Created by 2405:201:8013:20A0:7C09:E184:4F01:C4FF
Last edited February 25, 2026
No edit summary
 
Zuko (talk | contribs)
reworked formatting also and updated info after review
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Short description|1979 eviction of Bangladeshi refugees}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{multiple issues|
{{Unreliable sources|date=August 2020}}
{{Tone|date=August 2020}}
}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title           = Marichjhapi massacre
| title = Marichjhapi incident
| subtitle         =
| subtitle =  
| partof           =
| partof =  
| image           =
| image =  
| caption         =
| caption =  
| place           = [[Marichjhanpi]]
| place = [[Marichjhanpi]]
| coordinates     = {{coord|22.1070|N|88.9510|E|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates = {{coord|22.1070|N|88.9510|E|display=inline,title}}
|date= {{start date|1979|1|24}} - {{end date and age|1979|1|31}}
| date = {{start date|1979|1|24|df=yes}} {{end date|1979|5|18|df=yes}}
| causes           =
| causes =  
| goals           =
| goals =  
| methods         =
| methods =  
| status           =
| status =  
| result           =
| result =  
| side1           = [[Government of West Bengal]] lead by [[Jyoti Basu|First Jyoti Basu ministry]]
| side1 = {{tree list}}
| side2           = Refugees from East Pakistan fled from [[Dandakaranya]] (mostly Namasudras)
* [[Government of West Bengal]]
| side3           =  
**[[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]]
| leadfigures1     = [[Government of West Bengal]] , Chief minister Jyoti Basu
**[[West Bengal Police]]
| leadfigures2     = None
{{tree list/end}}
| leadfigures3     =
| side2 = Post-partition refugees from [[Dandakaranya]] camps who settled in Marichjhapi
| howmany1         =
| side3 =  
| howmany2         =
| leadfigures1 =  
| howmany3         =
| leadfigures2 =  
| casualties2     =  
| leadfigures3 =  
| casualties3     =
| howmany1 =  
| fatalities       =
| howmany2 =  
| injuries         =
| howmany3 =  
| arrests         =
| casualties2 =  
| detentions       =
| casualties3 =  
| charged         =
| fatalities = 2–8 (official numbers)<!---Should not change. Based on figures in the article body.---><!---<ref name="Sengupta-2011" /><ref name="Mallick-1999" />--->
| fined           =
10+ (survivors claim)
| casualties_label =
| injuries =  
| notes           =
| arrests =  
| sidebox         =
| detentions =  
}}
| charged =  
 
| fined =  
'''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>
| casualties_label =  
| notes =  
| sidebox =  
}}  
'''Marichjhapi massacre''' or '''Marichjhapi incident''' refers to the 1979 eviction of post-partition Bengali refugees who had moved out of the [[Dandakaranya]] camps in [[Odisha]], [[Madhya Pradesh]] and [[Chhattisgarh]] and settled in protected forest lands on [[Marichjhanpi|Marichjhapi]] island in the [[Sundarbans]], [[West Bengal]].<ref name="Mallick-1999">{{Cite journal|last=Mallick|first=Ross|date=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|s2cid=161837294 |issn=0021-9118}}</ref><ref name="Butalia-2015">{{Cite book|last=Butalia|first=Urvashi|title=Partition: The Long Shadow|date=24 February 2015|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=978-93-5118-949-7|language=en|chapter=6. Reconstructing Marichjhapi}}</ref> There was a confrontation between the police and the settled population, that led to an economic blockade and later police action was taken to forcibly evict the settlers which all led to several deaths.<ref name="Sengupta-2011">{{Cite journal|last=Sengupta|first=Debjani|date=1 February 2011|title=From Dandakaranya to Marichjhapi: rehabilitation, representation and the partition of Bengal (1947)|journal=Social Semiotics|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|volume=21|issue=1|pages=101–123|doi=10.1080/10350330.2011.535673|s2cid=144730817|issn=1035-0330}}</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 incident 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==
==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.
During and after the division of Bengal, many fled communal violence in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and came to West Bengal. The first flow was of refugees who were mostly upper and middle class Hindus who were able to resettle in West Bengal. But over time a greater a flow of poorer Bengalis began. This later surge reached its peak in 1970's around the time of the [[Bangladesh War of Independence]]. During this time, [[Ram Niwas Mirdha]] had said in the [[Lok Sabha]] that Bengal had become saturated and relocating migrants was inevitable.<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 March 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> There was resistance from refugees, hailing from wetland marshy coastal landscape, against the relocation to wastelands. However, after initial resistance from them they were forcibly sent to "rocky inhospitable semi arid land" of [[Dandakaranya]], mostly in [[Odisha|Orissa]], [[Madhya Pradesh]] and [[Chhattisgarh]], and [[Terai]] region of Uttar Pradesh (now [[Uttarakhand]]), and [[Little Andaman]]. Most of them remained in miserable conditions in refugee camps under the [[Dandakaranya Project]].<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|s2cid=144052321 }}</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>
 
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>  
[[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]] leaders like [[Ram Chatterjee]] opposed the relocation policy of Union Govt. They reached out to migrants by visiting camps in Dandakaranya and promised them that if the Left Front comes to power in [[West Bengal]] then all migrants would be brought back and settled in Bengal itself.
<ref name="Mallick-1999"/><ref name="Sengupta-2011"/>


== Massacre ==
== Incident ==
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.
Once the Left Front came to power in 1977, the refugees from Dandakaranya camps started to return to independent Bangladesh in large numbers.<ref name="mi2"/> The refugees were approximately 136,000 in numbers and the Left Front government identified 247,000 acres of readily reclaimable lands mostly in the Sundarban area ([[Ganges Delta]]) for the resettlement of these agriculturist refugees, originally from [[East Pakistan]] (now Bangladesh).<ref name="Mallick-1999"/><ref name="Sengupta-2011"/> Initially the government approved and actively encouraged voluntary resettlement of the identified lands by the refugees.<ref name="Sengupta-2011" /><ref name="Butalia-2015"/> Significant number of the refugees ended up also settling in unauthorised lands and were usually allowed to, around 40,000 refugees went to Hasnabad, Hingalganj and Geonkhali, and about 15,000 settling in the small island of Marichjhapi (renamed by them as "''Netaji Nagar''"), a protected place under Reserve Forest Act.<ref name="mi3">{{cite journal |first=Ross |last=Mallick |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|s2cid=161837294 }}</ref> But in some time the Left Front had shifted its policy on refugee settling, taking a stance that the refugees were not just the citizens of West Bengal but of India and the rest of the country needed to take responsibility as well.<ref name="mi1"/>


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.
In Marichjhapi, they attained self-sufficiency in fishing for food and had built schools and clinics on their own but had to travel to nearby Islands for obtaining grain and clean drinking water. One of the settlers later claims that there were only shrubs on the island when they came. The government considered the refugee settlements an unauthorized occupation of a reserved forest land and a report was published that a subsequent chain of migrations could result in a severe ecological disaster. They began pressuring the refugees to vacate.<ref name="scroll17May2019">{{Cite news |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|date=17 May 2019|work=Scroll.in|language=en-US|access-date=27 April 2020}}</ref>


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>
On 24 January 1979, the Government of West Bengal clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC around the island of Marichjhapi. Thirty police ferries were brought in for the eviction and they started patrolling the island, pressurising the settlers.<ref name="scroll17May2019"/> Eyewitness accounts say that on 31 January, the police opened fire on the Hindu refugees who settled on the island, when the refugees allegedly attacked a police camp with traditional weapons.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100118/jsp/frontpage/story_11996337.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121170936/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100118/jsp/frontpage/story_11996337.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 January 2010|title="Controversies that dogged the pragmatic chief minister"|date=18 January 2010|work= The Telegraph|language=en-US|access-date=29 January 2012}}</ref> The police and the district administration started a complete blockade. It prevented access to food and clean drinking water for the residents of the island. Many of them ended up consuming contaminated water resulting in at least a few dozen deaths.<ref name="scroll17May2019"/><ref name="IndiaToday">{{Cite web |title=Marichjhapi massacre: Forgotten story of Hindu refugees slaughtered in Bengal |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/sunday-special/story/marichjhapi-massacre-sunderbans-bengali-refugees-killed-left-front-government-bengal-2429613-2023-09-03 |access-date=2023-09-03 |website=India Today |date=3 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref> [[Ananda Marga]], a religious organisation,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/19820531-ananda-marga-spiritual-saviours-or-tantrik-terrorists-771819-2013-09-20|work=India Today|title=Ananda Marga: Spiritual Saviors or Tantrik Terrorists?}}</ref> is also suspected to have had a hand in sparking the violence, the organization was active in the region, allegedly involved in smuggling and would frequently get into conflict with the native tribal community.<ref name="mi5"/><ref name="mi3"/> After 15 days, the [[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 |archive-date=12 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512085152/http://www.radicalsocialist.in/articles/socialist-peoples-history/454-the-tale-of-marichjhapi-review-of-the-book-marichjhapi-chhinna-desh-chhinna-itihaash |url-status=dead }}</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>
Some of the refugees were forcibly relocated to Dandakaranya while the rest were escorted in police launches to Hasnabad. 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 |title=Today English Newspaper Update Headlines India- the Sunday Indian Online Magazine - - the Sunday Indian |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 them 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}}
The official toll was at first two.<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> The incident led to severe criticism of the government from the [[News media|media]], [[Parliamentary opposition|the opposition]] and from within members of the Left Front coalition.<ref name="Mallick-1999" /> The demand for a formal investigation into the eviction was however denied by the government with Basu convinced that it was greatly exaggerated by the media.<ref name="Sengupta-2011" /><ref name="Mallick-1999" /> In the end the official figure put the deaths at 2 to 8, considered to be a significant under-estimation but the lack of a proper investigation has led to various highly exaggerated accounts to circulate on the killing, years afterwards.<ref name="Sengupta-2011" /><ref name="Mallick-1999" />


==Death toll==
== In popular culture ==
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>
[[Chorki]] made a web series named [[Feu (TV series)|Feu]] inspired by this incident.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Showtime Desk |first=Dhaka Tribune |date=26 January 2025 |title='Feu' streaming on Chorki |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/showtime/372147/feu-trailer-revealed }}</ref>


== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[1964 East Pakistan genocide]]
* [[Dandakaranya Project]]
* [[Dandakaranya Project]]
* [[The Hungry Tide]]
* ''[[The Hungry Tide]]'', a novel by [[Amitav Ghosh]]


== References ==
== References ==
Line 79: Line 78:
[[Category:1979 in India]]
[[Category:1979 in India]]
[[Category:1970s in West Bengal]]
[[Category:1970s in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1978]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1979]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1979]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1979]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1979]]
[[Category:Massacres in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Violence in India]]
[[Category:Violence in India]]
[[Category:1978 in India]]
[[Category:1978 in India]]
[[Category:Massacres of Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:South 24 Parganas district]]
[[Category:South 24 Parganas district]]
[[Category:1970s murders in India]]
[[Category:1979 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]]
[[Category:Caste-related violence in India]]
[[Category:Massacres of Bengalis]]

Latest revision as of 17:07, 25 February 2026


Lua error in Module:Wikidata at line 978: Tried to read nil global data.
Date24 January 1979 (1979-01-24) – 18 May 1979 (1979-05-18)
Location22°06′25″N 88°57′04″E / 22.1070°N 88.9510°E / 22.1070; 88.9510
Parties
Post-partition refugees from Dandakaranya camps who settled in Marichjhapi
Casualties
Death2–8 (official numbers) 10+ (survivors claim)

Marichjhapi massacre or Marichjhapi incident refers to the 1979 eviction of post-partition Bengali refugees who had moved out of the Dandakaranya camps in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and settled in protected forest lands on Marichjhapi island in the Sundarbans, West Bengal.[1][2] There was a confrontation between the police and the settled population, that led to an economic blockade and later police action was taken to forcibly evict the settlers which all led to several deaths.[3][4]

Background[edit | edit source]

During and after the division of Bengal, many fled communal violence in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and came to West Bengal. The first flow was of refugees who were mostly upper and middle class Hindus who were able to resettle in West Bengal. But over time a greater a flow of poorer Bengalis began. This later surge reached its peak in 1970's around the time of the Bangladesh War of Independence. During this time, Ram Niwas Mirdha had said in the Lok Sabha that Bengal had become saturated and relocating migrants was inevitable.[5] There was resistance from refugees, hailing from wetland marshy coastal landscape, against the relocation to wastelands. However, after initial resistance from them they were forcibly sent to "rocky inhospitable semi arid land" of Dandakaranya, mostly in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and Terai region of Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand), and Little Andaman. Most of them remained in miserable conditions in refugee camps under the Dandakaranya Project.[6][7]

Left Front leaders like Ram Chatterjee opposed the relocation policy of Union Govt. They reached out to migrants by visiting camps in Dandakaranya and promised them that if the Left Front comes to power in West Bengal then all migrants would be brought back and settled in Bengal itself. [1][3]

Incident[edit | edit source]

Once the Left Front came to power in 1977, the refugees from Dandakaranya camps started to return to independent Bangladesh in large numbers.[7] The refugees were approximately 136,000 in numbers and the Left Front government identified 247,000 acres of readily reclaimable lands mostly in the Sundarban area (Ganges Delta) for the resettlement of these agriculturist refugees, originally from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).[1][3] Initially the government approved and actively encouraged voluntary resettlement of the identified lands by the refugees.[3][2] Significant number of the refugees ended up also settling in unauthorised lands and were usually allowed to, around 40,000 refugees went to Hasnabad, Hingalganj and Geonkhali, and about 15,000 settling in the small island of Marichjhapi (renamed by them as "Netaji Nagar"), a protected place under Reserve Forest Act.[8] But in some time the Left Front had shifted its policy on refugee settling, taking a stance that the refugees were not just the citizens of West Bengal but of India and the rest of the country needed to take responsibility as well.[6]

In Marichjhapi, they attained self-sufficiency in fishing for food and had built schools and clinics on their own but had to travel to nearby Islands for obtaining grain and clean drinking water. One of the settlers later claims that there were only shrubs on the island when they came. The government considered the refugee settlements an unauthorized occupation of a reserved forest land and a report was published that a subsequent chain of migrations could result in a severe ecological disaster. They began pressuring the refugees to vacate.[9]

On 24 January 1979, the Government of West Bengal clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC around the island of Marichjhapi. Thirty police ferries were brought in for the eviction and they started patrolling the island, pressurising the settlers.[9] Eyewitness accounts say that on 31 January, the police opened fire on the Hindu refugees who settled on the island, when the refugees allegedly attacked a police camp with traditional weapons.[10] The police and the district administration started a complete blockade. It prevented access to food and clean drinking water for the residents of the island. Many of them ended up consuming contaminated water resulting in at least a few dozen deaths.[9][11] Ananda Marga, a religious organisation,[12] is also suspected to have had a hand in sparking the violence, the organization was active in the region, allegedly involved in smuggling and would frequently get into conflict with the native tribal community.[13][8] After 15 days, the 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".[13]

Some of the refugees were forcibly relocated to Dandakaranya while the rest were escorted in police launches to Hasnabad. Some of them were settled in Marichjhapi Colony near Barasat while others rehabilitated themselves in the shanties near railway tracks in Sealdah.[14] Some of them resettled themselves in Hingalganj, Canning and nearby areas.[15]

The official toll was at first two.[16][17] The incident led to severe criticism of the government from the media, the opposition and from within members of the Left Front coalition.[1] The demand for a formal investigation into the eviction was however denied by the government with Basu convinced that it was greatly exaggerated by the media.[3][1] In the end the official figure put the deaths at 2 to 8, considered to be a significant under-estimation but the lack of a proper investigation has led to various highly exaggerated accounts to circulate on the killing, years afterwards.[3][1]

In popular culture[edit | edit source]

Chorki made a web series named Feu inspired by this incident.[18]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Mallick, Ross (1999). "Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre". The Journal of Asian Studies. 58 (1): 104–125. doi:10.2307/2658391. ISSN 0021-9118. JSTOR 2658391. S2CID 161837294.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Butalia, Urvashi (24 February 2015). "6. Reconstructing Marichjhapi". Partition: The Long Shadow. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-93-5118-949-7.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Sengupta, Debjani (1 February 2011). "From Dandakaranya to Marichjhapi: rehabilitation, representation and the partition of Bengal (1947)". Social Semiotics. 21 (1). Taylor & Francis: 101–123. doi:10.1080/10350330.2011.535673. ISSN 1035-0330. S2CID 144730817.
  4. Deep Halder (11 May 2019). "The Left massacre of migrant Hindus in Bengal that was bigger than 2002 & 1984". theprint.in. ThePrint. Retrieved 16 July 2020. Not much is known about the Marichjhapi incident that took place under the Jyoti Basu government on a tiny island in the Sundarbans where Hindu refugees had settled.
  5. Pramanik, Asim (23 March 2014). "1979 Marichjhapi killings revisited". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Chowdhury, Debdatta (2011). "Space, identity, territory: Marichjhapi Massacre, 1979". The International Journal of Human Rights. 15 (5): 664–682. doi:10.1080/13642987.2011.569333. S2CID 144052321.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Mallick, Ross (2007). Development Policy of a Communist Government: West Bengal Since 1977. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-521-04785-2.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Mallick, Ross (February 1999). ""Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre"". The Journal of Asian Studies. 58 (1): 104–125. doi:10.2307/2658391. JSTOR 2658391. S2CID 161837294.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Halder, Deep (17 May 2019). "'We were attacked thrice': A survivor's story of the Left Front government's siege of Marichjhapi". Scroll.in. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  10. ""Controversies that dogged the pragmatic chief minister"". The Telegraph. 18 January 2010. Archived from the original on 21 January 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  11. "Marichjhapi massacre: Forgotten story of Hindu refugees slaughtered in Bengal". India Today. 3 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  12. "Ananda Marga: Spiritual Saviors or Tantrik Terrorists?". India Today.
  13. 13.0 13.1 "The Tale of Marichjhapi :Review of the book "Marichjhapi chhinna desh, chhinna itihaash"". radicalsocialist.in. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  14. Mitra, Sukumar (6 July 2011). "Today English Newspaper Update Headlines India- the Sunday Indian Online Magazine - - the Sunday Indian" গণহত্যার সুবিচার হবে!. The Sunday Indian (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  15. Mitra, Shyamalendu (3 August 2011). তিন দশক পরে মরিচঝাঁপির ফাইল ফের খুলল রাজ্য. Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). Retrieved 29 May 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. Bhattacharya, Snigdhendu (25 April 2011). "Ghost of Marichjhapi returns to haunt". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  17. Sankha Ghosh (27 November 2019). "Bauddhayan Mukherji busy with his 'Marichjhapi' project". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  18. Showtime Desk, Dhaka Tribune (26 January 2025). "'Feu' streaming on Chorki".

Further reading[edit | edit source]

  • 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.