Zuko: reworked formatting also and updated info after review

2026-02-25T11:37:02Z

reworked formatting also and updated info after review

2405:201:8013:20A0:7C09:E184:4F01:C4FF at 15:31, 24 August 2021

2021-08-24T15:31:47Z

New page

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{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
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{{Unreliable sources|date=August 2020}}
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{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = Marichjhapi massacre
| subtitle =
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| place = [[Marichjhanpi]]
| coordinates = {{coord|22.1070|N|88.9510|E|display=inline,title}}
|date= {{start date|1979|1|24}} - {{end date and age|1979|1|31}}
| causes =
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| side1 = [[Government of West Bengal]] lead by [[Jyoti Basu|First Jyoti Basu ministry]]
| side2 = Refugees from East Pakistan fled from [[Dandakaranya]] (mostly Namasudras)
| side3 =
| leadfigures1 = [[Government of West Bengal]] , Chief minister Jyoti Basu
| leadfigures2 = None
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}}

'''Marichjhapi massacre''' (also known as the '''Marichjhapi incident''') refers to the forcible eviction of hundreds of [[Bengali people|Bengali]] Hindu [[Dalit]]<ref>{{cite news |url =https://thewire.in/history/west-bengal-violence-marichjhapi-dandakaranya|title =The Forgotten Massacre of Dalit Refugees in West Bengal's Marichjhapi|publisher =The Wire|date = 3 October 2018|website =thewire.in|author =Debjani Sengupta|access-date =16 July 2020}}</ref> refugees who occupied legally protected reserve forest land on [[Marichjhanpi|Marichjhapi]]<ref>{{cite news |url =https://marichjhapimassacre.wordpress.com|title =Where The Birds Never Sing|publisher =Red Turtle Photobook|author =Soumya Sankar Bose|author-link=Soumya Sankar Bose}}</ref> island in the [[Sundarbans]], [[West Bengal]], in 1979, and the subsequent death of some due to gunfire by police action, blockades and subsequent starvation, and disease.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/40-yrs-ago-the-left-mercilessly-massacred-dalit-bengalis-now-its-back-to-haunt-them/235648/|title=40 yrs ago, the Left mercilessly massacred Dalit Bengalis. Now, it's back to haunt them|last=M|first=Dilip|last2=al|date=2019-05-15|website=ThePrint|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url =https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/the-left-massacre-of-migrant-hindus-in-bengal-that-was-bigger-than-2002-1984/233691/|title =The Left massacre of migrant Hindus in Bengal that was bigger than 2002 & 1984|publisher =[[ThePrint]]|quote =Not much is known about the Marichjhapi massacre that took place under the [[Jyoti Basu]] government on a tiny island in the [[Sundarbans]] where Hindu refugees had settled.|date =11 May 2019|website =theprint.in|author =Deep Halder|access-date =16 July 2020}}</ref>

==Background==
After the division of Bengal (during independence in 1947) along communal lines many Hindu Bengalis fled East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The first flow of refugees who were mostly the upper and middle classes from upper castes easily resettled in West Bengal. However most lower caste Hindus remained behind, seeing their plight as no better than the Muslims. However they too were persecuted by Muslims and were forced to flee to West Bengal as well. But this latter huge flow of poor, mostly low-caste Hindus <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 |work=The Statesman |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> couldn't be accommodated in Bengal. This later surge reached its peak in 1970's. During this time in 1976 [[Ram Niwas Mirdha]] said in Loksabha that Bengal had become saturated and relocating migrants was inevitable.

There were resistance from refugees (hailing from wetland marshy coastal landscape) against the relocation to wastelands. However, after initial resistance from they were forcibly sent to "rocky inhospitable semi arid land" of [[Dandakaranya]] (mostly in [[Odisha|Orissa]], [[Madhya Pradesh]] and [[Chhattisgarh]]),<ref name="mi1">{{cite journal |first=Debdatta |last=Chowdhury |title=Space, identity, territory: Marichjhapi Massacre, 1979 |journal=The International Journal of Human Rights |year=2011 |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=664–682 |doi=10.1080/13642987.2011.569333}}</ref><ref name="mi2">{{cite book |first=Ross |last=Mallick |year=2007 |title=Development Policy of a Communist Government: West Bengal Since 1977 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7ar3x8KAOsC&pg=PA99 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=99 |isbn=978-0-521-04785-2}}</ref> [[Terai]] (Uttar Pradesh, now in Uttarakhand), and Little Andamans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/congress-wore-1971-trophy-but-left-refugees-in-limbo-cab-its-product/333172/|title=Congress wore 1971 war trophy, but left an unfinished business. CAB came out of that|last=M|first=Dilip|last2=al|date=2019-12-11|website=ThePrint|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref> Most of them were destined to bear the brunt of an already failed [[Dandakaranya Project]].

The left front leaders like [[Ram Chatterjee]] then opposed the relocation policy of Union Govt. They reached out to migrants by visiting camps in Dandakaranya and promised them that if Left Front comes to power in [[West Bengal]] then all migrants will be brought back and settled in Bengal itself.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mandal|first=Dilip|date=2019-05-15|title=40 yrs ago, the Left mercilessly massacred Dalit Bengalis. Now, it's back to haunt them|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/40-yrs-ago-the-left-mercilessly-massacred-dalit-bengalis-now-its-back-to-haunt-them/235648/|access-date=2020-11-16|website=ThePrint|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Massacre ==
Once the Left front came to power in 1977, the refugees started to return to Bengal in huge numbers. But the Left Front meanwhile changed its policy on refugee settling and considered the refugees as a burden to the state, as the refugees were not the citizen of West Bengal but India.<ref name="mi1"/> An approximately 150,000, almost all of Dandakaranya refugees arrived (where most of them were deported back).<ref name="mi2"/> In the meanwhile approximately 40,000 refugees went south and camping for few months in Hasnabad settled in Marichjhapi (renamed by them as "''Netaji Nagar''"), a protected place under Reserve Forest Act.<ref name="mi3"/> A survivor claims that there were only shrubs on the island when they came.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/923325/we-were-attacked-thrice-a-survivors-story-of-the-left-front-governments-siege-of-marichjhapi|title=‘We were attacked thrice’: A survivor’s story of the Left Front government’s siege of Marichjhapi|last=Halder|first=Deep|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref> They were involved in fishing and had built schools and hospitals.

The Left government considered that an unauthorized occupation of reserved forest land. The government tried to pursue them to return to their respective place, but with little effect. On 24 January 1979, the Government of West Bengal clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC around the island of Marichjhapi. The police and the district administration started an economic blockade. Thirty police launches started patrolling the island,<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> preventing anyone from providing food or water to the residents of the island.

Eyewitness accounts say that on 31 January, the police opened fire on the settlers of the island when the settlers allegedly attacked a police camp with traditional weapons.<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 |location=Calcutta |date=18 January 2010 |access-date=29 January 2012}}</ref> After 15 days [[Calcutta High Court]] ruled that "The supply of drinking water, essential food items and medicines as well as the passage of doctors must be allowed to Marichjhapi".<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>

13 people died when someone poisoned a tube well. The survivors were then sent back to Dandakaranya. Some of them were settled in Marichjhapi Colony near Barasat while others rehabilitated themselves in the shanties near railway tracks in [[Sealdah]].<ref name="tsi06072011">{{cite news |script-title=bn: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 |language=bn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623102857/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/ |archive-date=23 June 2013 |access-date=29 May 2012}}</ref> Some of the survivors resettled themselves in [[Hingalganj]], [[Canning, South 24 Parganas|Canning]] and nearby areas.<ref name="abp03082011">{{cite news |script-title=bn:তিন দশক পরে মরিচঝাঁপির ফাইল ফের খুলল রাজ্য |last=Mitra |first=Shyamalendu |url=http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1110803/3pgn5.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116213007/http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1110803/3pgn5.html |archive-date=16 January 2013 |newspaper=[[Anandabazar Patrika]] |date=3 August 2011 |language=bn |access-date=29 May 2012}}</ref>

This incident is the most violent and brutal human right violation that took place in post independence India until 1983 [[Nellie massacre]], [[1984 anti-Sikh riots]] and [[Kashmir conflict|Kashmir valley conflicts of 1990's]] took place.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Halder|first=Deep|title=‘We were attacked thrice’: A survivor’s story of the Left Front government’s siege of Marichjhapi|url=https://scroll.in/article/923325/we-were-attacked-thrice-a-survivors-story-of-the-left-front-governments-siege-of-marichjhapi|access-date=2020-11-18|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US}}</ref>{{failedverification|date=July 2021}}

==Death toll==
The death count was never confirmed. Official statistics put the deaths due to firing at two, but other sources put the total deaths between 5 and 10.<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=Hindustan Times |date=25 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url =https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/bauddhayan-mukherji-busy-with-his-marichjhapi-project/articleshow/72253119.cms|title =Bauddhayan Mukherji busy with his ‘Marichjhapi’ project |date =27 November 2019|work=The Times of India |author =Sankha Ghosh|access-date =16 July 2020}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[1964 East Pakistan genocide]]
* [[Dandakaranya Project]]
* [[The Hungry Tide]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Mandal, Jagadish Chandra (2002). ''Marichjhapi: Naishabder Antarale''. Sujan Publications.
* Sengupta, Sukharanjan (2010). ''Marichjhapi Beyond & Within''. FrontPage Publications.
* Halder, Deep (2019). ''Blood Island: An Oral History of the Marichjhapi Massacre.'' HarperCollins Publishers India.

[[Category:1979 in India]]
[[Category:1970s in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1978]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1979]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1979]]
[[Category:Massacres in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Violence in India]]
[[Category:1978 in India]]
[[Category:Massacres of Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:South 24 Parganas district]]
[[Category:1970s murders in India]]
[[Category:1978 crimes in India]]
[[Category:1978 murders in Asia]]
[[Category:1979 crimes in India]]
[[Category:1979 murders in Asia]]
[[Category:Caste-related violence in India]]

Marichjhapi massacre - Revision history

Zuko: reworked formatting also and updated info after review

2405:201:8013:20A0:7C09:E184:4F01:C4FF at 15:31, 24 August 2021