Historical Memory Journey
Banglapedia
A Bengal-centered reference on the 16 August 1946 hartal, the Calcutta violence, and its role in making partition more likely.
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1946
On 16 August 1946, the All-India Muslim League observed Direct Action Day to press its demand for Pakistan after the breakdown of constitutional compromise. In Bengal, where Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy headed the provincial ministry, the hartal and mass rally in Calcutta spiraled into devastating communal violence. The killings and reprisals in Calcutta, followed by violence elsewhere including Noakhali and Bihar, marked one of the clearest breakdowns of coexistence in late colonial India and made the partition of Bengal far more likely.