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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2017}}
{{coord|22.1070|N|88.9510|E|display=title}}
{{Infobox islands
| map = India West Bengal
| location = [[Bay of Bengal]]
| archipelago = [[Sundarbans]]
| country = India
| country_admin_divisions_title = [[States and territories of India|State]]
| country_admin_divisions = [[West Bengal]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1 = [[Districts of West Bengal|District]]
| country_admin_divisions_1 = [[South 24 Parganas]]
| population = none
}}

'''Marichjhanpi''' is an island set in the [[mangrove]] forests of the [[Sundarbans]] in [[West Bengal]], [[India]]. It is mostly remembered today for the [[Marichjhapi incident|incident]] in 1979 when the newly elected [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] government of West Bengal forcibly evicted thousands of [[Bengali people|Bengali]] refugees who had occupied the reserved forest land on the island. The government's actions resulted in the deaths of many refugees; although the exact number is unknown, researchers believe that at least several hundred people died from [[police brutality]], disease and starvation. The Marichjhanpi massacre forms the backdrop of [[Amitav Ghosh]]'s novel, ''[[The Hungry Tide]].''<ref>{{cite news|first=Asim|last=Pramanik|title=1979 Marichjhapi killings revisited|url=http://www.thestatesman.net/news/45845-1979-marichjhapi-killings-revisited.html?page=1|access-date=4 October 2014|agency=thestatesman.net|date=23 Mar 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006163744/http://www.thestatesman.net/news/45845-1979-marichjhapi-killings-revisited.html?page=1|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Geography==
Marichjhanpi is located at {{coord|22.1070|N|88.9510|E|format=dms}}. It has an average elevation of {{convert|6|m}}.

==Background==
The [[Partition of India]] in 1947 split the large eastern province of [[Bengal]] into two halves, along religious lines. One half became West Bengal, a Hindu-majority province in the new independent state of India. The other half became [[East Pakistan]], the Muslim-majority eastern half of [[Pakistan]], and later the independent country of [[Bangladesh]].<ref name=mi1>{{cite journal|first=Debdatta | last=Chowdhury|title=Space, identity, territory: Marichjhapi Massacre, 1979|journal=The International Journal of Human Rights|date=2011|volume=15|issue=5|pages=664–682|doi=10.1080/13642987.2011.569333| s2cid=144052321}}</ref><ref name=mi2>{{cite book|first=Ross | last=Mallick|title=Development Policy of a Communist Government: West Bengal Since 1977|date=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521047852|page=99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7ar3x8KAOsC&q=marichjhapi+massacre&pg=PA100}}</ref>

===Refugee===
Partition was accompanied by much bloodshed and suffering, and the mass migration of millions of people - [[Hindus]] from their ancestral lands in East Pakistan across to India, [[Muslims]] from India trekking in the opposite direction. This cross-transfer of peoples continued through the decades after Partition, although at a much slower rate. While the educated upper classes were able to settle themselves in the urban environs of [[Calcutta]], the poor Hindus were moved to areas outside West Bengal, in inhospitable terrain in [[Orissa, India|Orissa]] and [[Chhattisgarh]]. Dry forest regions usually inhibited by the [[adivasis]], a region broadly called [[Dandakaranya]]. There they lived in [[concentration camp]] like conditions. Similar looking huts or tarpaulin tents were put up to be crammed with refugees. The boundaries were surrounded by barbed wires and guarded. The places were named Permanent Liability Camps.<ref name=mi3>{{cite journal |last1=Mallick |first1=Ross |date=February 1999 |title=Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=104–125 |doi= 10.2307/2658391|jstor=2658391 }}</ref>

===Invitation to Bengal===
The main party of opposition in Bengal the CPI(M) continually provided voice to these refugees from Bangladesh from the outset. They argued that rehabilitation of all Bengali speaking refugees was possible within West Bengal and called upon all refugees to go there. They even assured that once in power they will all be rehabilitated in Bengal. The other view towards this generous gesture is that the CPI(M) was looking to develop a mass base among the considerable number of Refugees already in Bengal, plus encourage more to come into Bengal. In a demonstration in a refugee camp in Dandakaranya, the leader of CPI(M) himself invited all of them to Bengal, and the response he got was overwhelming.<ref name="tt18012010">{{cite news |title=Controversies that dogged the pragmatic chief minister |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100118/jsp/frontpage/story_11996337.jsp |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=18 January 2010 |access-date=29 January 2012}}</ref>

===The exodus===
The refugees took the invitation to be genuine and as soon as the [[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]] government first came to power in Calcutta in 1977, the refugees decided to move back to West Bengal. The refugees had a committee named Udbastu Unnyansil Samity who sent representatives to Bengal. And they decided upon settling in Marichjhanpi an island in Sunderbans. The CPI(M) however was no more enthusiastic about them. Now in power they seriously started to consider the impact such exodus might have. However they decided not to be too antagonistic from the beginning and mentioned that the refugees may come but they have to settle themselves, the government will not co-operate.<ref name=mi5>{{cite web|title=The Tale of Marichjhapi :Review of the book "Marichjhapi chhinna desh, chhinna itihaash"|url=http://www.radicalsocialist.in/articles/socialist-peoples-history/454-the-tale-of-marichjhapi-review-of-the-book-marichjhapi-chhinna-desh-chhinna-itihaash|website=radicalsocialist.in|access-date=4 October 2014}}</ref>

This warning did not deter the refugees and many families went to the Sundarbans, especially those who were originally from the nearby district of [[Khulna]] in Bangladesh, and who already had relatives living from before in clearings in the forest.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Annu | last=Jalais|title=Dwelling on Morichjhanpi|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|date=23 April 2005|pages=1757–1962|url=http://www.epw.in/special-articles/dwelling-morichjhanpi.html}}</ref>

===Antagonism to the exodus===
The massive inflow of refugees were met with severe and violent resistance at many places. They were detained at railway stations for days without food and water. Many were arrested and forcefully deported back to Dandyak. But that could not discourage all of the refugees who had sold off their meager belongings and decided to move out of Dandyak at any cost. Finally several groups reached at Marichjhanpi and their number was almost 40,000.<ref name="tsi06072011">{{cite news |title=গণহত্যার সুবিচার হবে! |last=Mitra |first=Sukumar |url=http://www.thesundayindian.com/bn/story/%E0%A6%97%E0%A6%A3%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%87/2/505/ |newspaper=The Sunday Indian |date=6 July 2011 |access-date=29 May 2012}}</ref><ref name="abp03082011">{{cite news |title=তিন দশক পরে মরিচঝাঁপির ফাইল ফের খুলল রাজ্য |last=Mitra |first=Shyamalendu |url=http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1110803/3pgn5.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116213007/http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1110803/3pgn5.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 January 2013 |newspaper=[[Anandabazar Patrika]] |date=3 August 2011 |access-date=29 May 2012 }}</ref><ref name=haunt>{{cite news|last=Bhattacharya|first=Snigdhendu|title=Ghost of Marichjhapi returns to haunt|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/ghost-of-marichjhapi-returns-to-haunt/story-4v78MhnW2IZVCQMPfDObqO.html|access-date=5 August 2013|newspaper=The Hindustan Times|date=25 April 2011}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Marichjhapi incident]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://canvaspix.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/marichjhanpi/ A documentary on the 1978-79 Marichjhanpi Massacre]

{{South 24 Parganas}}
{{South 24 Parganas topics}}

[[Category:Islands of West Bengal]]
[[Category:Geography of South 24 Parganas district]]
[[Category:Sundarbans]]
[[Category:Violence in India]]
[[Category:1978 in India]]
[[Category:1979 in India]]
[[Category:History of West Bengal (1947–present)]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1978]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1979]]

Marichjhanpi - Revision history

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