Shekhar Bandyopadhyay and Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury’s Caste and Partition in Bengal: The Story of Dalit Refugees, 1946-1961 (published by Oxford University Press in 2022) offers an in-depth discussion of Bengal’s post-independence and post-partition experiences and how these impacted the lives of citizens and refugees from different castes. The book primarily focuses on the suffering and agony endured by Bengal’s Scheduled Caste (SC) population as they migrated between East and West Bengal and their struggles. Divided into five chapters, the book gives a detailed account of events that stand at ‘the intersection of two strands in Indian historiography – the history of partition and the history of the left movements’.
The first chapter, ‘Caste and Partition’, concentrates on the early stages of the protracted conflict that took place in Bengal. The Namasudras and the Rajbansis, two SC peasant communities, are introduced, and we get to see how politics and partition affected their life. The chapter examines the Dalits’ exploitation in the context of issues relating to identity, citizenship and nationality, party politics and their roles in elections, and continuous movement between the borders of India and Pakistan. And their experience with their alliance with Muslim League. These encounters demonstrate how difficult it was to categorize Dalit identity as either Hindu or non-Hindu at the time of the impending Partition and how their relationship with the Muslim community had some underlying tensions.
The next chapter follows ‘The Great Exodus’. It outlines the contributions made by AISCF (All India Scheduled Castes Federation) and political leader Jogendranath Mandal to the Dalit-Muslim Alliance in Bengal. The immediate reverse migration of Namasudra peasants from East Bengal to India following Partition highlights the sense of unease they felt as a result of the poor integrity and violence. India lost Gandhi with his assassination in 1948 and Pakistan increasingly moved away from Jinnah with him being incapacitated by illness. Violence and blame games increased, heightening the Hindu-Muslim animosity. There was competition for land and property as the number of migrants rose. Citizens who did not migrate to Pakistan had already taken possession of properties and were not ready to give them up. This sparked a crisis that resulted in acts of violence from both the Muslim and Hindu populations. The SCs soon realised that the miscreants causing riots had little concern for the caste when they targeted Hindus. The Namasudras believed that no country was willing to accept them.
Chapter three describes the refugee population’s living conditions in West Bengal’s bordering regions and refugee camps, including how the government attempted to renegotiate the refugees’ identities and assist in rehabilitating them at the beginning of their movement. Since the previous attempt at migration led them to lose their land, upon returning, no one had the courtesy to return the property to the original owners, rendering the SCs homeless. Therefore, the government of India planned to rehabilitate them. However, these duties quickly became seen as a burden for the government, and the condition for migrants in the camps deteriorated. The negligence of the government to look after the welfare of the SC community already facing the problem of homelessness and unemployment encouraged the emergence of numerous women-centric political leaders. They called themselves the Bastuhara which in Bengali meant refugee and thus, their organisation came to be known as the Bastuhara Samiti. Numerous Bastuhara Samitis emerged in various camps. These organisations were a significant factor in the resistance being led by many female camp inhabitants. One major consequence of living in these camps was the solid education and community upbringing of the children of the refugee families. Nevertheless, the cons outweighed the pros. There were still problems regarding supplies, allowances, basic hygiene and necessities.
The state’s plan for the refugees’ rehabilitation is highlighted in the following chapter. During his speeches at the camps, Prime Minister Nehru welcomed the refugees warmly but also made it clear that they would need to work hard to improve their living conditions and that the camp was not a place they could call home permanently.
From the very beginning of the second wave of refugee migration, the central government viewed a dispersal plan as a feasible answer to the problem of rehabilitating East Bengali refugees. The central government, which was in charge of covering the costs, was eager to dismantle the camps and end the refugee problem. The state government accepted the dispersal strategy without any objection but they weren’t in favour of blurring the difference between rehabilitation and dispersal.
The administration’s most practical answer to the rehabilitation problem was to relocate the refugees to other provinces and surrounding areas, including the Andaman Islands. The government attempted to use the agricultural know-how of the Namasudra refugees outside of Andaman but with little success. But there was an issue. The refugees have to be prepared to move to states other than Bengal. As a result, the Indian government designed a new facility in West Bengal and neighbouring states to rehabilitate these refugees. A sizable number of East Bengali migrants were relocated to agricultural wasteland in West Bengal. The rest of the population was to be transferred to the neighbouring states of Bihar, Tripura and Manipur.
Due to prejudices, the living conditions of the refugees who were transferred to other states for rehabilitation were considerably worse. The problems of desertion and refugees returning to West Bengal from other states were a concern because the SC migrants were not even provided with the most basic financial payments. The state then developed the Dandakaranya. However, this appeared to be aimed more at human labour allocation for Dandakaranya’s growth than a scheme for refugee welfare. The strategy was not well received and was met with opposition.
The final chapter depicts how the events described in the prior chapters unfolded. The potential for revolution is explored as the chapter examines the many forms of opposition and techniques of mobilization. With personal games for selfish political uplifting of individuals and political parties going too far and the question of caste continuously being brought up, it only ended up fanning the flames.
The book’s conclusion describes how Partition politics used the people for nefarious ends and how they were essentially reduced to a population that frequently switched sides. It also explains why Namasudras acted as they did, which was primarily an identity crisis, insecurity and sense of belonging. The book attempts to define the new dialects of Dalit protest through the Dalit exiles’ fight against the Indian state’s discriminatory and harsh rehabilitation practices. The refugee’s rediscovery of their Dalit identity is discussed in the epilogue and is highlighted.
The authors write in a narrative style that engages the readers and makes historical events come alive. It is an immensely readable book. The book showcases the struggles of the Scheduled Caste population in Bengal. It highlights their dilemmas, identity crises, their problems after they re-migrated back to India, how no one was willing to treat them fairly and how these struggles made them rise to the occasion. The book records the journey and transformation of the Scheduled Caste inhabitants of Bengal from a group of confused population to a self-aware community of vocal citizens.
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Rana Abhyendra Singh has completed his post-graduation in Sociology from South Asian University, New Delhi. He is working as a research assistant in the Department of History, Banaras Hindu University (BHU).