The history of partition that took place in 1947 has not been told in full. What is told is more of what took place on the Punjab side. A number of books and cinemas were based on the Punjab-Pakistan partition, but what is not depicted in full is the partition of Bengal, said the Governor of Meghalaya Tathagata Roy. He was delivering a lecture here in Andhra University on Tuesday.
According to him, not only did the concerned authorities speak in volume about Bengal partition, but even the victims remained silent, probably they were suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
Historical developments
Touching upon historical developments, Mr. Tathagata said that though the concept of partition was present since long in the country, the 1932 Communal Award idea that was floated by then British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, gave a fillip to the demand.
“The Communal Award that was signed by Mr. MacDonald granted separate electorates in India for the Forward Caste, Scheduled Caste, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans and Depressed Classes,” he elaborated.He also spoke about the devastating consequences of 1950 East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) riots and its effect on India, especially West Bengal.
Earlier, Director (Technical) of NSTL G. Ravi Kumar and Chief Staff Officer (Personal and Administration) of Eastern Naval Command Rear Admiral Deepak Kapoor, spoke about opportunities in defence research and various forms of support and schemes from the Central government for research.
Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University Prof. G. Nageswara Rao, Principal of Andhra University College of Engineering Prof. P.S. Avadhani and Registrar Prof. Niranjan spoke.