Consequences of peace: Gandhi and Bihar Riots

Is peace always the answer? Violence all around Bihar caused Gandhi to go on a fast unto death in case the riots did not stop under 24 hours. Unsuccessful, the riots continued in the name of religion.

Gandhi talking to a victim in Noakhali (Source: Wikipedia)

Following the aftermath of violence, Gandhi toured the riot affected areas of Bihar on the 3rd of January 1947. The riots took place and lives from the 24th of October to the 11th of November 1946 where Hindu mobs targeted the Muslim families and homes. Muslim shops were razed, crops of Muslim farmlands destroyed and later on even the mouths that would eat them.

The event was a violent answer to the Noakhali riots which had similarly resulted in the lives of many Hindus. Hundreds of Hindu women were raped and Men forcibly converted to Islam. The Hindus were even forced to perform the Namaz.

Gandhi's reaction to the riots was a claim to a never ending fast in case the Bihar riots did not cease within 24 hours. Jawaharlal Nehru, the head of interim government, threatened the rioters that he would bombard them from the air. There were military deployed in the riot areas, however it did not completely stop the terror.

All of these methods by both Nehru and Gandhi proved to be largely unsuccessful. Gandhi's visitation to the riot affected areas failed to bring any amount of non-violence that he preached throughout his career. The rest of the country were shell shocked by the unending violence that proceeded between the religious groups.

The Muslim League also sent a resolution to the Viceroy of India to react on the riots occurring around Bihar. Around 20,000 to 75,000 survivors were given shelter in relief camps, a result of communal violence seen on such a scale first hand in India. The Muslim League stated that the Hindu mobs had killed over 30,000 people in the province. A separate state was in demand by the Muslim League quite insistently.

Finally, in 1946, The Muslim League called for, “Direct Action, to show their strength and fulfill their demand of getting a separate state.”