Cultural Hegemony & Untold Genocides V4 Story by Rinita Mazumdar PhD
1946: Noakhali a district in Bengal province in Undivided India, which is now in Bangladesh. There was widespread attack on minority Hindus, instigated by the Muslim League by Muslim gangs. This was specially true of the abduction, rape, conversion and forced marriage of Hindu women. Gandhi was there to pacify the situation and asked Hindus to practice non violence.
Here is an instance of some of the things that happened to Hindu women. Noakhali, October 1946, East Bengal, now Bangladesh:Mr. Satischandra Dasgupta’s, who was with Gandhi writes,
“…… Dr. Amiyo Chakravarty and I came via Jagatpur to Tamta. We were taken to the house of the Mr. Bhowmick, a Hindu resident of the village. That house was burnt down completely during the mayhem. One of the male members of the house, a nephew living there, was murdered. He just passed his Bachelor’s degree in science. Everything in the house was looted and the house was set on fire. Hindu women were dragged out and raped. I could not imagine how such a thing could happen. One woman was left outside to die. She passed away a few days ago. The local Muslim men buried her, although she was supposed to be cremated, but they did not know how to do so. Other women were returned after 15 days. All of them were raped. One by one they were taken into the house. Even after one week the woman could not get out of bed. The fate of 40-50 women in Jagatpur were like this. “
Note Gandhi told women to bear it all silently. Gandhi told the Hindu women to keep poison with them, in case they were violated and during the torture should bite they tongue so as to make no noise, but never inflict pain on the other.
Find previous articles of Dr. Mazumdar's series on Global Conflict by clicking here.
Shiva’s Dance in Albuquerque
Rinita Mazumdar, Ph.D. is one of the leading feminist scholars in the Southwest. Originally from India, Dr. Mazumdar earned her Masters from India and Canada in Philosophy and MSc in Psychology from the University of Phoenix. She received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Find her poetry collection, “Shiva’s Dance in Albuquerque” by clicking here.
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