page_title: Noakhali riots
section_title: Communal propaganda
hierarchical_section_title: Noakhali riots / Prelude / Communal propaganda
caption_attribution_description: English: The Diara Sharif of Shyampur, the residence of Ghulam Sarwar Husseini, Member of Bengal Legislative Assembly (1937-1946).
context_page_description: The Noakhali riots were a series of semiorganized massacres, rapes, abductions and forced conversions of Hindus to Islam and looting and arson of Hindu properties perpetrated by the Muslim community in the districts of Noakhali in the Chittagong Division of Bengal in October–November 1946, a year before India's independence from British rule.
  It affected the areas under the Ramganj, Begumganj, Raipur, Lakshmipur, Chhagalnaiya and Sandwip police stations in Noakhali district and the areas under the Hajiganj, Faridganj, Chandpur, Laksham and Chauddagram police stations in Tipperah district, a total area of more than 2,000 square miles.
  The massacre of the Hindu population started on 10 October, on the day of Kojagari Lakshmi Puja and continued unabated for about a week. It is estimated that 5,000 were killed, hundreds of Hindu women were raped and thousands of Hindu men and women were forcibly converted to Islam. Around 50,000 to 75,000 survivors were sheltered in temporary relief camps in Comilla, Chandpur, Agartala and other places. Around 50,000 Hindus remained marooned in the affected areas under the strict surveillance of the Muslims, where the administration had no say.
context_section_description: In 1937, Gholam Sarwar Husseini, the scion of a Muslim Pir family, was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly on a Krishak Praja Party ticket. However, in the 1946 elections, he lost to a Muslim League candidate. Gholam Sarwar's father and grandfather were pious Muslims and had led lives of penance. Their family happened to be the hereditary khadims at the Diara Sharif in Shyampur, revered as a holy place by both Muslims and Hindus. After the Direct Action Day riots in Kolkata, Husseini began to deliver provocative speeches, inciting the Muslim masses to take revenge for the Kolkata riots. In some places, Hindu shops began to be boycotted. In the Ramganj and Begumganj police station areas, the Muslim boatmen refused to ferry Hindu passengers. In the first week of September, Muslims looted the Hindu shops in Sahapur market. Hindus were harassed and molested when they were returning to their native villages from Kolkata to spend the puja holidays. From 2 October onwards there were frequent instances of stray killings, theft and looting.
caption: The Diara Sharif of Shyampur, the residence of Ghulam Sarwar Husseini.
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