TRIBUTES
AND MEMORIALS FROM INDIA AND INDIAN SUBCONTINENT
Sachi G. Dastidar
ISPaD: The Indian
Subcontinent Partition Documentation Center has collected a large number of
tributes and memorials through their field work, travel and through others
sources. Among them are memorials of innocent Bangladeshis killed by the Army
of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its Bengali- and Urdu-speaking Islamist
supporters during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Bangladeshis have done a good
job in paying tribute to their martyrs compared to post-independence India and
Pakistan. Their effort is ongoing.
This tribute include (Hindu) Bengalis martyred by Assam Police in India for demanding teaching of Bengali in Bengali-majority areas, and in Dhaka, Bangladesh where scores of Bengali citizens were killed by Pakistan police for asking to be taught in their mother language, when Bengali was the majority-language in Pakistan. Almost all of the photographs are taken by the author of this tribute.
This tribute include past injustices that modern states are unable and unwilling acknowledge.
This is also to express tribute to Vidyasagar or Ocean of Knowledge, as he is popularly known aka Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, (26 September 1820 - 29 July 1891) in his 200th Birth Anniversary in September of 2020. Vidyasagar is known as a leader of Indian Renaissance, Hindu Reformation Movement, empowerment of women, force behind widow remarriage, improving and modernization of Bengali language, and standing up to British oppressors and English bosses for his Indian lifestyle. He was a scholar and teacher, among many of his accomplishments.
Here is a small selection of those memorials and tributes.
Vidyasagar's bust at Tamluk, Medinipur District, West Bengal State, India
Medinipur is Vidyasagar's Home District
Matangini Hazra's Memorial Tablet where Britishers Killer her in Medinipur District
Chittagong: https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2021/01/confiscation-and-demolition-of-united.html
Narayanganj: https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2020/12/bangladesh-confiscation-of-indigenous.html
Andaman Cellular Jail of Colonial Britain where Colonial Masters imprisoned Thousands and Thousands of Freedom-Loving Indians and hanged many of them in that remote Island prison:
One of hundreds of tablets with names of thousands of Indian Freedom Fighters imprisoned and hanged in the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal
https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2018/07/andaman-islands-british-cellular-jail.html
For more, see
https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2018/07/andaman-islands-british-cellular-jail.html
Mahatma Gandhi’s Place of Murder by a Hindu Fanatic in Birla House, Delhi, India
Memorial at Jallianwalah Bagh Massacre by Colonial British Army of about 1,200 Civilians, Amritsar, India
https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2019/04/jallianwala-bagh-massacre-100th.html
List of 41 Freedom-Loving Bengalis Who Gave Their Lives (as Colonial Britain Hanged Them) for India’s Independence
For more information see: https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2019/11/list-of-freedom-loving-bengalis-who.html
India Independence Memorial of July 8, 1945 led by Subhas Chandra Bose at Netaji Museum, Kolkata, India
Wagha-Atari Border Crossing between Partitioned Punjab, India and Punjab, Pakistan:
Book on Basu-Roy-Choudhury Family, Parichoy: Ulpur Basu-Roy-Chowdhury-r Bangsa Parochoy, authored by SriSatindraNath Roychoudhury, published on 30 Baisakh 1344 (April-May 1938) but Almost Extinct from their Homeland -- Ulpur. Bangladesh.
Bosu Rai Chowdhury family is an indigenous family of Ulpur Village of Bangladesh, but almost extinct from Bangladesh since 1947 partition of India and Bengal.
Courtesy: Ulpur Association of Kolkata, India
Ramna Kali Mandir & Ma Anandamoyee Ashram, Dhaka, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh: 100 Hindu Priests, Nuns, Devotees Burned Alive at 9th Century Ramna Mandir Temple by Pakistan Army and Bengali Islamists in 1971 as they Destroyed the Temple
Ramna Kali Mandir (Temple) Site after Further Bulldozing by the Pro-Secular Newly Independent Bangladesh Government
Jagannath Hall (Dormitory) of Dhaka University, Bangladesh: 46 Hindu Students Murdered by Pakistan Army for no reason except for killing Hindus.
Here is a video taken by a (Bengali Muslim) professor as reported by a U.S. journalist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMg9Ly9nK0g (Pakistani Genocide Started with this killing at Jagannath [Hindu Student] Dormitory)
Prabartak (Hindu) Ashram, Chittagong, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh: 15 Killed: 13 Hindu Men, 1 Hindu Woman, 1 Muslim Man by Pakistani Army and Bengali Islamist Supporters.
400 Bengali of Marwari Ancestry Hacked to Death in 1971 in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, by the Army of Islamic Republic of Pakistan with its Urdu- and Bengali-Speaking Islamist Allies
Jikhargachha, Bangladesh: Memorial to Hundreds of Bengali Murdered by Pakistan Army and its Allies in 1971
Raayer Bazaar Killing Field of Pakistan Army and its Islamist Allies in Dhaka, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Pakistan Army and its Bengali Islamist allies murdered many intellectuals, then dumped their body, before surrendering to Indian Army. No one has been punished by Pakistan or the U.N. for these cold-blooded atrocities.
Kohinur Villa, Bangladesh, Killing of 16 by Pakistan Army in 1971
Gandhi Ashram, Bangladesh: Scores of Pacifist, Elderly Gandhi Associates, Murdered by Pakistan Army and Bengali Islamists in 1971
Women (Hindu) widowed by the brutal killing of 3,000 men, husbands of Hindu wives, at the hands of Pakistan occupation army and their local collaborators on April 23, 1971, join a mourning procession at Jagannathpur in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila, Bangladesh marking Jhathibhanga massacre day. Photo: Daily Star
Bangladesh Government awrded Birangana or Braave Women, title to surviving wives.
Gano-Sraddho
(Mass-Memorial service for Millions of Hindus Killed by Pakistan), 1971. 90% to 95% of the civilians killed by Pakistan Army and Bengali Islamists were HIndu minority. Simultaneously, secular Muslims and pro-independence Awami League Party activists were targets of killing.
Swaruplathi Martyr’s Memorial Girls’ High School: Here 136 Hindus were Corralled and Murdered by Pakistan Army and Bengali Islamists in 1971, Swarupkathi, Bangladesh.
Memorial
of the First Proponent of the Bengali as National Language of Pakistan, Hon. Dhirendra Nath Dutta, a Hindu, Pakistan Parliamentarian, of Comilla, Bangladesh. (The
Memorial Site is Next to a Cremation Area, Hundreds of Years old, Vandalized
during 1990 and 1992 anti-Hindu Pogroms. Temple of Lord Shiva and Mother Kali at the cremation site were damaged. destroyed or desecrated during pogroms.) New-looking memorials were rebuilt after destruction during pogroms.
Jumala Prasad Smasan (Hindu Cremation area for the Last Rites) after 1992 Pogrom, Sylhet, Bangladesh (one of 6 destroyed smasans visited by the writer)
Hindu Aunt Mashi and Uncle Mesho standing in their Home Site after Torching by Islamists during 1990 Pogrom, Mirerswarai, Bangladesh
Seven Members of Dirt-Poor Hindu Indigenous Family of Mrs. Birajbala Debi Slaughtered one by one while all watched because they didn't give their tiny Ancestral Homestead in Bangladesh free of charge and flee to India. Devi wanted to live in their ancestral land. Youngest boy was 2-year old.
Destruction of Buddhist Temples, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2012
Banshkhali, Chittagong, Bangladesh, Torching of Hindu Village, 2013
Bangladesh Chittagong Hills Indigenous Tribal Demonstration for Restoration of Rights and Forced Colonization by Plains Bengali Under Military Dictatorship in 1970a, Dhaka
Pancha-Ratna Hindu Mandir (Temple) of a Family of 35-40 Generations, in post-Partition a Tin-shed Mosque Built on the Hindu Temple Property, Gour Nodi Subdistrict, Barisal District, Bangladesh
Home of Indigenous (Hindu) Bosu-Rai-Chowdhury Family of Tens of Generations in Ulpur Village, Bangladesh, but almost all of them were cleansed due to Partition
Nabaratna Madir, Teotha Village, Manikganj, Bangladesh lost is Protectors due to Partition
Picture: Patip DasGupta
Nandigram, West Bengal, India: Memorial to 17 Peasants Killed on March 14, 2007 in the Playground by the Ruling Communist-Marxist Thugs.
Raja
Ram Mohon Roy (May 22, 1772 - September 27, 1833) Memorial in Bristol, England. Ram Mohon is considered to be the initiator of Indian Renaissance, founder of Brahmo Samaj monotheistic Hindu branch of religion, and modern educational system.
Kutub Minar, Delhi, the First Islamic Victory Tower in India. Pre-Partition (1947) British-era plaque which says that it was built by destroying 27 Hindu and Jain temples by the conquering foreign Islamic rulers.
(British-era Memorial Plaque of Destruction of 27 Hindu and Jain Temples to Construct the First Victory Tower)
Home of Tamil Minority Destroyed in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
20 Hindu Monks and Nuns Killed by Beating, Pouring Gasoline, then Setting on Fire-Till-Death in Ballygunj in the Heart of Calcutta, in Hindu-majority India in 1987 by an anti-Hindu Mob with Ruling Communist Activists. No one was either Arrested or Prosecuted by Ruling Communists, or later anti-Communist Ruling Trinamool Party. (No Memorial Yet, 2020)
Picture: Courtesy of Ramtanu Mitra
Eleven Hindu Bengalis Killed by Assam Police for Demanding Lessons in Bengali in their Bengali-Majority area of South Assam, May 1961
Picture: Courtesy of Paschimbanger Jonyo (For West Bengal)
Commemoration
of the First War of Indian Independence 1857, Peshawar University,
Pakistan, 2007
If one finds memorials and wants us to post them in our web, kindly send that to us at ispad1947@gmail.com with your name and other relevant information. We will be happy to post them giving sender credit.
