Great Calcutta Killing of Aug 16, 1946 Remembered in Kolkata; Gopal Mukhopadhyay’s Statue Unveiled.

Kolkata recalls August 16, 1946, the black day of the Great Calcutta killing, vowing for Akhand Hindusthan.

Gopal Mukhopadhyay alias Gopal Patha’s statue unveiled in Kolkata, Shuvendu reminds  of ‘Hindu unity’ in the present situation of Bengal. 

Sankirtan Das | HENB | Kolkata | Aug 17, 2025:: Turning the pages of history, Shuvendu said, “Actually, Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted an undivided Bengal including Kolkata in the proposed Pakistan under two-nation theory . In undivided Bengal, 55 percent were Muslims at that time, and 45 percent were Hindus. Therefore, the Great Calcutta Killing was planned to completely eliminate Hindus in Kolkata on Direct Action Day.” West Bengal Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Shuvendu Adhikari, took to the streets in memory of those killed in ‘The Great Calcutta Killings’. He held a procession and the topic of Direct Action Day came up eventually.

The slogan of “Jai Shri Ram” was raised. He unveiled the statue of Gopal Mukherjee in Alipore. He reminded us of the history left behind. Gopal Mukherjee’s story during the violence of the 1940s has been made into a film by ‘Kashmir Files’ fame director Vivek Agnihotri. Today,

Shuvendu also spoke about it. He said, “Although it is late, today The Great Calcutta Killing Day has come to the fore. Vivek Agnihotri and his team launched the trailer of Bengal Files today.” Recalling the horror of the violence of the 1940s, Shuvendu said from the stage, “No Hindu was left out that day, from actor Chobi Biswas to mathematician Yadav Chakraborty, from the Hindu police of Garpar police station to the Hindu students of Ripon College, from the famous Kamalaloy Stores on Dharmatala Road to Laxmikant Das’s bicycle shop on Lower Circular Road. All the Hindu houses on Raja Dinendra Street were set on fire. More Hindus died that day than in the Battle of Plassey.” He brought up the topic of Jinnah.

The Great Calcutta Killings, also known as the 1946 Calcutta Riots, refer to a period of intense communal violence in Calcutta (now Kolkata) between Hindus and Muslims in August 1946. The violence, which began on August 16, 1946, was sparked by Direct Action Day, a demonstration organized by the Muslim League to advocate for a separate Muslim homeland, as the party took a resolution in its Lahore Conference in 1940 to strengthen the ‘Two Nation Theory’. The ghastly Hindu genocide on Aug 16th, 1946 known as the Direct Action Day, a pogrom of Hinducide planned and executed by Muslim League and its leadership Jinnah, Suhrawardy and Sheikh Mujib, where Hindu leadership of Congress led by Gandhi and Nehru  stood as docile mute witnesses.

Shuvendu said, “Actually, Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted an undivided Bengal including Kolkata. In undivided Bengal, 55 percent were Muslims at that time, and 45 percent were Hindus. Therefore, the Great Calcutta Killing was organized as a Direct Action Day to completely eliminate Hindus in Kolkata.” After that, he remembered Gopal Mukherjee and told the story of how he resisted even during the killing of Hindus at that time. He talked about how everyone stood shoulder to shoulder and stopped the miscreants. Going back to the pages of history,

Shuvendu said, “A statue of Gopal Mukherjee, although small, was established with dignity on this day. Gopal Mukherjee led that day, but all Hindus were united. There were also Biharis who came to work as laborers in the jute mill. But on that day, people who spoke Hindi and Bengali fought together. On that day, the Sikh community supported Gopal Mukherjee.”

Suvendu also took part in a rally started from College Square where many Hindu saints also attended the same programme.

Various organizations in Bengal also observed August 16 to remember Gopal Mukherjee as the savior of Hindus in Bengal from the onslaught of Direct Action in 1946 and as the day of commemoration of Akhand Bharat, which was partitioned as an effect of Direct Action in 1946.

Dakshin Banga Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) organized August 16 as Akhand Bharat Sankalp Diwas in various places in South Bengal. In Barasat (North 24 Parganas), Hindutva proponents Upananda Brahmachari, Rishi Dev, along with HJM leaders Ashutosh Mondal, Debashish Chakraborty, and Bikarna Naskar participated in the program.

While Rishi Dev and Bikarna Naskar both urged greater Hindu unity for avoiding a repeat of any August 16-like Hindu genocide leading to another separation of the country, Upananda Brahmachari pointed out the necessity of making a Cultural-Constitutional-Sovereign Hindu Rashtra both in Bharat and Nepal as a precondition for an Akhand Hindu Rashtra once again.

In a program held in the house of Gopal Mukhopadhyay at Malaga Lane, Attmonnayn Samiti, Bengal Volunteers, and Kanjik-Kahan organized the commemoration of August 16 Direct Action Day where Animitra Chakraborty (an eminent Bengali scholar) and the grandson of Gopal Mukhopadhyay, Shantanu Mukhopadhyay, were present.

In an impressive program at Shyambazar, Kolkata, Hindu Samaj Kalyan Samity took out a rally in commemoration of August 16 where its leader Saurav Shasmal and Late Tapan Ghosh highlighted the role of Gopal Mukhopadhyay as the savior of Hindus in Kolkata and Bengal during the fatal phases of Direct Action in 1946.
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