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14th August Special (Part-II)
Continuing from previous issue…
While Punjab became the flashpoint in the west, Bengal bled in the east. The Radcliffe Line’s eastern cut severed Bengal into two – West Bengal in India and East Bengal, soon to be East Pakistan. Like Punjab, Bengal’s division was abrupt, ill-prepared, and brutally enforced. The bustling city of Calcutta turned into a reception centre for hundreds of thousands of Hindu refugees fleeing communal riots and targeted killings in East Bengal’s towns and villages. In Noakhali and Tippera, entire Hindu settlements were attacked in the months preceding Independence, forcing a mass flight to safety. The rivers of Bengal, which had for centuries been lifelines of trade and culture, now became routes of desperate escape. Families crowded onto ferries and bullock carts, carrying whatever they could salvage, many losing relatives to mob violence or the treacherous crossings.
The tragedy in Bengal carried its own unique anguish. In the east, the violence often came in sudden bursts, intertwined with long months of fear and deprivation. The communal riots of 1946 in Calcutta and Noakhali had already torn at the social fabric, leaving deep mistrust. By 1947, that mistrust exploded into a massive exodus. More than 3 million Hindus crossed from East Bengal into India over the next few years, their arrival straining West Bengal’s cities and villages to breaking point.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2021 declared August 14 to be observed every year as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day. This decision – coming after seven decades of independent India – is more than a symbolic gesture
Refugee camps sprouted on the outskirts of Calcutta, Howrah, and Siliguri, often with appalling sanitary conditions and little food. Like their Punjabi counterparts, Bengali survivors carried more than just physical scars – they brought memories of lost homes, desecrated temples, and ancestral lands now beyond reach. The suffering of Bengal stands as a reminder that Partition was not one tragedy but two, playing out at opposite ends of the subcontinent, united in their human cost.
It is in acknowledgment of this enduring pain that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2021 declared August 14 to be observed every year as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day. This decision – coming after seven decades of independent India – is more than a symbolic gesture. It is an act of historic truth-telling and homage.
For too long, the stories of 1947’s survivors lived only in personal memories and faded letters. Now, by officially dedicating a day to remember Partition’s victims, we have made those stories part of our national narrative. Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck the right chord when he said “Partition’s pains can never be forgotten.
Millions of our sisters and brothers were displaced and many lost their lives due to mindless hate and violence.” He urged that this day “keep reminding us of the need to remove the poison of social divisions, disharmony and further strengthen the spirit of oneness”. In doing so, he gave voice to what every right-thinking Indian knows in his or her heart: that our unity is hard-won and sacred, purchased with the blood of those who perished in 1947. Observing Partition Horrors Remembrance Day nationally is India’s promise to its past – that we will remember the suffering of our people with dignity, and honor the sacrifice of those who did not live to see the tricolor fly. It is also India’s promise to its future – that we will teach each new generation about the devastation that communal hatred can unleash, so that such poison never spreads in our country again.
For the Bharatiya Janata Party, and for me personally, this commitment is profoundly important. The BJP has always stood for the idea of “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat” – One India, Great India – where our nation’s unity in diversity is celebrated and protected. Partition Horrors Remembrance Day is a part of that commitment: it ensures we do not whitewash the past or ignore its lessons. As a son of Punjab and as a proud Indian, I have heard the Partition stories at my own dinner table since childhood – tales told in choked voices by elders who lived that nightmare. I feel a deep sense of duty to those martyrs and survivors. We in the BJP will make sure that their sacrifices are never forgotten or in vain. By remembering the horrors of Partition, we also strengthen our resolve to thwart the divisive forces that ever seek to weaken India from within. Whether it is communalism, casteism, or any ideology of hate – we must reject it with all our might, for we know the catastrophe it can breed. Today, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is acknowledging its history – the glory and the pain – with open eyes. This honest reckoning makes us stronger. It cements our unity, because a nation that remembers its worst sorrow will guard its present unity even more fiercely.
The BJP has always stood for the idea of “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat” – One India, Great India – where our nation’s unity in diversity is celebrated and protected. Partition Horrors Remembrance Day is a part of that commitment
It’s been nearly seventy-eight years since Partition. The world has changed, India has risen to new heights, and many of those who witnessed that terrible time are no longer with us. Yet, we still owe them a debt — to tell their story, to learn from their pain. We do not recount this chapter to rekindle bitterness — far from it. We tell it so we can salute their resilience and determination, and remind ourselves never to let such division take root in our nation again.
On this Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, as people across the country light candles and sound sirens in tribute, one image comes to my mind: an elderly woman in Amritsar quietly opening her chest of memories. Between old clothes and brass utensils lies the iron key to the house she left behind in 1947. Her hands tremble as she picks it up. The key is rusted, cold to the touch, yet for her, it is more precious than gold. It holds a story of both pain and pride: pain for the world she lost, pride that amid such adversity she never abandoned her dignity, her family, or her hope.
That woman survived the tragedy of 1947 and vowed her children would never face the same suffering. Today, that key is both a warning and a torch. A warning that when the demon of hatred takes over, it takes no time for homes to burn and nations to splinter. And a torch in the sense that the light of memory and unity will guide us through the dark roads of the future — the conviction that together we can ensure that the storm of enmity which once forced millions to lock their doors and leave forever will never rise again.
The keys of our past warn us that India’s future must never bear such wounds again. They stand as symbols of the country we must build, one where no one is forced to bid a final farewell to their home and soil. And that is the true lesson of these keys: that “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat” is not just a slogan but the victory mantra of unity, the national creed, our very foundation. The darkness of hatred can only be fought with the light of love and unbreakable unity, and we must hold on to that light, always.
(The writer is National General Secretary of the BJP)