings were held across various parts of the city to protest the attacks on Hindus in East Pakistan. A massive procession marched to the Deputy High Commissioner of East Pakistan, demanding protection for Hindu victims from the Pakistani government and appropriate punishment for those involved in the violence. They also burned an effigy of Pakistani President Ayub Khan. In the evening, the situation deteriorated when a procession led mainly by students was attacked at Wellington Crossing in Central Kolkata—a Hindi- and Urdu-speaking Muslim-dominated area—by a group armed with sticks, bricks, and soda-water bottles. That same night, a Muslim mob hacked a Hindu man to death in Central Kolkata, sparking intense fury among local Hindus.
On the morning of Friday, January 10, riots spread across the Taltala, Beniapukur, Entally, and Beliaghata police station areas in Kolkata, with reports of isolated attacks, arson, and looting. Police opened fire five times and fired 36 rounds of tear gas. Meanwhile, Hindu students from surrounding areas of Kolkata boycotted schools and colleges, organizing a march toward the Pakistan High Commission to protest the deaths of the 29 Hindus. During a clash with police near Jadavpur, a first-year BA student from Andrews College was shot dead by police fire. The situation worsened further, fueling widespread tension among youth, the general public, and intellectuals. Elsewhere, clashes erupted between mobs and police in the Bongaon region as well as in Mahesh Tala, Rajabazar, Beliaghata, Entally, and Sonarpur.
To control the riots, the Army was called out on January 11 as violence peaked in Kolkata. A curfew was imposed from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM in Jadavpur, Budge Budge, Metiabruz, Mahesh Tala, and Sonarpur. The situation in the city outskirts was equally grim; near Bongaon in Gaighata, police intercepted a Hindu mob attempting to attack a Muslim village, resulting in three police officers being killed by rioters. The Indian Army entered Kolkata in the afternoon. According to official data, soldiers fired on mobs and looters twice before dusk. That night, dusk-to-dawn curfews were enforced across 8 out of 10 police wards in the city, with troops patrolling slum areas in East Kolkata. By nightfall, it was reported that over sixty people had died in the preceding three days. Over 50 incidents of arson occurred on that day alone. Between January 9 and 11, nearly 20,000 members of the Muslim community crossed the border into East Pakistan, with women and children outnumbering men three to one.
Rioting continued with equal intensity on January 12. Mosques, as well as Muslim shops and homes, were set ablaze using kerosene-soaked cloth. Reports of severe violence poured in from various parts of the city, including Sealdah, Taltala, Beliaghata, Entally, Beniapukur, and Garia. To restore law and order, orders were issued to dispatch three battalions of police from neighboring states and an additional battalion of Army troops to Kolkata.
By January 13, the condition of the Muslim community had become tragic. Official death tolls crossed 100, and it was estimated that over 70,000 Muslims in the city had fled their homes. Although several incidents of stabbing and bomb attacks occurred, the majority of riot incidents involved looting and burning Muslim properties. Since the outbreak of the riots, over 110 people were admitted to hospitals with gunshot wounds, and firefighters responded to over 200 cases of arson. Several shops and residences, alongside two rubber factories, were set on fire. Following the surge in arson and looting targeting Muslims, 24-hour curfews were extended across five areas of the city. Bus and tram services were suspended, and most shops and markets remained closed.
Like the 1946 riots, this wave of violence originated in the densely populated Urdu-speaking Muslim-dominated pockets of Central Kolkata. This belt in Central Kolkata has historically been inhabited by outsider killers, thugs, and opportunistic Hindi- and Urdu-speaking looters. They initiated the killings and plunder initially, but the consequences were borne by innocent Bengali Muslims residing in the outlying and rural areas of Kolkata. The majority Hindu Bengali population was seemingly determined to render Kolkata practically free of Muslims. Thus, despite relatively lower casualties, deliberate, systematic, and organized group attacks targeted Muslim shops, homes, and land in waves. Approximately 70,000 Muslim families were forced to flee, leaving behind their homes, mosques, and graveyards. As a result, once Bengali Muslim-majority areas across vast stretches of Kolkata from Sonarpur to Shyambazar—such as Jadavpur, Selimpur, Omarpur, Jodhpur, Tollygunge, Gariahat, Sealdah, Maniktala, Kankurgachi, Bagmari, and Beliaghata—were rendered almost completely devoid of Muslims.
When the situation calmed, instead of assuring safety to bring back those who were forced to flee, leaving their homes and land behind, the state government seized all the properties left by Muslims. Later, with state sponsorship, colonies were established on these seized lands for Hindu refugees arriving from East Pakistan. Today, many mosques, shrines, and graveyards can still be seen in these areas with no Muslim settlements around them—meaning they once existed, but no longer do. The few Muslim families who summoned the courage to endure amidst the horror witnessed luxury high-rises being built on their land right before their eyes, while their own financial condition and social standing grew steadily worse. Those who returned with hope after fleeing found their homes and lands fully encroached upon with state backing; plunged into extreme poverty, they managed to scrape by in extremely cramped pockets of specific areas like Garia, Tollygunge, Rajabazar, or Jyoti Nagar.
Yet today’s high-rise housing complexes and glittering shopping malls in South Kolkata mostly stand on land that once belonged to them. While poetry, novels, plays, cinema, music, and politics surround the uprooted Hindu refugees from across the border due to Partition, no discussion takes place regarding these people who became foreigners in their own land. Not a single line in a newspaper editorial is allocated for them; no hour-long discussion on TV channels addresses their plight. Consequently, no one even comes to know of their presence.
Sources:
Wikipedia: 1964 Calcutta riots
Sage Journals: The making of Muslim ghettos in Calcutta, 1946–64
BBC: 1964: Riots in Calcutta leave more than 100 dead
The Newwork Times: Root of Calcutta riots
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