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News18
2 days ago
- Politics
- News18
The Real Story Of Gopal Patha: Hero, Vigilante, Or Misunderstood Symbol?
Last Updated: As Vivek Agnihotri's new film 'The Bengal Files' revisits the 1946 Calcutta riots, it has reignited debate over Gopal Patha, a controversial but largely forgotten figure When the trailer of The Bengal Files was released on August 16 in Kolkata, it featured a character with a red tilak, seated before an idol of Kali, speaking to a crowd about Hindu decline and blaming Gandhi's principle of non-violence. The character, though unnamed, was recognisable, especially in Bengal, as being based on Gopal Chandra Mukherjee, known locally as Gopal Patha. For most of the country, the name meant little. For his family, it meant trouble. In the days since the trailer's release, Patha's grandson has filed a police complaint, sent a legal notice to the filmmaker, and accused the production of distorting his grandfather's legacy. The Historical Context: Calcutta, August 1946 Gopal Patha's name is tied to one of the bloodiest chapters in India's pre-independence history — the communal violence that erupted in Calcutta during the week of August 16, 1946, now remembered as the Great Calcutta Killings. The violence began after the All-India Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, called for 'Direct Action Day" to press its demand for a separate Muslim homeland. The League had grown increasingly frustrated with the Congress-led negotiations with the British, and August 16 was meant to be a nationwide show of strength. But in Bengal, where the League was in power, it spiralled into something far more deadly. Riots broke out in Calcutta on the morning of August 16 and continued for nearly four days. Streets turned into battlegrounds. Shops were looted, homes set ablaze, and thousands were hacked or burned to death. While the violence eventually engulfed all communities, contemporary reports suggest some of the earliest attacks occurred in Hindu localities. As law and order crumbled and the British colonial administration remained largely disengaged, some men took it upon themselves to organise armed resistance. One of them was Gopal Patha, a 33-year-old from College Street who ran a goat meat shop. The Man And His Methods The nickname 'Patha", Bengali for goat, came from his family business. But Gopal Patha was more than a butcher. He was a wrestler and associated with the Anushilan Samiti, a revolutionary nationalist group. Faced with reports of attacks and with no visible state protection, Patha mobilised local youth into an armed unit, which he later named Bharater Jatiya Bahini (Indian National Force). Patha's actions were controversial even at the time. He was feared, followed, and criticised in equal measure. Some saw him as a neighbourhood protector who stepped in when the state failed. Others saw him as a dangerous strongman who escalated the violence. His Own Words: The 1997 Interview In 1997, former BBC journalist Andrew Whitehead interviewed Gopal Patha. Patha openly admitted to forming an armed group, raising funds from local sawmills and factories, and issuing cash payments for killings: 'For one murder, you get Rs 10. For a half-murder, Rs 5. That's how we got started." It was a chillingly transactional account. But alongside this, Patha repeatedly emphasised that his men were given moral limits: 'I had given strict orders not to misbehave with women, not kill any women… Do not loot." In his telling, this wasn't indiscriminate revenge; it was retributive justice, targeted only at those he claimed had attacked Hindus. He positioned himself as someone responding to state failure, not as someone leading a communal war. The rhetoric was brutal, but layered with a sense of self-ascribed discipline: 'If you come to know that one murder has taken place, you commit 10 murders. That was the order for my boys… It was my duty." This idea of 'duty', to protect, to retaliate, to uphold community honour, ran through his words. So did a rejection of Gandhian non-violence. When Gandhi came to Calcutta in 1947 and asked for weapons to be surrendered as a gesture of peace, Patha refused outright: 'With these arms I saved the women of my area… Where was Gandhiji during the Great Calcutta Killing?" He made it clear that idealism, in his view, had no place when people were being butchered in the streets. These remarks are not just historical quotes; they frame the core of the current debate. Gopal Patha saw himself as a necessary force of resistance, one who stepped in when the state and moral appeals had failed. But whether that self-image should be accepted, and whether it justifies the extent of the violence, is exactly what makes his portrayal in The Bengal Files so contentious. To his family, his code of restraint and his post-riot anonymity make him a protector. To others, the violence he unleashed and the language he used suggest a vigilante who normalised revenge. And that split, between the way he remembered himself, and the way others choose to represent him now, is what lies at the heart of the storm around the film. The Film At The Centre Of The Storm The Bengal Files, earlier titled The Delhi Files, is the third film in Vivek Agnihotri's 'Files" trilogy, after The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files. It explores the communal violence that broke out in Bengal during the 1940s, particularly the Great Calcutta Killings triggered by Direct Action Day in 1946 and the subsequent Noakhali riots. Written and directed by Agnihotri, the film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Sourav Das, Saswata Chatterjee, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Darshan Kumar. It is slated to release in theatres on September 5, 2025. Early Warnings: The Family Raised Concerns In 2023 Long before The Bengal Files entered the public domain, Gopal Patha's family had already expressed concern that his legacy was being misrepresented. In 2023, on the 77th anniversary of the Calcutta riots, his grandson Santanu Mukherjee spoke to ThePrint from the family's Central Kolkata office. He said his grandfather took up arms to protect Hindus, not to stoke hatred. He pointed out that Patha continued buying goats from Muslim sellers even during the violence. Santanu also said that his grandfather's ethics came from the Anushilan Samiti, and that he laid down rules: no attacks on innocents, no targeting of women. He said the family had been approached for a possible biopic, but backed out when they felt the story was being politicised. 'History is nuanced," he said. 'One should not twist it for narrow ends." This was 2023, two years before the film's trailer dropped, but the anxiety over how Patha's story would be retold was already surfacing. The Legal Complaint That fear, according to Santanu Mukherjee, was realised when the trailer of The Bengal Files was released. In a statement to India Today, he said he was particularly angered by a reel posted by director Vivek Agnihotri that referred to his grandfather as 'Ek tha kasai Gopal Patha." He called the label 'derogatory and misleading" and emphasised that his grandfather was a freedom fighter and a wrestler, not a butcher. He also alleged that the family was never contacted during the making of the film. The family has since filed an FIR and served a legal notice to Agnihotri. What The Filmmakers Say Director Vivek Agnihotri has denied any distortion, saying the character is only 'inspired" by Gopal Patha and is shown as a hero. 'He was a hero. I have shown him as a hero in the film," Agnihotri said. 'I've taken a small bit from his BBC interview and used his words verbatim. I know people in Bengal regard him as a hero, and that's how he is portrayed." A Legacy That Still Divides Gopal Patha remains a deeply polarising figure. Police officers from the time called him 'ferocious but helpful." Eyewitnesses described him as a criminal who also saved lives. Historians are divided; some highlight his retaliatory violence, others focus on the power vacuum he stepped into. top videos View all He never claimed to be peaceful, but he claimed to be principled. He lived and died with that version of himself. Now, as a new generation encounters him on screen, his family says that version is under threat. About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk More Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. Get Latest Updates on Movies, Breaking News On India, World, Live Cricket Scores, And Stock Market Updates. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : Vivek Agnihotri view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: August 20, 2025, 07:46 IST News explainers The Real Story Of Gopal Patha: Hero, Vigilante, Or Misunderstood Symbol? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Loading comments...
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First Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- First Post
The Bengal Files: Who was Gopal Patha at the centre of the controversial film on Calcutta killings of 1946?
Vivek Agnihotri's film 'The Bengal Files' has sparked controversy with the launch of its trailer on August 16 in Kolkata abruptly cancelled, and an FIR and legal notice against the director. The film revolves around the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings and the Noakhali riots. What happened then, and what was Gopal Patha's role in the incident? Vivek Agnihotri's film 'The Bengal Files' has sparked controversy. The launch of its trailer on August 16 in Kolkata was abruptly cancelled. An FIR has been filed against Agnihotri and the director has also received a legal notice. Agnihotri previously made 'The Tashkent Files' and 'The Kashmir Files'. The film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, and Pallavi Joshi. It is slated to be released on September 5. But what happened in Kolkata in 1946? Who was Gopal Patha, one of the main characters of the film? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Let's take a closer look: What happened in Kolkata in 1946? Agnihotri's movie centres around the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings and the Noakhali riots. The riots, one of the bloodiest and darkest chapters of pre-Independence history, lasted four days. While estimates vary, it is said that around 10,000 people were killed as a result of the riots. The riots on August 16, 1946, came about as a result of 'Direct Action Day' – which was called by Muhammed Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League. Jinnah and the League's goal was to pressure the British to give Muslims a separate homeland. By this time, the relationship between Jinnah's Muslim league and the Indian National Congress had completely broken down. It is important to note the political context in Bengal at the time. While Bengal had a majority Muslim population, most of them are in eastern Bengal – what we know today as Bangladesh. Calcutta, meanwhile, was comprised overwhelmingly of Hindus. The state had also witnessed incidence of communal violence sporadically during the 20th Century. Bengal, particularly Dhaka, was also where the All India Muslim League was born. Huseyn Suhrawardy, Bengali Muslim leader and Jinnah rival within the League, was the then Chief Minister of Bengal. Many lay the blame for the killings at Suhrawardy's feet. He is said to have made a number of speeches hinting at a support for violence. He is also reportedly have said made a speech saying that the police 'would be restrained.' On August 16, 1946, things quickly spiralled out of control as mobs took to the streets of Calcutta. Looting and mass murder ran rampant. Law and order saw a complete breakdown in the city. Enter Gopal Patha. Who was Gopal Patha? Gopal Patha was born Gopal Chandra Mukherjee in Kolkata in 1913. Patha means 'goat' in Bengali – a reference to his family's meat shop on College Street. Patha's actions after the riots began would forever establish him as a controversial figure within Indian history. While some describe him as a protector of Hindus at the time of the riots, others refer to him as a criminal and a gangleader who commanded between 500 and 800 men. Patha on August 18 is said to have organised the Hindu resistance against the Muslim mobs in Calcutta. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Gopal Patha was born Gopal Chandra Mukherjee in Kolkata in 1913. Patha means 'goat' in Bengali – a reference to his family's meat shop on College Street. Patha himself recounted events to journalist Andrew Whitehead in 1997 thus, 'It was a very critical time for the country. We thought if the whole area became Pakistan, there would be more torture and repression. So I called all my boys together and said it was time to retaliate. If you come to know that one murder has taken place, you commit 10 murders. That was the order to my boys.' 'It was basically duty,' he added. 'I had to help those in distress.' The witnesses to the Calcutta killings describe gruesome scenes including bodies being piled three or four feet high on top of each other and brains and blood oozing out of them. There is an interesting coda to the story of Patha. A year after the riots, Gandhiji visited Calcutta. The city was still in ruins from the riots. Journalists recounted how many people came with weapons including swords daggers and countrymen guns in place them at his feet. Lord Mountbatten called this the miracle of Calcutta. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, Patha was unmoved. He refused to surrender his weapons, saying that he had defended the women and the people of his area with them. 'Where was Gandhiji during the Great Calcutta killings?' he asked. Patha's grandson cries foul Patha's grandson Santanu Mukherjee has cried foul over the film. Santanu has sent Agnihotri a legal notice. He has said that his grandfather was a freedom fighter and has accused Agnihotri of using derogatory language against him and denigrating his ideology. 'My grandfather was a brave heart who took up arms to defend the Bengalis. The director has used insulting terms against him without even seeking our permission or consulting the family", Santanu said. Santanu accused Agnihotri of referring to his grandfather as a 'butcher' and ' tarnishing his legacy as a freedom fighter.' Santanu told The Times of India that his grandfather protected Muslim families in his neighbourhood during the riots. Santanu's sister claimed that Patha sheltered Muslim families on the terrace of his home including the kin of a rickshaw puller they called 'Rafique Chacha'. Santanu has also said the term Patha is misunderstood. He said that local Biharis began calling his grandfather Gopal Patha due to his bravery and that it has nothing to do with goats. Santanu claimed the film is ill-researched and will do his grandfather's reputation 'more harm than good'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Agnihotri hits back Agnihotri has responded by claiming that Shantanu 'works with the TMC and he is doing what is compulsory for him'. 'He was a hero. I have showed him as a hero in the film. I have taken a small bit from his interview with the BBC, and taken what he said verbatim. I am aware that the people of Bengal regard him as a hero, and that is how I have shown him,' Agnihotri said. Vivek Agnihotri has responded by claiming that Santanu 'works with the TMC and he is doing what is compulsory for him'. Mukherjee died in 2005 at age 92. In 2015, a far-right group in Kolkata held a march to commemorate the the Great Calcutta killings and celebrate the role Mukherjee played in it. The group during the march placed large billboards on vans celebrating Mukherjee as 'Kolkatar Rakhakarta' (Kolkata's protector) and prefixed the title 'Hindu bir' (Hindu braveheart) ahead of his name. With the release of 'The Bengal Files' imminent, the ebate on Mukherjee's role in Indian history will likely not die down anytime soon. With inputs from agencies
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First Post
2 days ago
- First Post
Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Bengal Files': Who is Gopal Mukherjee aka Gopal Patha; why is his family angry with the filmmaker
Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Bengal Files': Who is Gopal Mukherjee aka Gopal Patha; why is his family angry with the filmmaker | Explained According to reports, Gopal Patha, born Gopal Chandra Mukherjee, was a significant figure during the tumultuous period of the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings and the events surrounding India's partition. During the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946: He emerged as a prominent figure, organizing Hindu youths and arming them to defend Hindu localities and families against attacks from Muslim League-led mobs. His nickname 'Patha' (meaning goat in Bengali) was derived from his family's goat-meat shop on College Street in Calcutta (Kolkata). He was a businessman and a wrestler by profession. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to a story published in NDTV, Mukherjee's role in Calcutta's history rose to prominence much ahead of the Partition. He met with force the Muslim League's agenda to snatch Calcutta by force. Armed with sticks, spears, knives, guns, or whatever his men could arrange, he led an army that stood like a wall against surrendering the city. Why Gopal Patha's grandson filed an FIR against Vivek Agnihotri? Gopal Mukherjee's grandson has filed an FIR over his portrayal in Vivek Agnihotri's The Bengal Files. Agnihotri says the film portrays Mukherjee as a hero. History has been divided over Gopal Patha, who organised Hindu resistance against Muslim mobs who went on the rampage during the Direct Action Day of 1946 in what is known as the Great Calcutta Killing. A story published in India Today says, 'With these arms I saved the women of my area; I saved the people. I will not surrender them,' Gopal Patha retorted when asked to lay down his weapons at the feet of Mahatma Gandhi in August 1947. The film is accused of disrupting the legacy of freedom fighter Gopal Mukherjee. The film referred to him as ' _Kashai Gopal Patha_'. This his family found to be insulting. His grandson filed a FIR against Vivek Agnihotri alleging the makers in misrepresenting his grandfather's role in history. The trailer was cancelled by the authorities in Bengal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD WATCH the trailer of 'The Bengal Files' here:
NDTV
2 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
The Story Of A Bengal Butcher Who 'Saved' Calcutta
Freedom. As much as this word brings joy across generations, the trauma has been equal when it came to Partition horrors. The wait for the end of colonial rule saw Bengal and Punjab go up in flames and engulfed in communal riots. Refusing to accept the aggressive agenda of the Muslim League to bring Calcutta into Pakistan, a fierce man from a city-based meat-selling Brahmin family, rose to the occasion in 1946. His story assumes significance today, seven decades after Independence, with his legacy remaining unclaimed, and due to what his family believes is an attempt to distort his ideology by a filmmaker. Who Was Gopal Patha? Gopal Chandra Mukherjee, or Gopal Patha, was born in Kolkata in 1913. 'Patha' means goat in Bengali, a reference to his family-run meat shop on College Street. He is often referred to as the man who saved Calcutta from falling to the Muslim League. But over seven decades after Independence, he still needs an introduction. Just five feet and four inches tall, Mukherjee chose a herculean task for himself. His long hair tied neatly, complete with a beard and moustache, he sported a gentlemanly look. But the police knew him as a criminal, a gang leader who had hundreds of boys ready to kill at his command. His muscle power kept the cops on their toes. Mukherjee's role in Calcutta's history rose to prominence much ahead of the Partition. He met with force the Muslim League's agenda to snatch Calcutta by force. Armed with sticks, spears, knives, guns, or whatever his men could arrange, he led an army that stood like a wall against surrendering the city. Direct Action Day By the beginning of the 1940s, most freedom leaders in united India were convinced that the two-nation theory was inevitable - a political doctrine preached by the Muslim League and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. But the drawing of a map that would divide a country known for its united struggle against the British had become a point of communal discord. The Muslim League was worried about the demographics of their dream nation that came with an economic challenge. While the eastern part of then Bengal province was Muslim-majority, it lacked industrial hubs, which were concentrated in cities like Calcutta and Howrah, on the western side. The League then came up with a plan that left the region burning. Jinnah announced 'Direct Action Day' on August 15, 1946, to ensure Calcutta fell to the League by a show of muscle power. The day marked the beginning of violent events, with fiery speeches being given from local mosques at the instruction of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a League leader who then held the post of Bengal's Prime Minister. Hindu houses were burnt and shops looted by Muslim League supporters. There were killings and rapes. By August 17th, Hindus started organising. Gopal Mukherjee was among the musclemen who mobilised their forces. The Vyayam Samitis, who were instrumental in the freedom struggle, chipped in, armed with rods, knives, and even revolvers that they had sourced from American soldiers in the aftermath of World War 2. Funding for counteroffensive poured in from the Marwari traders of Burrabazar. Mukherjee, fearing that Calcutta would turn into Pakistan, gave strict orders to his men to retaliate. In response to one murder, you kill 10 of the attackers, he told them. After two more days of violence, the League realised Mukherjee couldn't be countered and that bringing Calcutta into Pakistan would remain a distant dream. In an article for The Indian Express, British historian and journalist Andrew Whitehead illustrated Mukherjee's role as, "Calcutta was in flames and Gopal Patha, in effect, took the opportunity to douse the city in kerosene." But for Mukherjee, it was his "duty to help those in distress". A year after the killings started, in 1947, Mahatma Gandhi visited Calcutta. Many turned up to his message of peace and laid down their weapons. But Mukherjee was adamant. "Where was Gandhiji, I said, during the Great Calcutta Killing?" he had recalled, refusing to surrender even a nail. Was He Anti-Muslim? Mukherjee's role in the partition violence has been controversial; over the years, he has been billed as a "protector of Hindus", but his family refuses to believe in the communal binary that it made him a "Muslim-hater". Rather, he saved several Muslim families in his neighbourhood during the 1946 riots, recalls his grandson Santanu Mukherjee. Speaking to The Times of India, he claimed his grandfather sheltered Muslims on their house terrace. He even saved the family of a rickshaw-puller whom they knew as Rafique chacha, his sister recalled, adding that local Muslims still respect their family. But his family fears his portrayal in the upcoming movie 'The Bengal Files' reduces him to "a rabble-rousing Muslim-hating butcher". Santanu Mukherjee, who still lives in his 200-year-old ancestral home that was once the address of Gopal Patha, is now leading a pushback to the movie by filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri that had led to an uproar over alleged distortion of history. In a police complaint, he has alleged the movie "denigrates not only his (grandfather's) words or deeds, but his ideological conviction along with historic struggle." Not just his family, even in his own words, Gopal Mukherjee made his conviction clear: the aim was to save the city, not meaningless killing. In a 1997 interview, Whitehead had asked him if his boys misbehaved with any Muslim woman if they found her alone. He had replied softly, but firmly, that there were strict orders not to touch any women. "I had strict orders not to misbehave with or kill women, even if they were Muslims. In our history, even Ravan was destroyed for kidnapping Sita. Therefore, I had given two strict orders: do not loot and do not misbehave with women," he had said. Mukherjee died in 2005.
News18
2 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Why You Must Know How ‘Gopal Patha' Saved Kolkata
Last Updated: Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Bengal Files' may dramatise Gopal Mukherjee's role in August 1946 but that's what is needed after decades of motivated silence. For all those protesting about the 'wrong" portrayal of Gopal Mukherjee (known in local lore as Gopal Patha or Gopal the Goat as he had a meat shop) in the soon-to-be released film The Bengal Files by Vivek Agnihotri, the long interview that he gave to Andrew Whitehead in 1997 is illuminating. Including the fact that it is the only interview of this key figure of the 'Great" Calcutta Killings triggered by Jinnah's Direct Action Day call on 16 August 1946. Why was he forgotten? Fifty years passed since those horrific days before, ironically, a Briton came to Kolkata to hear from the man himself what happened. Even Whitehead's silly questions like exactly how many Muslims Mukherjee had killed—entirely missing the point of the events of 16-19 August 1946— shows the extent to which the role of 'Gopal Patha" has been buried or misrepresented since then. And calling him 'secular" now also shows the lingering effects of that ignorance. The carnage that first saw Hindus being killed by Muslim mobs and then an equally bloody retaliation led by Mukherjee—not against all Muslims but just those who had murdered Hindus—was an early example of a 'targeted response", now used to describe Operation Sindoor. The actions of Gopal Patha and his band of armed Hindu 'boys' was neither communal nor secular: they were measures needed to ensure that the Muslim League's gambit to capture Calcutta failed. Films and books exaggerate—they call it artistic licence—to prove a point, so Agnihotri has not done anything unprecedented. To judge a man who did what he did in 1946 by today's standards of 'acceptable' behaviour is not unprecedented either; but it leads to inaccuracies. Mukherjee does not need to be 'saved" from today's 'communal" slur: he lived in extraordinary times; it was an inflection point of history which needed actions that are deemed questionable only today. Before Agnihotri's film catapulted Gopal Patha's life and deeds into the national arena, many people even in West Bengal had forgotten about him. Successive state governments did not acknowledge his achievement, though he was the one who prevented Bengal from entirely falling into the hands of the Muslim League. The vicious Hindu fightback he led against the 'Ladh-ke lengey Pakistan" brigade made the then Bengal Chief Minister HS Suhrawardy back down. Eye for an eye may have been verboten in Gandhiji's scheme of things, but reality seldom cooperated. Most of his non-violent interventions failed though they made for great photos and newsreels. Only now is it being acknowledged openly that had there not been constant unGandhian incidents, from World War II and the formation of INA to the naval ratings mutiny and the forthright interventions of men like Gopal Patha, 15 August 1947 may not have been Independence Day. It is fallacious to rely on the accounts of the police of those days (by definition loyal to the British and duty-bound to 'protect" the colony from Indian freedom fighters) to portray Mukherjee as a 'bad character". It is also equally fallacious to fit him into the default saintly 'satyagraha' mould of nationalist. The Anushilan Samiti and Yugantar which advocated a vehemently muscular path to freedom more akin to Subhas Chandra Bose's INA later, was what Bengalis followed. In Mukherjee's account of those terrifying days of mid-August 1946, people can also get a glimpse of why so many Bengalis then and now do not regard Gandhiji with the degree of reverence that today's school children reading history textbooks think was universal. As Mukherjee pointed out succinctly to Whitehead, when the Muslims were going on a murderous rampage in Hindu majority Calcutta, Gandhiji was in Muslim majority Noakhali trying to prevent violence there. By amassing arms (including buying pistols and bullets from American GIs stationed in Kolkata during World War II in exchange for bottles of whisky!) in 1942, Mukherjee was not committing a cardinal sin but following his instinct to arm himself against a colonial adversary, which also stood him in good stead in 1946 when it became clear that Bengal would be in the crosshairs of Muslim League activists once Partition and the creation of Pakistan became inevitable. The chilling call for Direct Action to attain Pakistan made by no less than the then Chief Minister of united Bengal at the Maidan in Calcutta early on 16 August 1946 proved Mukherjee's suspicions were dead right. Moreover, the Mayor of Calcutta Syed Mohammed Usman circulated a leaflet in which he told the city's Hindu residents: 'Kafer, toder dhongsher aar deri nei. Sarbik hotyakando ghotbei!" (Infidels, your destruction is imminent; there will be genocide!") It is known that Chief Minister Suhrawardy was in the Police Control Room that day, along with the British Police Commissioner. Considering he had reportedly told the estimated 100,000 Muslim League supporters at the rally that he had taken measures to 'restrain" the police, the subsequent killings of Hindus was inevitable. Identifying the proper sequence of events is important to prevent it being portrayed as a spontaneous and mutual outbreak of communal violence. As Mukherjee's firsthand account to Whitehead underlines, the killings began soon after the rally ended, sending streams of Muslims into the rest of the city, confident about annexing it for Pakistan by decimating Hindus. Mukherjee was initially in an area where there was a Hindu majority, so his first reaction was to prevent violence. But when he realised that Muslims were rampaging elsewhere already, he decided strong retaliation was the only answer to stem the tide. The condition of the hundreds of bodies that lay rotting by the roadside when the killing ended—once the Muslims attackers realised the futility of Suhrawardy's plan—showed that fury had been matched by fury, barbarity by barbarity; more than just an eye for an eye. Thus the fierce fightback Mukherjee started made it clear Hindus could not be ethnically cleansed from Calcutta as planned. But rather than put Mukherjee's actions in perspective, there was decades of silence! The traditional propensity of Indians to internalise, compartmentalise and even rationalise traumatic events—sometimes simply to be able to survive and escape recurring mental agony—has led to many subversions of history. Silence is easily portrayed as absence of trauma not suppression of it. In Bengal, in particular, the silence about the events leading up to Partition, especially what happened on August 16, 1946 and the following few days, has led to egregious revisionism. Whatever the merits or demerits of Agnihotri's The Bengal Files, Gopal Mukherjee's story must be heard and remembered. It cannot be glossed over just because it is uncomfortable or distressing. Those who do not want to watch the film must listen to Mukherjee himself recounting the events as even the actor who portrays him in the film clearly has no idea about the complexities of the man and the times he lived in. Saviours and sinners are often a matter of context. The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. tags : Vivek Agnihotri view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: August 19, 2025, 16:39 IST News opinion Opinion | Why You Must Know How 'Gopal Patha' Saved Kolkata Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Loading comments...
