Bangladesh has been descending into the jaws of Islamism ever since Sheikh Hasina was democratically ousted as the Prime Minister. The situation has been further worsened by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government pandering to radical groups.
In its latest attempt to mainstream Islamism in the country’s academic curriculum, a special chapter on Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy has been incorporated in the Std 3 textbook ‘Bangladesh and the World.’
For the unversed, Suhrawardy was the Prime Minister of the Bengal province between April 1946 and August 1947. He later became the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1956 and continued in office till 1957.
He had earned the moniker of ‘Butcher of Bengal’ for his crimes against humanity. Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy exacerbated the 1943 Bengal famine, and facilitated the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946 and oversaw the Noakhali massacre.
At a time when Bangladesh is witnessing a spate of attacks against the minority Hindu community, the Yunus government is glorifying Suhrawardy and rationalising his extremist views.
This is part of the ploy to indoctrinate young minds with Islamism and set the foundation for more atrocities against Hindus at the hands of radical Muslims.
Suhrawardy and the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946
On 16th August 1946, Kolkata became the epicentre of one of the most brutal episodes of anti-Hindu violence in Indian history. It came to be known as the ‘Great Calcutta Killings.’
The fateful day marked the onset of a 5-day long massacre that claimed approximately 5,000 lives. Tens of thousands of Hindus were injured and an estimated 120,000 became homeless.
The call for ‘Direct Action’ was made by Muslim League supremo Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He set the stage for the orgy of loot, murder, and sexual violence against the Hindu population of Calcutta.
Jinnah had made it clear that the Muslim League would “stop cooperating with the (British) government and bid goodbye to Constitutional methods”. He had even hinted at creating trouble and having India partitioned or burnt.
The man who facilitated this fantasy of Jinnah by massacring the Hindu community was none other than Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.
In the years leading up to 1946, Bengal was a Muslim-majority province. Hindus accounted for only 42% of the total population. However, the case of Calcutta was unique. The city had a significant Hindu majority of 64%.
This ‘demographic imbalance‘ made Calcutta a prime target for Suhrawardy and the Muslim League. They wanted to intimidate the Hindus into accepting the integration of the Bengal into Pakistan.
When the then British Prime Minister Clement Attlee sent a Cabinet Mission in June 1946 to negotiate the transfer of power, the Indian National Congress rejected the proposal of partition of British India.
Jinnah wanted two separate nations in the form of a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. When Congress refused to give in to his plans, he decided to use violent methods to force the British government into accepting his proposal.
The Muslim League supremo declared 16th August 1946 as ‘Direct Action Day.’ It was strategically timed to coincide with the 18th day of Ramzan.
That particular day marked the beginning of the Battle of Badr wherein Prophet Muhammad defeated the Quraysh tribe. The war had proven decisive in the forced capture of Arabia by Muslims.
This key connection was not lost on Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and other Muslim League politicians.
They delivered provocative speeches urging Muslims to attack Hindus. “Maar ke lenge Pakistan, lad ke lenge Pakistan, le kar rahenge Pakistan, Allahu Akhbar, nara-i-takhbir,” Suhrawardy had declared.
The Star of India, which was a mouthpiece of the Muslim League declared on 13th August 1946 –
“Muslims must remember that it was in Ramzan that permission for jehad was granted by Allah. It was in Ramzan that the Battle of Badr, the first open conflict between Islam and heathens, was fought and won by 313 Muslims and again it was in Ramzan that 10,000 Muslims under the Holy Prophet conquered Mecca and established the Kingdom of Heaven and the commonwealth of Islam in Arabia. The Muslim League is fortunate that it is starting its action on this Holy month and day.“

On the morning of 16th August 1946, violence erupted in Calcutta. They were fueled by the inflammatory speeches of Muslim League leaders.
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy had instructed all Islamic clerics to deliver sermons telling Jumma Namazis to do everything possible for the creation of Pakistan. It was a clear dog whistle to start attacking the Hindu community.
At the same time, he assured violent Muslims that they would enjoy legal immunity and that the police would not intervene. This further emboldened armed mobs to unleash mayhem in Hindu neighbourhoods.
Suhrawardy effectively restrained the law enforcement authorities, allowing the Muslim goons to carry out their attacks without fear of reprisal. As the day progressed, the situation deteriorated rapidly.
Muslim mobs armed with iron rods, swords, and other weapons began targeting Hindu homes and businesses across the city of Kolkata.
Areas such as College Street and Barabazar became battlegrounds for Muslims to carry out mass killings, rapes, and arson.
Suhrawardy facilitated the Great Calcutta Killings in another way. He manipulated the police force a few years before the massacre to include Punjabi Muslim men and Pathans.
The Calcutta police traditionally composed of Hindus from Arrah, Balia, Chhapra and Deoria. Suhrawardy oversaw the democratic overhaul of the police force.
This well-thought-out change ensured that the police would turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed against Hindus.
Evidence suggests that the violence was not spontaneous but rather a well-orchestrated plan. Special coupons for petrol were issued to Muslim League ministers for making petrol bombs.
Food and grains were stockpiled to sustain thousands of Muslim goons, who perpetrated the Great Calcutta Killing of 1946.
The British government intervened only after 6 days of violence by deploying military forces to restore order. The violence left the Hindu community in Kolkata in ruins. It later spread to other regions including Bihar and Punjab.
Months after the Direct Action Day, Muslims orchestrated the Noakhali massacre in October and November 1946. Suhrawardy’s aide and fellow Muslim League leader Gholam Sarwar Husseini was the mastermind behind the carnage.
About 5,000 Hindus were killed in Noakhali. Thousands of Hindu women were raped and forcibly converted to Islam.
Historical revisionism in Bangladesh surrounding the legacy of Suhrawardy
Attempts are now being made to downplay Suhrawardy’s role in the Direct Action Day. He is not only being glorified but also portrayed as a ‘respectable historic figure’.
In reality, Suhrawardy had a reputation as the ‘king of the goondas’ in Kolkata. His legacy as ‘The Butcher of Bengal’ has been documented by various historians and yet the Bangladesh government led by Muhammad Yunus is trying to wrap it under covers.
As Bangladesh witnesses an Islamist onslaught on the Hindu community, the lessons from the Great Calcutta Killings remain painfully relevant.
Attack on Hindus in Bangladesh since the fall of Dhaka
OpIndia has been vetting and reporting cases of atrocities on Hindus since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina on 5th August 2024.
There have been at least 205 attacks on Hindu temples, shops and businesses within 3 days of the fall of Dhaka.
We previously exposed how Muslim students have forced as many as 60 Hindu teachers, professors and government officials to resign from their positions.
Human rights activist and exiled Bangladeshi blogger, Asad Noor, has recently revealed that the minority community is now being coerced into joining ‘Jamaat-e-Islami’.
On 6th September, a procession of Hindu devotees carrying the idol of Lord Ganesha came under attack in the Kadam Mubarak area in Chittagong city of Bangladesh.
Ahead of the Durga Puja celebrations, a radical Muslim man named Yasin Mia vandalised the idols of Goddess Durga and other Hindu deities in Gouripur town in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh on 25th September.
In the latest series of attacks, idols of Goddess Durga and other Hindu deities were vandalised at the Rishipara Barwari Puja Mandap and the Manikadi Palpara Barwari Pujamandap on 28th September and 1st October respectively.
The attacks were carried out in Sujanagar upazila in Pabna district in Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. While a total of 4 idols were defaced at the Rishipara Barwari Puja Mandap, another 5 Hindu idols were destroyed at the Manikadi Palpara Barwari Pujamandap.
On 3rd October, 7 idols of Hindu deities were destroyed at the Gopinath Jiur Akhara Durga Puja mandap in Kishoreganj, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh.
On 5th November, the Hindu community came under attack from police and law enforcement authorities in Hazari Goli in Chittagong city of Bangladesh.
On 29th November, a violent Muslim mob attacked Hindu minorities and vandalised 3 temples in Patharghata in Chittagong district of Bangladesh.
The Hindu religious sites that the Muslims targeted included the Shantaneshwari Matri Temple, the Shoni Temple, and Shantaneshwari Kalibari Temple. The attack took place immediately after the conclusion of Jumma Namaz.
On 30th November, a prominent Hindu journalist named Munni Saha was arrested by the police from Karwan Bazar in Dhaka city of Bangladesh.
A group of extremists attacked the Mahashmashan Kali Mata Mandir, vandalised 7 idols of deities and stole gold ornaments on 13th December 2024.
On 19th December, a Muslim man identified as Alal Uddin vandalised an idol at the Polashkanda Kali Temple and then attempted to create a fake alibi. The incident occurred in Haluaghat upazila in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.
Another 37-year-old Muslim man identified as Azharul vandalised several idols of deities in Haluaghat Upazila in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.
The recent arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu and his aides, attempts at banning Hindu organisation ISKCON and stiffling Hindu protests with cases of ‘sedition’ highlight systematic persecution under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus.
There have been multiple instances of attacks on Hindus under the pretext of ‘blasphemy.’ The recent cases of Hridoy Pal, Utsab Mandal, Partha Biswas Pintu, Akash Das and Utsab Kumar Gian are shining examples of targeted persecution.
So far, there have been many attempts to downplay violence against Hindus as ‘fake‘, ‘exaggerated‘ or ‘politically motivated‘.