The 1992 Calcutta riot in historical continuum: A relapse into 'communal fury'?

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 34, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 281-306

  Das, Suranjan ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

POPULAR PROTEST; RELIGION; VIOLENCE;

INDIA;

EID: 0034071187     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X0000336X     Document Type: Article

References (128)

1. Babri Masjid was a historic monument built by the Mughal emperor Babar. Hindu fanatics believe that this was constructed on the ruins of a temple built to commemorate the birth-place of the mythical figure Ram. Led by the Bharatiya Janata Party the Hindu sectarian forces demolished this mosque on 6 December 1992 to build a Ram temple in its place. The worst spate of communal rioting in post-independent India followed this demolition.
2. See the interview by Biman Bose, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Sunday Mail (Delhi) [hereafter SM], 20-26 Dec. 1992.
3. This is how the decolonization process in the subcontinent is described where the departing colonial rulers transferred power to two successor states carved out of British India along religious lines - the predominantly Hindu India and the Muslim Pakistan.
4. The term 'cow-belt' is used to imply the Hindi heartland which has been the main ground of Hindu fundamentalist politics in independent India.
5. See Suranjan Das, Communal Riots in Bengal 1905-1947 (Delhi: 1991 and 1993), for an explication of this thesis on the shift in the pattern of communal riots in British Bengal.
6. The Cabinet Mission led by the Secretary of State, Pethick-Lawrence, was sent by the British cabinet to India in March 1946 to discuss the framing of a constitution for India. It published its constitutional plan on 16 May 1946.
7. On this day Muslims all over India were urged to suspend their 'business' and resolve to end both the 'British slavery' and 'contemplated caste-Hindu domination' by establishing a separate Muslim state, Pakistan.
8. The Muslim League gathering on this day was 'the largest of its kind'. Estimates of its size vary from 30,000 to 500,000. See Suranjan Das, Communal Riots, p. 171.
9. Suranjan Das, 'Propaganda and the Legitimisation of Communal Ideology: Bengal 1905-1947', in Suranjan Das and Sekhar Bandopadhyay (eds.), Caste and Communal Politics in South Asia (Calcutta: 1993).
10. For details of the 1946 outbreak see Suranjan Das, Communal Riots, Chapter Six; and Suranjan Das, 'The Great Calcutta Killing of 1946', in Calcutta 1905-1971: Au cæur des créations et des révoltes du siècle, ed. Jean Racine (Paris, 1997).
11. For details of the 1946 outbreak see Suranjan Das, Communal Riots, Chapter Six; and Suranjan Das, 'The Great Calcutta Killing of 1946', in Calcutta 1905-1971: Au cæur des créations et des révoltes du siècle, ed. Jean Racine (Paris, 1997).
12. Cited in Suranjan Das, Communal Riots, p. 171.
13. See Suranjan Das, 'The Goondas: Towards a Reconstruction of the Calcutta Underworld through Police Perceptions', Economic and Political Weekly, 29 Oct. 1994.
14. This reconciliation with the idea of Partition was certainly not total. At the elite level both Gandhi and Abdul Gafar Khan opposed the division of the country along religious lines. Recent studies have shown how, at the popular level, large sections of Muslims and Hindus opposed Partition. See Papiya Ghosh, 'The Discourse and Politics of Qaum, Mazhab and Biradari in 19405 Bihar', paper presented at the seminar on Northern India and Indian Independence, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, 6-9 December 1993.
15. There were communal tensions in Calcutta in 1948 and 1950.
16. It is widely believed in the Muslim world that a piece of sacred hair of Prophet Muhammad was brought to Hazratbal mosque.
17. Unless otherwise stated this riot has been reconstructed from the accounts of The Statesman (Calcutta) [hereafter ST], Amrita Bazar Patrika (Calcutta) [hereafter AB], Hindusthan Standard (Calcutta) [hereafter HS] and Ananda Bazar Patrika (Calcutta) [hereafter ABP]. I could also consult a short report on the disturbance compiled by the Intelligence Branch of Bengal Police preserved in Special Branch Record Room in Calcutta. No other official or unofficial report on the riot is available.
18. This is the crossing of Wellesley (now Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road) and Blochman Street. For details see ABP, 10 Jan. 1964.
19. This area comprised the four thanas of Entally, Beniapukur, Amherst Street, Belliaghata and Taltala.
20. See the statement by the Minister For Home (Police), Government of West Bengal, Proceedings of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, [hereafter WBLAP], Feb.-March 1964, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p. 601.
21. ABP, 11 Jan. 1992.
22. The two Hindu bustees that suffered were those in Motijheel and Linton Street.
23. See the submission by Barun De in Pratidin (Calcutta), 14.12.92. According to the Intelligence Branch report cited earlier, 5306 huts/rooms belonging to both communities were victims of the riot.
24. ABP, 20 Jan. 1964. However, an equal number of Hindus and Muslims lost their lives.
25. See the speech by Somnath Lahiri, WBLAP, pp. 84-5.
26. ABP, 18 Jan. 1964. The Forward Bloc leader of the Bengal Assembly, Hemanta Basu, alleged the presence in Calcutta of a large number of Pakistani nationals without valid visas in full knowledge of the Calcutta Police. He felt that such persons had a hand in instigating the riot. See WBLAP, p. 73.
27. ABP, 16 Jan. 1964.
28. Intelligence Report (see n. 16).
29. ABP, 18 Jan. 1964.
30. ABP, 17 Jan. 1964.
31. WBLAP, pp. 69-72.
32. Ibid., p. 881.
33. The Police Commissioner of Calcutta Tushar Talukdar's view is cited in the submission of Diptosh Majumdar, The Telegraph (Calcutta) [hereafter TT], 26 Dec. 1992.
34. Hindusthan Times (Delhi), 15 Dec. 1992.
35. See Shyamal Chakrabarti, 'Kolkatar Sampratik Danga' (Calcutta's recent riot) Nandan, Jan. 1993 and 'Danga O Sampradaikata: Kayekti dalil' (Riot and communalism: some documents) in Dangar Samay (During Riot), ed. Milan Dutta (Calcutta: 1994), Section-II, pp. 18-19.
36. See Shyamal Chakrabarti, 'Kolkatar Sampratik Danga' (Calcutta's recent riot) Nandan, Jan. 1993 and 'Danga O Sampradaikata: Kayekti dalil' (Riot and communalism: some documents) in Dangar Samay (During Riot), ed. Milan Dutta (Calcutta: 1994), Section-II, pp. 18-19.
37. According to the official estimate itself, during the first two days of rioting, out of the 18 killed 10 died in police firing. See Dangar Samay, Section-II, p. 18.
38. 35 thanas in this region were affected by the riot.
39. Ganasakti (Calcutta), 8, 9, 10, 11 Dec. 1992; Also see Diptosh Mazumdar's submission in TT, 26 Jan. 1992.
40. SM, 20-26 Dec. 1992.
41. Aajkal (Calcutta), 18 Dec. 1992.
42. TT, 26 Dec. 1992.
43. TT, 9 Dec. 1992.
44. This was experienced during the raids on the slums in East Calcutta. See the statement of local CPI(M) leaders cited m Aajkal (Calcutta), 11 Dec. 1992.
45. For instance, on 9 December in Topsia two motorcycles toured the areas targeted for attack, spreading wild stories to incite communal passions. While Hindus told of Muslim aggression, the Muslims were aroused by rumours of Hindu misdeeds. See Aajkal (Calcutta), 11 Dec. 1992.
46. Pratidin (Calcutta) 11 Dec. 1992. Translation of the passage is mine.
47. The slaughter-house is known as the Kilkhana slaughter-house is one of the largest of its kind, while the name of the school is Loreto School.
48. Aajkal (Calcutta), 18 Dec. 1992.
49. TT, 13 Dec. 1992.
50. TT, 11 Dec. 1992.
51. This term is used in India to described real estate dealers or developers.
52. Aajkal (Calcutta), 14 Dec. 1992.
53. ST, 18 Dec. 1992; SM, 20-26 Dec. 1992.
54. ST, 15 Dec. 1992.
55. Dangar Samay, Section-II, p. 10.
56. Ibid.
57. See the submission by Anirban Choudhury, ST, 18 Dec. 1992.
58. Report by Somesh Dasgupta, Business Standard (Calcutta), 20 Dec. 1992.
59. Financial Express (Delhi), 13 Dec. 1992;
60. Hindustan Times (Delhi), 15 Dec. 1992.
61. TT, 9 Dec. 1992.
62. Bartaman (Calcutta), 14 Dec. 1992.
63. Ibid.
64. Kolkatar Danga: Akti Samikha (Calcutta Riot: a survey) (Nagarik cutta: January 1993), p. 7.
65. Ibid., pp. 7-8.
66. Ibid. p. 8.
67. TT, 12 Dec. 1992.
68. Financial Express (Bombay), 14 Dec. 1992.
69. Kolkatar Danga, p. 25. Despite the Chief Minister's directives, the inhabitants of the bustee have been denied their legal occupancy right owing to bureaucratic wragling. Ownership record of this bustee is also not reportedly available in Calcutta Corparation. According to one estimate, the market price of the 15 bighas over which the bustee stads is as high as three crores of rupees.
70. Sunday Mail.
71. This was reported by Dr Purnendu Jha, member of the Mayor-in-Council in charge of bustees of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
72. SM, 20-26 Dec. 1992.
73. Economic Times (Bombay), 12 Dec. 1992.
74. TT, 13 Dec. 1992; Chakrabarty, 'Kolkatar Sampratik Danga'; Arun P. Mukherjee, 'Ayodhyakander Prekhita Paschimbanga o Police' (West Bengal and Police in the context of Ayodhya episode), Nandan, Jan. 1993. As in 1946, this time, too, 'respectable middle class residents' maintained close proximity with anti-socials for 'self-defence'.
75. TT, 13 Dec. 1992; Chakrabarty, 'Kolkatar Sampratik Danga'; Arun P. Mukherjee, 'Ayodhyakander Prekhita Paschimbanga o Police' (West Bengal and Police in the context of Ayodhya episode), Nandan, Jan. 1993. As in 1946, this time, too, 'respectable middle class residents' maintained close proximity with anti-socials for 'self-defence'.
76. Kolkatar Danga; and Chayayi December O Tarpar. . . Danga: Kolkata o Anyatra (Sixth December and After: Riots in Calcutta and elsewhere (APDR, Calcutta: March 1993).
77. ST, 9 Dec. 1992.
78. TT, 22 July 1994.
79. In a self-critical tone the West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, admitted the failure of politicians in combating communalism. He told a gathering in the Calcutta Book Fair: 'We politicians have tremendous responsibilities to maintain communal harmony and we have not perhaps always maintained that. Otherwise, how could the riots have taken place?', TT, 28 Dec. 1992.
80. TT, 26 Jan. 1993.
81. See the submission by Diptosh Majumdar, TT, 26 Dec. 1992.
82. These two had become household names during the riot. They are believed to have masterminded much of the noting and it took the police a long time to bring them to book.
83. Bartaman (Calcutta), 14 Dec. 1992.
84. Pratidin (Calcutta), 11 Dec. 1992. For an interesting analysis of the international press coverage of the Babri Masjid happening see Ratan Bhattacharya, et al., 'Ayodhyaye Sampradaik Tandab ïAntarjatik Sambadpatra' (Ayodhya communal carnage and international newspapers), Nandan, Jan. 1993.
85. Pratidin (Calcutta), 11 Dec. 1992. For an interesting analysis of the international press coverage of the Babri Masjid happening see Ratan Bhattacharya, et al., 'Ayodhyaye Sampradaik Tandab ïAntarjatik Sambadpatra' (Ayodhya communal carnage and international newspapers), Nandan, Jan. 1993.
86. TT, 16 Dec. 1992.
87. Ibid.
88. Aajkal (Calcutta), 11 Dec. 1992; Pratidin (Calcutta), 11 Jan. 1992; Kolkatar Danga, p. 5.
89. Aajkal (Calcutta), 11 Dec. 1992; Pratidin (Calcutta), 11 Jan. 1992; Kolkatar Danga, p. 5.
90. Aajkal (Calcutta), 11 Dec. 1992; Pratidin (Calcutta), 11 Jan. 1992; Kolkatar Danga, p. 5.
91. For involvement of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist forces in the recent riots outside Bengal, see Gyanendra Pandey, 'The Civilized and the Barbarian: The New Politics of Late Twentieth Century India and the World', Christophe Jaffrelot, 'The BJP in Madhya Pradesh: Networks, Strategies and Power', and Javeed Alam, 'The Changing Grounds of Communal Mobilization: The Majlis-E-Ittehad-Ul-Muslimeen and the Muslims of Hyderabad', in Hindus And Others: The Question of Identity in India Today, ed. Gyanendra Pandey (New Delhi: 1993); Sudhir Chandra, Of Communal Consciousness and Communal Violence: Impressions from Post-Riot Surat', Economic and Political Weekly [hereafter EPW], Vol. XXVIII No. 36, 4 Sept. 1993. For an analysis of inherent fascist trends within the Hindutva movement see Sumit Sarkar, The Fascism of the Sangh Parivar', EPW, Vol. XXVIII, No. 5, 30 Jan. 1993.
92. For involvement of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist forces in the recent riots outside Bengal, see Gyanendra Pandey, 'The Civilized and the Barbarian: The New Politics of Late Twentieth Century India and the World', Christophe Jaffrelot, 'The BJP in Madhya Pradesh: Networks, Strategies and Power', and Javeed Alam, 'The Changing Grounds of Communal Mobilization: The Majlis-E-Ittehad-Ul-Muslimeen and the Muslims of Hyderabad', in Hindus And Others: The Question of Identity in India Today, ed. Gyanendra Pandey (New Delhi: 1993); Sudhir Chandra, Of Communal Consciousness and Communal Violence: Impressions from Post-Riot Surat', Economic and Political Weekly [hereafter EPW], Vol. XXVIII No. 36, 4 Sept. 1993. For an analysis of inherent fascist trends within the Hindutva movement see Sumit Sarkar, The Fascism of the Sangh Parivar', EPW, Vol. XXVIII, No. 5, 30 Jan. 1993.
93. For involvement of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist forces in the recent riots outside Bengal, see Gyanendra Pandey, 'The Civilized and the Barbarian: The New Politics of Late Twentieth Century India and the World', Christophe Jaffrelot, 'The BJP in Madhya Pradesh: Networks, Strategies and Power', and Javeed Alam, 'The Changing Grounds of Communal Mobilization: The Majlis-E-Ittehad-Ul-Muslimeen and the Muslims of Hyderabad', in Hindus And Others: The Question of Identity in India Today, ed. Gyanendra Pandey (New Delhi: 1993); Sudhir Chandra, Of Communal Consciousness and Communal Violence: Impressions from Post-Riot Surat', Economic and Political Weekly [hereafter EPW], Vol. XXVIII No. 36, 4 Sept. 1993. For an analysis of inherent fascist trends within the Hindutva movement see Sumit Sarkar, The Fascism of the Sangh Parivar', EPW, Vol. XXVIII, No. 5, 30 Jan. 1993.
94. For involvement of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist forces in the recent riots outside Bengal, see Gyanendra Pandey, 'The Civilized and the Barbarian: The New Politics of Late Twentieth Century India and the World', Christophe Jaffrelot, 'The BJP in Madhya Pradesh: Networks, Strategies and Power', and Javeed Alam, 'The Changing Grounds of Communal Mobilization: The Majlis-E-Ittehad-Ul-Muslimeen and the Muslims of Hyderabad', in Hindus And Others: The Question of Identity in India Today, ed. Gyanendra Pandey (New Delhi: 1993); Sudhir Chandra, Of Communal Consciousness and Communal Violence: Impressions from Post-Riot Surat', Economic and Political Weekly [hereafter EPW], Vol. XXVIII No. 36, 4 Sept. 1993. For an analysis of inherent fascist trends within the Hindutva movement see Sumit Sarkar, The Fascism of the Sangh Parivar', EPW, Vol. XXVIII, No. 5, 30 Jan. 1993.
95. For involvement of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist forces in the recent riots outside Bengal, see Gyanendra Pandey, 'The Civilized and the Barbarian: The New Politics of Late Twentieth Century India and the World', Christophe Jaffrelot, 'The BJP in Madhya Pradesh: Networks, Strategies and Power', and Javeed Alam, 'The Changing Grounds of Communal Mobilization: The Majlis-E-Ittehad-Ul-Muslimeen and the Muslims of Hyderabad', in Hindus And Others: The Question of Identity in India Today, ed. Gyanendra Pandey (New Delhi: 1993); Sudhir Chandra, Of Communal Consciousness and Communal Violence: Impressions from Post-Riot Surat', Economic and Political Weekly [hereafter EPW], Vol. XXVIII No. 36, 4 Sept. 1993. For an analysis of inherent fascist trends within the Hindutva movement see Sumit Sarkar, The Fascism of the Sangh Parivar', EPW, Vol. XXVIII, No. 5, 30 Jan. 1993.
96. For this aspect of the Hindutva movement in North India see the perceptive analysis in Tanika Sarkar, 'Women's Agency Within Authoritarian Communalism: The Rashtrasevika Samiti And Ramjanmabhoomi1, in Pandey (ed.), Hindus And Others.
97. The former Director-General of Police of West Bengal, Mr Arun P. Mukherjee, admits this in his submission to Nandan. The Bombay riot of January 1993 also assumed the character of a 'land grabbing riot.
98. ST, 13 December 1992.
99. Ishita Mukhopadhyay, 'Urban Informal Sector and Communal Violence: Case Study of 1992 Riots in Calcutta', EPW, 27 Aug. 1994.
100. Submission by Malabika Bhattacharya, Financial Express (Delhi), 16 Dec. 1992.
101. Aajkal (Calcutta), g Dec. 1992; ABP, 9 Dec. 1992; TT, 10 and 19 December 1992; SM, 20-26 Dec. 1992.
102. Kolkatar Danga, p. 19.
103. 93 Financial Express (Delhi), 13 Dec. 1992.
104. 93 Financial Express (Delhi), 13 Dec. 1992.
105. 93 Financial Express (Delhi), 13 Dec. 1992.
106. 93 Financial Express (Delhi), 13 Dec. 1992.
107. Despite its anti-CPI(M) tone, 'Kolkatar Danga', had to acknowledge this. Yet another anti-CPI(M) survey of the Calcutta episode, Chayayi December o Tarpar . . . Danga: Kolkata o Aryatra, had to acknowledge the efforts of Leftist Councillors like Abdul Mannan, Abdul Ali and Abdul Khalek to check the violence.
108. Gyanendra Pandey, 'The Prose of Otherness', Subaltern Studies, Vol. VIII, eds David Arnold and David Hardiman (Delhi: 1994).
109. Ibid., p. 190.
110. Gautam Chattopadhyay, 'The Almost Revolution', Essays in Honour of S. C. Sarkar ed. Barun De et al. (Delhi: 1976). Also see Suranjan Das, 'The Politics of Agitation: Calcutta 1912-1947', in Calcutta: The Living City, Vol. II, ed. Sukanta Chaudhuri (Calcutta: 1990).
111. Gautam Chattopadhyay, 'The Almost Revolution', Essays in Honour of S. C. Sarkar ed. Barun De et al. (Delhi: 1976). Also see Suranjan Das, 'The Politics of Agitation: Calcutta 1912-1947', in Calcutta: The Living City, Vol. II, ed. Sukanta Chaudhuri (Calcutta: 1990).
112. The Greater Bengal Movement was initiated by Sarat Bose and Suhrawardy to establish a sovereign Bengal, independent of either India or Pakistan.
113. For an explication of this point see Suranjan Das, 'The Communal Challenge in Bengal Politics 1940-1947', The Calcutta Historical Journal.
114. ABP, 12 Dec. 1992.
115. TT, 9 Dec. 1992.
116. TT, 13 Dec. 1992.
117. TT, 10 Jan. 1993.
118. Uma Chakravarti, 'Victims, Neighbours and Watan: Survivors of Anti-Sikh Carnage of 1984', EPW, Vol. XXIX, No. 42, 15 Oct. 1994.
119. For instance, Birla-owned Kesoram Cotton Mills lie close to Lichubagan bustee. But when the poor inhabitants of this slum were subjected to violence, the workers of Kesoram Mills kept a safe distance. Prominent trade unionists like Kamalapati Roy of the All India Trade Union Congress were surprised how 'a section of the workers are divided on the communal line', Business Standard (Calcutta), 12 Dec. 1992.
120. Bartaman (Calcutta), 15 Dec. 1992.
121. See the article by Barun De in Pratidin. Translation is mine.
122. This was acknowledged by local CPI(M) sources too. TT, 13 Dec. 1992. Studies have established the relationship between social degradation and communal violence in Surat. See, for instance, P. Shah, 'Surat Riots: Degeneration of a City, EPW, 30 Jan. 1993.
123. Barun De in Pratidin.
124. See Suranjan Das, Communal Riots, for a study of how until the last moment the political pendulum in twentieth-century British India had oscillated between mainstream nationalism, separatism and class politics.
125. This is how ST, 17 Dec. 1992, describes the efforts of Md. Ayub Ansari and Qyabuddin Ansari - father and son - to save Hindu lives in Metiabruz.
126. Cited in the article by Shevlin Sebastian, TT, 25 Dec. 1992.
127. Uma Ghakravarti, 'Victims', EPW, 15 Oct. 1994.
128. TT, 25 Dec. 1992.