Jinnah chose Kolkata (Calcutta) for his Direct Action Day because he wanted Kolkata to be in Pakistan. Kolkata was a major commercial city in India at that time and Jinnah did not want to lose Kolkata! The mission of making Kolkata Hindu-free was given to Suhrawardy, Chief Minister of Bengal and Jinnah’s loyalist.
In 1946 at that time Calcutta was 64% Hindu and 33% Muslim..Suhrawardy started to implement his plan on 16th August – a strike was declared by him and all Muslims closed their shops and gathered in mosques. It was Friday, the 18th day of Ramadan, and after prayers, a Muslim mob started killing Hindus! And as Suhrawardi had expected, *the Hindus offered no resistance and succumbed easily to the Muslim mob.*Suhrawardi assured the Muslim mob that he had instructed the police not to come in the way of their mission. A mob of millions of Muslims, armed with iron rods, swords and other dangerous weapons, spread through several parts of Calcutta and its neighborhood. The first attack was on a Hindu arms shop near the office of the Muslim League. They were looted and burnt to ashes. The owner and his employees were beheaded. Crops of Hindus, vegetables were cut. Many Hindu women and young girls were abducted and taken as sex slaves. On August 16, thousands of Hindus were killed and Hindu women were raped. On August 17, killings continued. 600 Hindu laborers in Orissa were beheaded at Kesoram Cotton Mills Lichubagan. Kolkata. The dance of carnage was on. As the Hindus were fleeing Kolkata, Suhrawardy was confident of his victory by August 19. By August 17, thousands of Hindus were killed.
But on August 18, a Hindu decided to resist the Muslim mob! He was a Bengali Brahmin and his name was *Gopal Mukherjee*. His friends called him *Patha* because he ran a meat shop.He lived in Malanga Lane in the Bobazar area of Kolkata.*Gopal was 33 years old at the time, and a staunch nationalist, and a staunch follower of Subhash Chandra Bose and a critic of Gandhi’s principle of non-violence.*
Gopal Bharat Rashtriya Bahini used to run a path organization. His team consisted of 500 – 700 people – all trained wrestlers..On 18th August Gopal decided that they would not run away and *counterattacked the Muslims.*He called his wrestlers, gave them weapons. A Marwari businessman decided to help him financially and gave him enough money. His plan was first to secure Hindu territory by counter-attacking. His words were, “Kill 10 Muslims for every 1 Hindu!” The Muslim League had millions of Jihadists, while Gopal had only a few hundred fighters, but he devised a plan and decided to fight to the end to save Kolkata from becoming a Muslim city. He decreed that unlike the Muslims, he would not touch any enemy women and children. Gopal had himself from the Azad Hind Fauj. There were 2 pistols received. From the afternoon of 18 August, the Hindus under Gopal started fighting back. On the 18th, when the Muslims came to the Hindu colony to kill the Hindus, they were welcomed by Gopal’s team. Gopal’s team killed every Muslim group that came to kill the Hindus and by the 19th, they secured all the Hindu settlements.
This was a complete surprise to Suhrawardy. *He did not think that the Hindus would protest in this way.*
By 19th August they secured Hindu territory and from 20th August their *revenge began.*They marked all the Jehadis who had killed Hindus on 16th and 17th August and attacked them on 20th August. By 19th word reached all Hindus that Hindus under Gopal were fighting Muslims!
By August 21, many Hindus had joined him. *Hindu Revenge now!**They killed so many Muslims in 2 days, that by the 21st the number of Muslim deaths was more than Hindus!*
Now till 22nd August the game had changed! Muslims were fleeing Calcutta._Suhrawardy accepted his defeat and rushed to the Congress leaders to request them to stop Gopalpath, which had become a yamraj(the god of death) for Muslims. Gopal agreed, on the condition that all Muslims should surrender their arms to him. Jinnah’s plan to capture Calcutta was thwarted on 22 August. The saffron flag flew in Calcutta. After Calcutta, Gopal did not dissolve his organization, and spared the Hindus of Bengal.
When it was all over, like the police arriving at the end of a feature film,Gandhi, gave Gopal lessons in non-violence and Hindu-Muslim unity and asked him to surrender his weapons. Gopal’s words were, “Gandhi called me twice, I did not go. On the third occasion, some local Congolese leaders told me to deposit some of my weapons. I went there. I saw people coming and collecting weapons, nobody’s use, pistols like that! Then Gandhiji’s secretary said to me: ‘Gopal, why don’t you give your weapon to Gandhiji?’**Gopal replied, “With these hands I saved the women of my area.*I saved the people. I will not surrender to them. Where was Gandhi during the Great Calcutta Killing? Where was it then?* If I used a nail to kill someone, I would not surrender even that nail!”
_ Suhrawardy said, “When Hindus decide to fight back, they are the deadliest in the world!”_**Gopal Patha and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee were two legendary heroes who saved the Hindus of Bengal from the jihadist Muslim mobs!*
But how many of you knew about Gopal Patha before reading this? His name was removed from the history books for not following the principles of Gandhi._But he is the unsung hero of India, who saved millions of lives. Because of him today, Kolkata is a part of India.
*Never forget this name – Gopal Path!* (Gopal Mukherjee)
Here we get the teaching that awakening is necessary before becoming a victim.
When a Hindu decides to take revenge, no one can stop him.