Discover Bengal · Unfolded
❦Quit India Phase and Bengal War Governance
Full list of figures, martyrs, coordinators, and collectives associated with 1942.
3 profiles
Chief Minister of Bengal
As Bengal's last undivided premier, he was a central actor in late colonial crisis politics and a leading advocate of the United Bengal proposal.
Calcutta and Bengal, 1946-1947.
He shaped the debate over whether Bengal would remain united, be partitioned, or seek an independent path.
Anti-Communal National Leader
Gandhi travelled through Noakhali and adjoining areas from late 1946, meeting residents and urging Hindu-Muslim reconciliation after the communal violence.
His Bengal intervention followed the Calcutta and Noakhali violence of 1946 and continued as negotiations over independence and partition intensified in 1947.
The episode illustrates both the possibilities and limits of locally focused peace work: Gandhi's presence supported reconciliation efforts, but it did not prevent the eventual partition of Bengal and India.
Gandhian anti-colonial leader
“Gandhian leader who was killed while leading a Quit India procession in Tamluk in 1942.”
A Gandhian organizer who joined the Civil Disobedience movement, took part in the Salt Satyagraha and anti-chowkidari-tax campaigns, and later led a large procession during the Quit India movement.
Born into a poor peasant family in Hogla near Tamluk, Matangini Hazra entered anti-colonial activism through local mass politics. She was arrested in 1932 for violating the salt law and again during the anti-chowkidari-tax campaign before becoming known as ‘Gandhi Buri’.
On 29 September 1942, at age 72, she led a procession of thousands, mostly women, toward government offices in Tamluk. Police firing killed her as she continued to hold the national flag, making her a lasting symbol of women’s participation and sacrifice in the Quit India movement.
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