According to General Takkar, we were all shocked by the violence in February, but this time the matter was different. In the passion of killing, the mob was only ready to kill and arson with naked vandalism. The reins of the city of Calcutta had gone into the hands of the crime world…… There was no effort on the part of the police to control the situation. There was no bus or taxi in the day. The rickshaws were smashed and burnt. There was no way for the clerks to go to the office. ….. across the city people were sitting on their hands. The rioters were carrying heavy sticks and sharp iron rods. …..appearingly he was in a very dangerous mood.…. A man …… was thrashed to death less than a hundred yards away from the police. By the time the police got down from their vehicles slowly and acted, three people were beaten to death and they were lying on the road there.
Takkar wrote- 'On Monday 19th August 1946, Major Livermore's platoon removed more than 150 bodies from a crossroads. The foul smell in this area was getting beyond stamina. One of the reasons for this was also these dead bodies, due to whose removal a citizen was so obliged that he gave two bottles of champagne to the platoon. …… at 9 o'clock in the night, we got the order that at least the dead bodies should be removed from the main roads before the curfew is lifted at 4 in the morning. Deodorant and gas masks were also sent to assist us in the task of picking up the decomposing bodies. Maps identifying Muslim cemeteries and Hindu cremation grounds were also to reach us as quickly as possible. , How difficult was it to find out who was a Hindu and who was a Muslim among those who had been dead for three days! It took two more days and two more nights to finish my own field work. A total of 507 bodies were found in a company sector, most of which belonged to a locality of four hundred square yards. , There was a fear of cholera epidemic.'
Takkar wrote- 'By the night of 19th August, Calcutta was so disturbed by the danger of rotting corpses that the Bengal government announced to pay five rupees to the soldiers for disposing of a dead body. Among those who were engaged in this work was Major Dobney of the Calcutta's Forts Staff. …… Apart from a few contingents of British soldiers, the whole city had literally turned into a city of the dead. ……all the streets were illuminated so that the rotting humans and piles of rubble could be seen. Hand carts were filled with dead bodies and they were left on the side. …… …..the whole night this gruesome work was done.’
It was estimated that the death toll in this horrific massacre would have been in the thousands. According to non-official sources, about 16,000 Bengalis were killed between 16 and 20 August. According to the report of Margaret Bergwaite, many times more numbers were seen running across the Hooghly bridge. For several days, hordes of men, women, children and domestic animals continued to march towards the Howrah railroad station. When there was no space left in the trains, Hindus and Muslims separated and waited on the concrete floor. This was just a glimpse of the bloodshed for the creation of Pakistan.
Larry Collins and Dominic Lapierre wrote - 'On the morning of 16 August, groups of Muslims shouting religious slogans suddenly came out of their huts. Daggers, knives, swords, iron rods, any weapon that could break a human skull were shining in their hands. These Muslims had come out according to the challenge of the Muslim League….. so that it could be proved before England and the Congress party that the Muslims would take Pakistan…… Those Muslim groups killed whatever Hindu they saw, the dead bodies of the city open gutters. threw in. The hands and feet of the police swelled. Soon, pillars of black smoke rose in the sky from dozens of places in the city. Hindu settlements were getting destroyed. The markets were burning in fumes. Why do Hindus stay behind? Their gangs also started coming out of their shackles and killing Muslims. ….. 6000 people were killed in the city. On August 21, Lord Wavell sent information to the Secretary of India Pethick Lawrence that according to the current estimate 3000 people have lost their lives and 17 thousand people have been injured. The Congress had fully accepted that all this disturbance was the work of the Muslim League government of Bengal. But the Viceroy had not yet found any satisfactory proof to this effect. Regarding the dead bodies, it was estimated that the number of Muslims among the dead was much more than the Hindus. '
Moseley wrote that from the morning of 16 August 1946 until the evening of three days later, 6,000 people were put to death in Calcutta by beatings, bloodshed, fire, stabbings and bullets. Twenty thousand were raped or crippled for life. According to government figures, about 5000 people died in this period, 15,000 were injured and 10 thousand people were rendered homeless.
When a foreign correspondent asked Jinnah about the Calcutta massacre in late August, his reply was- 'If Congress governments continue to oppress and oppress Muslims, it will be very difficult to control the unrest. …….. in my opinion there is no option left but to establish Pakistan. …..we guarantee to take care of non-Muslims and Hindu caste-minorities of Pakistan. Their number will be about two and a half million. Their interest will be protected in every way. This can only be the way to bring true independence to India at the earliest and the welfare and happiness of all the people living in the subcontinent.'
The situation in Calcutta remained uncontrollable for several months
Considering Bengal as a safe hunting ground for 3.30 crore Muslims and 2.50 crore Hindus to play the game of violence and death, even though Jinnah and his confidant Suhrawardy celebrated Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946, thinking that they were in victory, but this There was such a game of violence and death in which victory is never for either side, so neither did Jinnah and Suhrawardy. In Calcutta, even though the police and military came out of the barracks and stood on the streets, the game of violence and death had started in its neighboring province of Bihar.
On 9 November 1946, Sir Hugh Doe, the Governor of Bihar, sent a report to Governor General Wavell about the communal riots in the province, stating that- 'Nine battalions of the army have been deployed in the riot-affected countryside areas. But the hordes of Hindus are bent on eliminating the Muslims wherever they get their hands. Almost all of the dead are Muslims and it is estimated that 75 percent of them are women and children.'