Partition's Biharis

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Volumn 17, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 21-34

  Ghosh, Papiya ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0042431746     PISSN: 1089201X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/1089201X-17-2-21     Document Type: Article

References (207)

1. Mushirul Hasan, "Muslim Intellectuals, Institutions and the Post-Colonial Predicament," Economic and Political Weekly, XXX, 47, November 25, 1995, p. 2997.
2. Qeyamuddin Ahmad, "Aspects of Historical Geography of Medieval Bihar," The Indian Historical Review, V, 1-2, July 1978-January 1979, pp. 119-20, 122-3, 125-6. For details of the Mughal suba of Bihar see pp. 130-2 and Irfan Habib, The Atlas of the Mughal Empire (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982), pp. 40-2 and sheets 10A and 10B.
3. Qeyamuddin Ahmad, "Aspects of Historical Geography of Medieval Bihar," The Indian Historical Review, V, 1-2, July 1978-January 1979, pp. 119-20, 122-3, 125-6. For details of the Mughal suba of Bihar see pp. 130-2 and Irfan Habib, The Atlas of the Mughal Empire (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982), pp. 40-2 and sheets 10A and 10B.
4. George Koovackal and Paul Jackson, "The Spread of Islam," in Paul Jackson, ed., The Muslims of India: Beliefs and Practices (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1988), p.119.
5. Fritz Lehman, "The Sufi Khanaqahs in Modern Bihar," in Yohanan Friedman, ed., Islam in Asia (Jerusalem, 1984), Vol. I, p. 227. For the conversion of Rajputs in Saran and Shahabad and the Babhans and Kayasthas in northwest Gaya, see L.S.S. O'Malley, revd. by A.P. Middleton, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Saran (Patna: Superintendent Government Printing, 1930), p. 43; Francis Buchanan, An Account of the District of Shahabad in 1812-33 (New Delhi: Usha Publications, 1982), p. 179; P.C. Roy Chaudhury, Bihar District Gazetteers: Gaya (Patna: Superintendent, Secretariat Press, 1957), p. 129.
6. Fritz Lehman, "The Sufi Khanaqahs in Modern Bihar," in Yohanan Friedman, ed., Islam in Asia (Jerusalem, 1984), Vol. I, p. 227. For the conversion of Rajputs in Saran and Shahabad and the Babhans and Kayasthas in northwest Gaya, see L.S.S. O'Malley, revd. by A.P. Middleton, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Saran (Patna: Superintendent Government Printing, 1930), p. 43; Francis Buchanan, An Account of the District of Shahabad in 1812-33 (New Delhi: Usha Publications, 1982), p. 179; P.C. Roy Chaudhury, Bihar District Gazetteers: Gaya (Patna: Superintendent, Secretariat Press, 1957), p. 129.
7. Fritz Lehman, "The Sufi Khanaqahs in Modern Bihar," in Yohanan Friedman, ed., Islam in Asia (Jerusalem, 1984), Vol. I, p. 227. For the conversion of Rajputs in Saran and Shahabad and the Babhans and Kayasthas in northwest Gaya, see L.S.S. O'Malley, revd. by A.P. Middleton, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Saran (Patna: Superintendent Government Printing, 1930), p. 43; Francis Buchanan, An Account of the District of Shahabad in 1812-33 (New Delhi: Usha Publications, 1982), p. 179; P.C. Roy Chaudhury, Bihar District Gazetteers: Gaya (Patna: Superintendent, Secretariat Press, 1957), p. 129.
8. Fritz Lehman, "The Sufi Khanaqahs in Modern Bihar," in Yohanan Friedman, ed., Islam in Asia (Jerusalem, 1984), Vol. I, p. 227. For the conversion of Rajputs in Saran and Shahabad and the Babhans and Kayasthas in northwest Gaya, see L.S.S. O'Malley, revd. by A.P. Middleton, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Saran (Patna: Superintendent Government Printing, 1930), p. 43; Francis Buchanan, An Account of the District of Shahabad in 1812-33 (New Delhi: Usha Publications, 1982), p. 179; P.C. Roy Chaudhury, Bihar District Gazetteers: Gaya (Patna: Superintendent, Secretariat Press, 1957), p. 129.
9. Lehman, op. cit., p. 230. For a list of the major Khanaqahs, see p. 232. Also Syed Hasan Askari, "Aspects of Society and Religion," in S.H. Askari and Q. Ahmad, eds., The Comprehensive History of Bihar (Patna: K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1987), Vol. II, Pt. II, pp. 377-93.
10. Lehman, op. cit., p. 230. For a list of the major Khanaqahs, see p. 232. Also Syed Hasan Askari, "Aspects of Society and Religion," in S.H. Askari and Q. Ahmad, eds., The Comprehensive History of Bihar (Patna: K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1987), Vol. II, Pt. II, pp. 377-93.
11. S.H. Askari, Islam and Muslims in Medieval Bihar (Patna: Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, 1992), pp. 228-97.
12. See G.A. Grierson, ed., Linguistic Survey of India (Calcutta: Superintendent, Government Printing, India, 1903), Vol. V, Pt. II, pp. 118, 119, Vol. VI, pp. 14, 86, 118.
13. See G.A. Grierson, ed., Linguistic Survey of India (Calcutta: Superintendent, Government Printing, India, 1903), Vol. V, Pt. II, pp. 118, 119, Vol. VI, pp. 14, 86, 118.
14. K.A. Azij, "Persian and Urdu Literature," in Kali Kinkar Datta, ed., The Comprehensive History of Bihar (Patna: K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1976), Vol. III, pt. II, p. 490. See p. 488 for the characteristics of Bihar Urdu.
15. Ibid., p. 487. Page 490 lists the villages and qasbas. Surendra Gopal, Patna in the 19th Century (A Socio-Cultural Profile) (Calcutta: Naya Prokash, 1980), p. 70 mentions the famous Urdu poet Shad Azimabadi writing poetry in Bhojpuri and in Magadhi as well.
16. Ibid., p. 487. Page 490 lists the villages and qasbas. Surendra Gopal, Patna in the 19th Century (A Socio-Cultural Profile) (Calcutta: Naya Prokash, 1980), p. 70 mentions the famous Urdu poet Shad Azimabadi writing poetry in Bhojpuri and in Magadhi as well.
17. Paul R. Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974), p. 106.
18. Ibid., pp. 196-97.
19. Ibid., p. 212.
20. Vinita Damodaran, Broken Promises: Popular Protest, Indian Nationalism and the Congress Party in Bihar, 1935-1946 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 338, f.n. 136.
21. W.G. Lacey, Some Aspects of the Census Operations of 1931 in Bihar and Orissa (Patna: Patna University, 1933), pp. 78, 104.
22. Janet Mary Rizvi, "Muslim Politics and Government Policy: Studies in the Development of Muslim Organization and its Social Background in North India and Bengal, 1885-1917," Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge, 1969, pp. 80-2.
23. Ibid., pp. 46-7.
24. Ibid., p. 82.
25. Bihar and Orissa Legislative Council Debates (Patna, 1930), pp. 18-20.
26. Rizvi, op. cit., pp. 48, 50-1 and 54.
27. Peter Robb, "The Impact of British Rule on Religious Community: Reflections on the Trial of Maulvi Ahmadullah of Patna in 1865," in Peter Robb, ed., Society and Ideology: Essays in South Asian History presented to Prof. K.A. Ballhatchet (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 146.
28. Ibid., Peter Robb, "Texts Communities and the History of Change in Modern South Asia," p. 20.
29. See my f.c. "Community and Nation: Bihar in the 1940s."
30. L.S.S. O'Malley, Census of India, 1911: Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and Sikkim (Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1913), Vol. V, pt. I, pp. 180-1. The Census notes that the bulk of the laborers from Bihar, Orissa and U.P. in Dhaka (35,000), Mymensingh (75,000) and Faridpur (12,000) were Hindus, (Kurmis, Kahars, Nonias, Kandus, Mallahs and sweepers). The number of Muslims migrating for employment (as coachmen, cart-drivers and railway servants) was very small.
31. I have not gone into the politics of the Jamiat-ul-Ulama-i-Hind-supported legal-spiritual institution, the Imarat-i-Shariah in this paper. It subscribed to a combination of composite nationalism and cultural autonomy. See my "Community Questions and Bihar Politics 1917-23," The Indian Historical Review, XVI, 1-2, July 1989-January 1990; "The Virile and the Chaste in Community and Nation Making: Bihar 1920's to 1940s," Social Scientist, 22, 1-2, January-February 1994.
32. I have not gone into the politics of the Jamiat-ul-Ulama-i-Hind-supported legal-spiritual institution, the Imarat-i-Shariah in this paper. It subscribed to a combination of composite nationalism and cultural autonomy. See my "Community Questions and Bihar Politics 1917-23," The Indian Historical Review, XVI, 1-2, July 1989-January 1990; "The Virile and the Chaste in Community and Nation Making: Bihar 1920's to 1940s," Social Scientist, 22, 1-2, January-February 1994.
33. See Vijay Chandra Prasad Chaudhury, The Creation of Modern Bihar (Patna: Yogeshwar Prakashan, 1964), pp. 97-9, 172, 175, 196-7, 199.
34. Sachchidananda Sinha, member Constituent Assembly, A Memorandum to be presented to President, Constituent Assembly, by the representatives of Bihar in the Constituent Assembly as a rejoinder to the note submitted by the representatives of West Bengal in the Constituent Assembly, on the question of the Amalgamation of certain parts of the districts of Bihar with West Bengal (Patna: Searchlight Press, 1948), pp. 9, 11-2; Bengal Bihar Boundary Issue: speech delivered by Shri Krishan Sinha, Chief Minister, Bihar, in the Bihar Legislative Assembly on May 15, 1953 (Patna Public Relations Department 1953), p. 13. West Bengal made a claim on the Sadr and Kishanganj subdivisions of Purnea, Santhal Parganas, excepting Godda, Hazaribagh minus Chatra, the Sadr subdivision of Manbhum and the Dhalbhum subdivision of Singhbhum, excluding Jamshedpur.
35. Sachchidananda Sinha, member Constituent Assembly, A Memorandum to be presented to President, Constituent Assembly, by the representatives of Bihar in the Constituent Assembly as a rejoinder to the note submitted by the representatives of West Bengal in the Constituent Assembly, on the question of the Amalgamation of certain parts of the districts of Bihar with West Bengal (Patna: Searchlight Press, 1948), pp. 9, 11-2; Bengal Bihar Boundary Issue: speech delivered by Shri Krishan Sinha, Chief Minister, Bihar, in the Bihar Legislative Assembly on May 15, 1953 (Patna Public Relations Department 1953), p. 13. West Bengal made a claim on the Sadr and Kishanganj subdivisions of Purnea, Santhal Parganas, excepting Godda, Hazaribagh minus Chatra, the Sadr subdivision of Manbhum and the Dhalbhum subdivision of Singhbhum, excluding Jamshedpur.
36. Contrary to the argument in Imtiaz Ahmad, "Pakistan and the Indian Muslims," Quest, 93, January-February 1975, p. 40 to the effect that there was a certain amount of fuzziness on the issue, and in Anita Inder Singh, The Origins of the Partition of India 1936-1947 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 56, that the League had concentrated on Pakistan without letting the Muslims in minority provinces know what their position would be in it.
37. Contrary to the argument in Imtiaz Ahmad, "Pakistan and the Indian Muslims," Quest, 93, January-February 1975, p. 40 to the effect that there was a certain amount of fuzziness on the issue, and in Anita Inder Singh, The Origins of the Partition of India 1936-1947 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 56, that the League had concentrated on Pakistan without letting the Muslims in minority provinces know what their position would be in it.
38. Ikram Ali Malik, compiled; Muslim League Session 1940 and the Lahore Resolution (Documents) (Islamabad: National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, 1990), pp. 381-9. In the case of Bihar the committee examined the proposal of converting the districts of Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Santhal Parganas, Muzaffarpur, Champaran, Saran and Patna, as well as the adjoining districts of Gorakhpur and Basti in U.P. into a Muslim zone for the purposes of migration in the future. But the proposal was given up because the Muslim percentage was "obviously so low as only 13 percent."
39. Papiya Ghosh, "The 1946 Riot and the Exodus of Bihari Muslims to Dhaka," in Sharifuddin Ahmed, ed., Dhaka: Past Present Future (Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 1991), pp. 282-3; L/p & J/5/153, Governor's letter of December 24, 1946 mentions a total of 118,000 refugees in the camps in five districts in Bihar (Patna: 65,000, Gaya: 20,000, Munger: 26,000, Bhagalpur: 400 and Saran: 300). L/P & J/5/181, D.O. No. 33 GB December 10-11, 1946, Dow to John Colville mentions how unlike Firoz Khan Noon and Khwaja Nazimuddin, Jinnah remained "intransigent" and "openly" advocated the migration of Biharis to Bengal.
40. Z.H. Zaidi, ed., Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Papers Prelude to Pakistan, February 20-June 2, 1947 (hereafter Jinnah Papers) (Islamabad: National Archives of Pakistan, 1993), First Series, Vol. I, pt., I, p. 95, A Note on Bihar by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy: "I pointed out to him [the Premier] over and over again that he should realize that persons are not likely to leave their hearths, their homes, their lands and their property and everything dear to them merely on accounts of political propaganda."
41. Z.H. Zaidi, ed., Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Papers Prelude to Pakistan, February 20-June 2, 1947 (hereafter Jinnah Papers) (Islamabad: National Archives of Pakistan, 1993), First Series, Vol. I, pt., I, p. 95, A Note on Bihar by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy: "I pointed out to him [the Premier] over and over again that he should realize that persons are not likely to leave their hearths, their homes, their lands and their property and everything dear to them merely on accounts of political propaganda."
42. Jinnah Papers (Islamabad: National Archives of Pakistan, 1994) First Series, Vol. II, pp. 313-4, Nichaldas C. Vazirani, MLA to Jinnah, Karachi, June 17, 1947. He suggested thal the Biharis be shifted to Muslim localities.
43. Ibid, Vol. I, pt. I, pp. 353-4, Yusuf A. Haroon to M.A. Jinnah, Karachi, March 22, 1947: "If you see Mr. Yunus or the Bihar leaders personally, you may kindly impress on them the necessity of Muslims coming to settle in this part of the country." The Sind Government's Communique, "Bihar Immigrants To Be Settled In A Colony": "We declare that the Government of Sind has got full sympathy with the Bihar immigrants and is ready to help with all possible facilities. We warn the Bihar Muslims not to get misled by the Press. Our Government is very anxious for urgent relief of the oppressed Bihari immigrants and is preparing plan for settling Bihar immigrants in a colony near Karachi commercial city." About getting "misled" the reference was to a controversy about when 60,000 acres of land, earmarked for cultivation by the Biharis would get water from the Lower Sind Barrage, i.e., in 1948-49 or 1952. See Karachi Pictorial Guide ( Karachi: Liberty Book Stall 1983), for the Bihar Colony and Sher Shah Colony.
44. Ibid, Vol. I, pt. I, pp. 353-4, Yusuf A. Haroon to M.A. Jinnah, Karachi, March 22, 1947: "If you see Mr. Yunus or the Bihar leaders personally, you may kindly impress on them the necessity of Muslims coming to settle in this part of the country." The Sind Government's Communique, "Bihar Immigrants To Be Settled In A Colony": "We declare that the Government of Sind has got full sympathy with the Bihar immigrants and is ready to help with all possible facilities. We warn the Bihar Muslims not to get misled by the Press. Our Government is very anxious for urgent relief of the oppressed Bihari immigrants and is preparing plan for settling Bihar immigrants in a colony near Karachi commercial city." About getting "misled" the reference was to a controversy about when 60,000 acres of land, earmarked for cultivation by the Biharis would get water from the Lower Sind Barrage, i.e., in 1948-49 or 1952. See Karachi Pictorial Guide ( Karachi: Liberty Book Stall 1983), for the Bihar Colony and Sher Shah Colony.
45. Morning News, June 24, 1947. February 28, 1947 mentions Jinnah approving a sum of Rs. 42,000 being used as railway fares for Bihari refugees.
46. Jinnah Papers, Vol. II, pp. 557-8, Press statement by Yusuf A. Haroon and Agha Ghulam Nabi Pathan (president and general secretary, Sind Provincial Muslim League), Karachi, July 27, 1947.
47. Morning News, August 12, 1947: "...They (the immigrants) seem to think that Pakistan is confined only to the city of Karachi, where every one of such immigrants wants to have a house, free plot of land, government job or facilities for business? See Morning News, September 19, 1947 and Star of India, January 21, 1948 for the Sind premier's concern at the influx of refugees.
48. Morning News, August 12, 1947: "...They (the immigrants) seem to think that Pakistan is confined only to the city of Karachi, where every one of such immigrants wants to have a house, free plot of land, government job or facilities for business? See Morning News, September 19, 1947 and Star of India, January 21, 1948 for the Sind premier's concern at the influx of refugees.
49. Morning News, August 12, 1947: "...They (the immigrants) seem to think that Pakistan is confined only to the city of Karachi, where every one of such immigrants wants to have a house, free plot of land, government job or facilities for business? See Morning News, September 19, 1947 and Star of India, January 21, 1948 for the Sind premier's concern at the influx of refugees.
50. Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase (Ahmedabad, 1956), Vol. I, pp. 681, 682: "...The contention that since the Muslim population is scattered in Bihar and nowhere forms a majority they cannot have a homeland is absurd. Rights belong to human beings and not to lands or areas. Five million Muslims of Bihar...want to live their own lives free from the fear of domination and annihilation by others....The districts demanded as a homeland for the Muslims of Bihar form a contiguous area and may form some sort of union with Chotanagpur and Santhal Parganas and make a strong independent sovereign state." Regarding the last bit, also see L/P & J/5/182, Fortnightly Report [FR] May (1)/1947.
51. Morning News, April 18, 1947. See Morning News, April 23, 1947 for M.A. Warsi's (general secretary, Division of Bihar Conference) statement that if any province was to be divided at all, it must be Bihar, for the case of Bihar Muslims was "the strongest." Thus if the Hindu majority of Bengal consisting of 46 percent of the total population felt weak against Muslims, who were about 54 percent, how could the unprotected Muslims of Bihar who were only 13 percent of the population face a fully armed aggressive majority? See April 30, 1940 for Latifur Rahman's (member, All India Muslim League Working Committee from Gaya) statement that this was the "only solution" for the Bihar Muslims for the Congress Ministry had completely failed to protect the Muslims. The demand for the partition of Bihar therefore had the "full and universal support of the entire Muslim population of the province? In fact separate homelands were to be allowed not only to Muslims but to the tribals and scheduled castes as well.
52. Morning News, April 18, 1947. See Morning News, April 23, 1947 for M.A. Warsi's (general secretary, Division of Bihar Conference) statement that if any province was to be divided at all, it must be Bihar, for the case of Bihar Muslims was "the strongest." Thus if the Hindu majority of Bengal consisting of 46 percent of the total population felt weak against Muslims, who were about 54 percent, how could the unprotected Muslims of Bihar who were only 13 percent of the population face a fully armed aggressive majority? See April 30, 1940 for Latifur Rahman's (member, All India Muslim League Working Committee from Gaya) statement that this was the "only solution" for the Bihar Muslims for the Congress Ministry had completely failed to protect the Muslims. The demand for the partition of Bihar therefore had the "full and universal support of the entire Muslim population of the province? In fact separate homelands were to be allowed not only to Muslims but to the tribals and scheduled castes as well.
53. Jinnah Papers, Vol. I, pt. I, pp. 801-3 for copies of the Division of Bihar Conference held at Gaya on April 19, 1947 and at Patna on May 11, 1947 and Mahboob Ahmad Warsi to M.A. Jinnah, Gaya, May 19, 1947.
54. Pyarelal, op. cit.
55. Jinnah Papers, Vol. I pt. I, pp. 780; see p. 846 for note by M.A. Jinnah on the Revised Draft Proposals, New Delhi, May 17, 1947 and M.A. Jinnah to Eric Mieville (for the viceroy), May 22, 1947.
56. L/P & J/ 5/182, FR May (2) 1947.
57. Morning News, May 4, 1947. Morning News, July 1, 1947 mentions the Purnea District Muslim League Council's resolution that in view of the fact that the Boundary Commission was to begin work, the League High command, especially the Quaid be requested to press for referring to the commission the question of eastern Purnea joining Pakistan, i.e., the entire Kishanganj and Araria subdivisions, Barsoi, Azimnagar, Kadwa, Karandighi, Baisi, Amdur, Purnea Sadr, Kasba Maniha, Manihari and Katihar sadar thana.
58. Morning News, May 4, 1947. Morning News, July 1, 1947 mentions the Purnea District Muslim League Council's resolution that in view of the fact that the Boundary Commission was to begin work, the League High command, especially the Quaid be requested to press for referring to the commission the question of eastern Purnea joining Pakistan, i.e., the entire Kishanganj and Araria subdivisions, Barsoi, Azimnagar, Kadwa, Karandighi, Baisi, Amdur, Purnea Sadr, Kasba Maniha, Manihari and Katihar sadar thana.
59. Morning News, July 15, 1947.
60. Star of India, July 28, 1947.
61. Morning News, June 20, 1947.
62. Ibid, July 20, 1947 and Star of India, July 26, 1947.
63. Ibid, July 20, 1947 and Star of India, July 26, 1947.
64. Morning News, July 19, 1947.
65. Jinnah Papers, Vol. I, pt. I, p. 950. "The Muslims of Bihar fought and died in thousands for Pakistan with the hope that they will get refuge in Bengal and an asylum in Calcutta. Actually no less than three lakh Bihar Muslims got refuge in West Bengal and in Greater Calcutta. Now what will be the fate of the homeless victims of the fight for Pakistan? Where will they go now? Will they be forced to shuddhi, serfdom and slavery? Where is the living space for more population in the most thickly populated East Bengal where the density of population is more than 1000 persons per square mile and which is deficit in foodgrains and has no industry at all?"
66. Ibid, pp. 950-1.
67. Ibid, Vol. II, pp. 52, 53, Raghib Ahsan, Calcutta District Muslim League to Jinnah, Delhi, June 4, 1947 and "Suggestions Re India Plan, Right of Option For the Excluded Areas of Assam and Santhal Parganas and Chotanagpur." Ahsan was also a signatory of the letter mentioned in f.n. 48.
68. For example, Morning News, July 28, 1947, statement by Sharifuddin Ahmad Khan, general secretary, Muslim League, Salboni Relief Camp, Midnapore.
69. Ibid, August 25, 1947, statement asking Biharis not to move to Jessore from Murshidabad till a decision was taken about them; November 14, 1947. He would be requesting the West Bengal government to keep them on till East Pakistan was in a position to take them. Also see the disapproving editorial of January 21, 1948.
70. Ibid, October 17, 1947, letter to the editor, Nurul Ainan, Asansol Camp, "...to our utter disappointment we find ourselves totally forsaken and coldly neglected."
71. Ibid, October 1, 1947, letter to the editor, "A Bihar Refugee," Dhaka. It was the less well-off Biharis who migrated to East Pakistan. The professionals mainly moved to West Pakistan.
72. Ibid, September 6, 1947, letter to the editor, "Non-Bengalee Muslims," Chittagong, that the railway staff were being "victimized by Muslim Bengalis in general" and that the Muslim League should intervene on their behalf; September 9, 1947, editorial: "Muslims not Bengalees;" September 23, 1947, letter to the editor, from Abdur Rafay Desnavi (Desna is village in Patna district), Chittagong, about his disillusionment with the slogan of Bengal for Bengalis and their being treated as "blood-suckers," "exploiters and aliens and treated as foreigners and despised." Also that many of them were considering returning to India.
73. Ibid, March 2, 1948, in a Dhaka speech.
74. David Ennals, "The Biharis in 1981," in Ben Whitaker, et al., The Biharis in Bangladesh (London: Minority Rights Group, 1982), p. 30; The Muslim Refugee, February-March, 1992, p. 10.
75. David Ennals, "The Biharis in 1981," in Ben Whitaker, et al., The Biharis in Bangladesh (London: Minority Rights Group, 1982), p. 30; The Muslim Refugee, February-March, 1992, p. 10.
76. Papiya Ghosh, "Reinvoking the Pakistan of the 1940s: Bihar's 'Stranded Pakistanis," Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, II, 1, 1995, p. 134.
77. The News, August 23, 1991, Nasim Khan, chief patron, Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee.
78. Muslim India, 67, July 1988, p. 331.
79. See, for example, Dawn, December 1 & 22, 1983; Star, December 22, 1983 and The Frontier Post, August 17, 1991, September 21, 24, 25, 1992.
80. See, for example, Dawn, December 1 & 22, 1983; Star, December 22, 1983 and The Frontier Post, August 17, 1991, September 21, 24, 25, 1992.
81. See, for example, Dawn, December 1 & 22, 1983; Star, December 22, 1983 and The Frontier Post, August 17, 1991, September 21, 24, 25, 1992.
82. "Reinvoking the Pakistan of the 1940s," p. 134.
83. The Herald, January 1990, p. 51.
84. "Reinvoking the Pakistan of the 1940s," p. 138. Also see Forum columns of The Muslim, May 23, 25 and 31, 1983 for representative muhajir letters in support of the repatriation of Biharis to Pakistan from Bangladesh. Daily Jang (London), letter to the editor, Israrul Haque, February 27, 1994 about the sacrifices of Biharis for the creation of Pakistan is just another example of the centrality of this self-image among the Biharis.
85. Ali Ashraf, The Muslim Elite (Atlantic Publishers, 1982), pp. 50, 51 and 115, 116.
86. Interviews in Kishanganj, Purnea, Ghazipur, Tarapur, Manianda, Munger and Gaya in January 1995 and in Ramzanpur, Asthawan, Desna and Negarnausa in February 1996.
87. See, for example, Lok Sabha Debates, 1972, Vol. 13, Nos. 21-30, April 11, 13, 19, 20, 1972.
88. Papiya Ghosh, "Contesting the Sharif: The Momin Conference-Muslim League Interface in Bihar, 1938-1947," seminar on "Caste and Class in India," Joshi-Adhikari Institute of Social Studies, New Delhi, April 4, 1992 (unpublished). The Momin Conference split in 1938.
89. Political Department, Special Sections, 1 (4)/ 1945, A.Q. Ansari, president, Bihar Provincial Jamiatul Momineen to Deputy Secretary to Government of Bihar, n.d.
90. Paul Brass, op. cit., p. 245.
91. Hasan Nishat Ansari, "Socio-Economic Status and Condition of the Momins Under British Rule," Journal of the Bihar Research Society, XVII-XVIII, January-December 1981-1982, pp. 496-502.
92. Ibid, p. 497; H. Risley, The People of India (ed., W. Crooke) (Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1969: first published, 1915), pp. 136-7.
93. Ibid, p. 497; H. Risley, The People of India (ed., W. Crooke) (Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1969: first published, 1915), pp. 136-7.
94. Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India (Delhi: Oxford University Press 1990), pp. 88-9. Contrary to his observation on p. 89, however, the term Julaha is still used among the ashraf Muslims; Hasan Nishat Ansari, "Origin and Appellation of Momins," Journal of the Bihar Research Society, VII, 1-4, January-December 1971.
95. Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India (Delhi: Oxford University Press 1990), pp. 88-9. Contrary to his observation on p. 89, however, the term Julaha is still used among the ashraf Muslims; Hasan Nishat Ansari, "Origin and Appellation of Momins," Journal of the Bihar Research Society, VII, 1-4, January-December 1971.
96. C.J. O'Donnell, Census of India, 1891 (Calcutta, 1893), Vol. III, p. 270.
97. P.C. Tallents, Census of India, 1921 (Patna, 1923), Vol. VII, pt. I, p. 111; Amiya Kumar Bagchi, "Deindustrialisation in Gangetic Bihar, 1809-1902," in Barun De, ed., Essays in Honour of Prof S.C. Sarkar (New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1976), p. 516; Pandey, op. cit., pp. 77-85; Ansari, "Socio-Economic Status," p. 581 .
98. P.C. Tallents, Census of India, 1921 (Patna, 1923), Vol. VII, pt. I, p. 111; Amiya Kumar Bagchi, "Deindustrialisation in Gangetic Bihar, 1809-1902," in Barun De, ed., Essays in Honour of Prof S.C. Sarkar (New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1976), p. 516; Pandey, op. cit., pp. 77-85; Ansari, "Socio-Economic Status," p. 581 .
99. P.C. Tallents, Census of India, 1921 (Patna, 1923), Vol. VII, pt. I, p. 111; Amiya Kumar Bagchi, "Deindustrialisation in Gangetic Bihar, 1809-1902," in Barun De, ed., Essays in Honour of Prof S.C. Sarkar (New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1976), p. 516; Pandey, op. cit., pp. 77-85; Ansari, "Socio-Economic Status," p. 581 .
100. P.C. Tallents, Census of India, 1921 (Patna, 1923), Vol. VII, pt. I, p. 111; Amiya Kumar Bagchi, "Deindustrialisation in Gangetic Bihar, 1809-1902," in Barun De, ed., Essays in Honour of Prof S.C. Sarkar (New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1976), p. 516; Pandey, op. cit., pp. 77-85; Ansari, "Socio-Economic Status," p. 581 .
101. Pandey, op. cit., p.85
102. Ansari, "Socio-Economic Status," pp. 492-3.
103. W.G. Lacey, Some Aspects of the Census Operations of 1931 in Bihar and Orissa (Patna: Patna University, 1933), p. 78.
104. S.P. Sen, ed., Dictionary of National Biography (Calcutta, 1972), Vol. I, p. 64.
105. The Indian Nation, December 28, 1934 and January 3, 1935.
106. Ibid.
107. The Searchlight, April 23, 1940.
108. Ibid., and May 9, 1940
109. Ibid., April 23, 1940.
110. Ibid., October 12, 1938 (Ranchi); December 18, 1938 (Arrah) and December 22, 1938 (Chatra).
111. Ibid., October 12, 1938 (Ranchi); December 18, 1938 (Arrah) and December 22, 1938 (Chatra).
112. Ibid., October 12, 1938 (Ranchi); December 18, 1938 (Arrah) and December 22, 1938 (Chatra).
113. Ibid., March 2, 1940, Ansari at the Muzaffarpur District Momin Conference.
114. Ibid., June 22, 1940, Ansari at the Shababad District Momin Conference.
115. Ibid., April 23, 1940, Ansari's presidential address at the first session of the Bihar Provincial Momin Conference.
116. Ibid.
117. Ibid., (Patna); May 9, 1940 (Begusarai); December 29, 1940 (Dhaka).
118. Ibid., (Patna); May 9, 1940 (Begusarai); December 29, 1940 (Dhaka).
119. Ibid., (Patna); May 9, 1940 (Begusarai); December 29, 1940 (Dhaka).
120. Ibid., April 23, 1940.
121. Ibid.
122. Ibid.
123. Ibid. As it turned out most of them including Latifur Rahman did not leave India in 1947.
124. Ibid., December 1, 1940.
125. Ibid., November 3, 1939.
126. For example, CID SB 71/1942, Conf. Dhanbad, March 18, 1942, Momin meetings in Katras and Conf. Dhanbad, March 26, 1942, Momin meetings addressed in the coalfields by Asim Bihari, general secretary, All India Momin Conference.
127. Hasan Nishat Ansari, "Momins, Cripps Mission and Aftermath," Journal of the Bihar Research Society, LXIII-LXIV, 1977-78, pp. 689-90.
128. Hasan Nishat Ansari, The Momin-Congress Relation, A Socio-Historical Analysis (Patna: Bihar Momin Intellectuals' Forum, 1989), p. 16.
129. The Searchlight, October 15, 1940 (Deer); June 22, 1940 mentions a resolution of the Shahabad Momin Conference against the anti-Momin policy of Ittehad, Asre Jadid and Star of India and called upon the Momin community to "effectively and totally" boycott those newspapers.
130. Ibid., June 22, 1940.
131. Ibid.
132. Ibid., December 1, 1940, Ansari at a meeting of the Momin Conference at Ramdachapra, Shahabad.
133. Ibid., April 23, 1940.
134. Ibid.
135. Ibid., December 29, 1940, Ansari at Dhaka is an example.
136. Ibid., June 22, 1940, Hafiz Manzoor Hussain at the Shahabad Conference.
137. Ibid., February 1, 1940, A.A. Noor at the Gaya Momin Conference.
138. Ibid., March 7, 1940.
139. Ibid., May 9, 1940.
140. Ibid.
141. Ibid., April 24, 1940.
142. Ibid., April 23, 1940. I have not come across the report.
143. Ibid., June 1, 1940.
144. Political Department, Special Section (hereafter PS) 644/1945, leaflet of the Momin Students' Federation, Deer; also see Appointment Department, Election Branch, 1E/BLA/11/1946, Report of the Returning Officer South Santhal Parganas, Muhammadan Rural Constituency, March 23, 1946.
145. Appointment Department, Election Branch, IE/BLA/11/1946.
146. Ibid., Conf. R.H. Prasad Returning Officer, Palamau Muhammadan Rural Constituency to the Election Officer, Daltonganj, March 17, 1946.
147. Ibid., Patna City subdivisional officer's report on general elections, March 21, 1946.
148. The Searchlight, May 23, 1940.
149. Ibid., May 16, 1939 and February 10, 1940; PS 644/ 1945; Ansari, "Momins, Cripps Mission and Aftermath," p. 687.
150. Ibid., May 16, 1939 and February 10, 1940; PS 644/ 1945; Ansari, "Momins, Cripps Mission and Aftermath," p. 687.
151. H.N. Mitra, ed., Indian Annual Register, 1942 (New Delhi Gian Publishing House, 1990), pp. 329-30 for the All India Momin Conference Working Committee resolutions, April 6, 1942. Briefly it was noted that the 1931 census report on which Amery based his statements was "incomplete" and "misleading," in that it covered only 220 out of 335 million people, and excluded Momins who were not engaged in weaving, or had returned themselves as Sheikhs, "to conceal their Momin identity, with a view to save themselves from the social humiliation attached to the Momins as a class, as also to escape the disability of getting into the police, military and other government services with which the Momins suffer as a community to this day" (sic).
152. The Searchlight, December 11, 1940, letter to the editor from Syed Badruddin Ahmed general secretary, Bihar Provincial Muslim League. In reply to Ahmed's letter there was one from the secretary, Hazaribagh district Jamiyat-ul-Momineen on December 19, 1940 that while "the Syed Saheb" seemed to be against caste distinction among Muslims, he could not resist using the Syed prefix himself.
153. Star of India, January 27, 1941.
154. The Searchlight, April 24, 1940.
155. Ibid., December 1, 1940, Ansari at the Ramdachapra Momin Conference; and December 19, 1940, letter to the editor from the secretary Hazaribagh Jamiyat Momineen.
156. Ibid., April 23, 1940.
157. Ibid., June 22, 1940; December 1 and 29, 1940. Zahiruddin, president, All India Momin Conference, advised that all those who described themselves as Ansar, Ansaris, Safed-bufs and Nur-bufs, Momins or Julahas were to return themselves as one community, i.e., Momins.
158. Ibid., March 28, 1940.
159. Ibid., October 15, 1940.
160. Ibid., April 23, 1940.
161. Ibid., November 15, 1940.
162. Ibid., May 26, 1939.
163. Ibid., February 10, 1940, at the Gaya Momin Conference. For other examples of calls to backward Muslims to unite and overthrow the "capitalist/communalist" Muslim League leadership see March 2, 1940 (Noor at Mazaffarpur); March 7, 1940 (Ansari at Deoraj Tappa, Champaran); March 12, 1940 (Noor at Madhubani); June 22, 1940 (Ansari at Shahabad); December 15, 1940 (Abdul Ghafoor and I. Hussain at Nasriganj).
164. Ibid., December 30, 1939.
165. Ibid., February 16, 1939, Binodanand Jha in reply to Yunus.
166. Written communication from Zafar Ahmad Bihar Jamiatur Rayeen, Patna, February 25, 1992.
167. Dawn, March 2, 1946. This contrasts with the Jamiatur Rayeen communication of February 25, 1992, that the Rayeens in Bihar were "not enthusiastically disposed" towards what was "an elitist (Pakistan) movement."
168. The Searchlight, June 11, 1939. A. Samad, "Rayeen (Kunjra)."
169. Ibid., January 9, 1940.
170. Ibid., February 13, 1940.
171. V. Chaudhury, ed., Rajendra Prasad Correspondence and Select Documents (hereafter RPCSD] (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1986), Vol. VI, pp. 62-63, Gaya, December 11, 1945, S.M.A. Ahmed, Convenor, Mansoor Election Committee to Rajendra Prasad, president, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee.
172. Appointment Department, Election Branch, 1E/BLA/11/1946, April 1946, No. 876, "Important Decision of the Sub-Committee and Leaders of Provincial Jamiat Ul Mansoor of Bihar."
173. The Searchlight, December 14, 1946.
174. PS 644 /1945, "Brethren in Islam Beware: Momin Ansars Be Watchful!"
175. The Searchlight, April 24, 1940.
176. Ibid., April 23, 1940.
177. Ibid, Asim Bihari at Patna and December 15, 1940, Hafiz Manzoor Hussain at Nasriganj.
178. RPCSD (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1986), Vol. VI, pp. 46-47, from railway train, November 7, 1945, and Patna, November 12, 1945, to Vallabhbhai Patel.
179. Ibid, pp. 96-97, Patna, March 8, 1946, to Vallabhbhai Patel.
180. Return Showing Results of the Elections of the Central Legislative Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures in 1945-1946 (New Delhi, 1948). A.A. Noor won from North-east Darbhanga against Abdul Jalil (who had switched to the Muslim League) by 520 votes; Md. Yasin of South Santhal Parganas defeated Naimul Haq of the Muslim League by 254 votes; in Hazaribagh Md. Yasin won against Md. Ishaq Husain by a margin of 1095, in Palamau, Ramzan Ali was ahead of Md. Siddique by 3332 votes and in the Ranchi-cum-Singhbhum constituency Abdul Qaiyum Ansari won against Anwar Ali by 586 votes.
181. Ibid.
182. Khurshid Anwar Arfi (general secretary, All India Momin Conference), "The Momin Movement," The Hindustan Times, July 7, 1988.
183. The Searchlight, April 23, 1940, at the Bihar Provincial Momin Conference in Patna, Abdul Jalil observed that it was after their enfranchisement by the 1935 Act that the Momins had mustered the strength to consolidate themselves.
184. See Mushirul Hasan, "Muslim Intellectuals and the Post-Colonial Predicament," p. 2997.
185. See my forthcoming, "Community and Nation: Bihar in the 1940s."
186. PS 1 (47)/1945, A.Q. Ansari to Deputy Secretary, Political Department, Patna, April 11, 1945. Ansari sought permission for the publication of "Payam-e-Momin" to represent the views of both the Momin Conference and the Peshawar (Functional) Muslims" Federation. I have not come across any details about the latter.
187. Paul Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974), p. 247.
188. Ashraf, op. cit., p. 44. Also see Mohammad Aslam, "State Communalism and the Reassertion of Muslim Identity," in Zoya Hasan et al., ed., The State Political Processes, and Identity: Reflections on Modern India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1989), pp. 273-4, for comments on the development of a new idiom of Muslim politics in north India in the late 1960s and the 1970s.
189. Ashraf, op. cit., p. 44. Also see Mohammad Aslam, "State Communalism and the Reassertion of Muslim Identity," in Zoya Hasan et al., ed., The State Political Processes, and Identity: Reflections on Modern India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1989), pp. 273-4, for comments on the development of a new idiom of Muslim politics in north India in the late 1960s and the 1970s.
190. Harry W. Blair, "Rising Kulaks and Backward Classes in Bihar: Social Change in the Late 1970s," Economic and Political Weekly, XV, 2, January 12, 1980, p. 72.
191. Ibid., p. 65.
192. Ibid., p. 64; Annexure 1 listed the Most/Extreme Backward Classes and Annexure 2 the Other Backward Classes. Also see Papiya Ghosh, "Enumerating for Social Justice: Religious Minorities and the Indian Constitution," in Ajit Bhattacharjea ed., Social Justice and the Indian Constitution (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1996).
193. Ibid., p. 64; Annexure 1 listed the Most/Extreme Backward Classes and Annexure 2 the Other Backward Classes. Also see Papiya Ghosh, "Enumerating for Social Justice: Religious Minorities and the Indian Constitution," in Ajit Bhattacharjea ed., Social Justice and the Indian Constitution (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1996).
194. Ashraf, op. cit., pp. 108-9; GOI Report of the Backward Classes Commission, 1980, Vol. II, part I, appendix I, p. 67.
195. Ashraf, op. cit., pp. 108-9; GOI Report of the Backward Classes Commission, 1980, Vol. II, part I, appendix I, p. 67.
196. Ansari, The Momin-Congress Relations, p. 28.
197. Ibid., p. 51.
198. Ibid., pp. 51-2; see Govt. of Bihar, Dept. of Personnel and Administrative Reform, resolution No. 11/S, 1-105/84, November 14, 1984 for the enlistment. The resolution justifies the change in the light of having received "several" representations to that effect.
199. Significantly the Rayeens as also the Mansoors had not been keen during the 1940s to be part of a collective "together with the Idrisis and Quraishes" that the Momin Conference had tried to float.
200. Interview with Zafar Ahmad, secretary, Bihar Jamiatur Rayeen (BJR), December 29, 1993, Patna. The reference is to Ghulam Sarvar being active in the J.P. Narayan movement. Also see the BJR representation to Laloo Yadav, February (n.d.) 1991: Yeh poori abadi vipaksh ke khemay mein rahi hai"
201. BJR representation, February 1991.
202. For yet another positive assurance from Yadav, see Aaj, December 29, 1993.
203. Press statement of the Kulahia Development Organisation addressed to Jansatta to coincide with a day-long fast by 300 Kulahia students in Patna on December 29, 1993. I am grateful to Surendra Kishore for a copy.
204. The Hindustan Times, January 12, 1994.
205. Interview widi U.N. Sinha, chairman, Creamy Layer Committee, January 25, 1994, Patna.
206. The Telegraph, August 15, 1993. The stand is shared by Jabir Hussain, chairman, Bihar State Minorities Commission: telephone conversation on January 29, 1994, Patna.
207. The Hindustan Times, December 13, 1993.