Gopal Chandra Mukhopadhyay

2023-09-06T03:54:27Z

2405:201:A41E:C15B:B91F:9A77:286B:C9A6:

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Gopal Chandra Mukhopadhyay
| native_name = {{Lang|bn|গোপালচন্দ্র মুখোপাধ্যায়}}
| image = Gopal Chandra Mukhopadhyay.jpg
| alt = Gopal Patha in his youth.
| caption = Gopal Patha
| image_size = 200px
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1913}}
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]], [[Bengal]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death year and age|2005|1913}}
| death_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| nationality = {{Ubl | British India | Indian}}
| other_names = Gopal Patha
| known_for = Retaliating against [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] atrocities on [[Hindu]]s during the [[Direct Action Day|Heinous Calcutta Killings]].
| occupation = Self Employed
}}

'''Gopal Chandra Mukhopadhyay''' ({{lang-bn|গোপালচন্দ্র মুখোপাধ্যায়}}; 1913 – 2005), popularly known as '''Gopal Patha''', was an [[India]]n businessman known for raising Bharat Jatiya Bahini to protect the [[Hindu]] people from the [[All India Muslim League|Muslim League]] attacks during the infamous [[Direct Action Day]] in 1946.<ref name="das">{{cite journal |last1=Das |first1=Suranjan |year=1994 |title=The 'Goondas': Towards a Reconstruction of the Calcutta Underworld through Police Records |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=29 |issue=44 |pages=2879 }}</ref><ref name="whitehead">{{cite web|url=http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/news/ie/daily/19970701/18250453.html |title=Duty does not permit repentance - The Butchers of Calcutta |first=Andrew |last=Whitehead |publisher=Indian Express |date=1 July 1997 |access-date=5 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016133334/http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/news/ie/daily/19970701/18250453.html |archive-date=16 October 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Debjani |year=2006 |chapter=A City Feeding on Itself: Testimonies and Histories of 'Direct Action' Day |chapter-url=http://archive.sarai.net/files/original/2ed2f960de6596b5ed75501e6de2c774.pdf |editor-last=Narula |editor-first=Monica |title=Turbulence |series=Serai Reader |volume=Volume 6 |publisher=SARAI |pages=288–295 |oclc=607413832}}</ref>

== Early life and career ==
Gopal was born in a hindu [[Bengali Brahmin]] family of Malanga Lane in the [[Bowbazar]] of [[Kolkata]]. His family was originally from [[Jibannagar Upazila]] of [[Chuadanga]] District of [[East Bengal]] and had been settled in Calcutta since the 1890s<ref name="das"/> He was the nephew of revolutionary [[Anukul Chandra Mukherjee|Anukul Chandra Mukhopadhyaya]].<ref>{{cite book |script-title=bn:ইতিহাসের দিকে ফিরে ছেচল্লিশের দাঙ্গা |title=Itihasher Dike Fire Chhechallisher Danga |last=Bandyopadhyay |first=Sandip |year=2010 |publisher=Radical |location=Kolkata |language=bn |isbn=978 - 81 85459-07-3 |page=58}}</ref> In childhood, he earned the nickname 'Patha' (goat in [[Bengali language|Bengali]]), because his family ran a meat shop.<ref name="whitehead"/><ref name="Freeman">{{cite book |last=Khan |first=Yasmin |author-link=Yasmin Khan |year=2007 |title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan |url=https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan |url-access=registration |publisher=Yale University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan/page/66 66] |isbn=978-0-300-12078-3 |access-date=6 March 2011}}</ref> When he grew up, he took responsibility of running the meat shop. As a part of his business, he had to regularly interact with Muslim traders.<ref name="hindu18082014">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/celebrating-the-centenary-of-a-divisive-figure/article6326661.ece|title=Celebrating the centenary of a "divisive" figure|date=18 August 2014|work=The Hindu|access-date=21 August 2014}}</ref> According to historian Sandip Bandopadhyay, who interviewed Mukherjee, Patha "never bore a grudge against Muslims" but "was forced to turn violent when Muslim rioters approached central Kolkata".<ref name="hindu18082014"/>

== Role during Partition violence ==
In 1946, the [[All India Muslim League|Muslim League]] gave a call for establishing [[Pakistan]] through 'Direct Action' on 16 August. The [[All India Muslim League|Muslim League]] government of [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] declared a public holiday on that day. The Kolkata District Muslim League published a detailed program for a grand rally at the Kolkata Maidan. An image of [[Mohammad Ali Jinnah]] with a sword in hand was published.

=== His Role During the Riots ===
On the morning of 16 August, incidents of stabbing and rioting started in the city. Gopal heard of trouble while he was on his way to shop. He rushed back to his locality where he saw [[All India Muslim League|Muslim League]] volunteers marching with long sticks in their hands. When the news of [[Hindu]]s being killed reached him, he assembled his men and ordered them to retaliate, answer brutality with brutality. He clearly instructed that for one murder committed, they should commit ten murders.

The Bahini volunteers armed themselves with [[knives]], [[sword]]s, [[Cleaver (knife)|cleavers]], sticks and rods. Gopal himself had two [[United States|American]]-made 0.45 bore [[pistol]]s along with some [[grenade]]s. He had procured the [[pistol]]s in post-[[World War II|War]] [[Kolkata]] from the [[United States|American]] soldiers posted in the city. Some of the weapons used by his men were procured during the [[Quit India Movement]].<ref name="hindu18082014"/>

After a few days of rioting, the [[All India Muslim League|Muslim Leaguers]], proposed peace. G.G.Ajmiri, leader of the student's wing of [[All India Muslim League|Muslim League]] along with [[Mujibur Rahman]], a member of the Muslim National Guard, requested Gopal to stop the bloodshed.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.andrewwhitehead.net/partition-voices-gopal-patha-mukherjee.html Gopal Mukherjee talking in 1997 about his role in the Great Calcutta Killings and his refusal to surrender weapons to Gandhi]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukhopadhyay, Gopal Chandra}}
[[Category:Businesspeople from Kolkata]]
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]

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Gopal Chandra Mukhopadhyay