Throughout his political career Shaheed Bhai had been blamed for many things. His personality was of the type that aroused great admiration or intense antagonism, but he suffered the most bitter attacks in connection with the Calcutta riots and was the target of calumny and lies. He was accused of planning and organizing the riots with the view of forcing the British to yield to the Muslim League demands, he was accused of neglect in putting down the disturbances once they had started, and he was accused of not providing adequate and sufficient protection for the Hindu areas.

The Calcutta riots of August 1946 were not caused by Shaheed. No one person or organization can be held responsible for them, it was the result of the mounting tension of years. The atmosphere by August 1946 was so charged with hatred that it was inevitable that it would explode into violence. What added to the tension was that the Viceroy who had not gone ahead with the formation of an interim government when the Muslim League had accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan, now did so; and to add insult to injury it included Muslims whom the League did not accept as its representatives. All this added fuel to an already smouldering fIre and a flare-up was inevitable.

I had been in Calcutta since 9 June as my father was seriously ill. It was 11 or 12 August, I had gone up to Delhi for a few days to see to some urgent matters in connection with my household, and I was returning in the early hours of 16 August by plane. It was at the New Delhi Airport that I first heard of the Calcutta riots. An English couple whom we knew came up to us saying that they had heard on the radio that there had been some rioting in Calcutta. My heart stood still for I feared that Ikrarn might not let me return to Calcutta, and come what may I had to go back for my father was ill and was alone in the house.

Fortunately, Ikram did not stop me, he had either not heard the news or did not realize how serious the rioting was. I don't quite remember the details of that early morning but I have a clear recollection of the fear that I might not be able to get back to Calcutta. However, l did go back, the plane arrived I think at about 1.00 at the Dum Dum Airport and as soon as we had
disembarked we were told we could not go into town as there was serious rioting  in the city and the roads were dangerous. Airline buses had been cancelled, and no private cars were allowed to come through. I felt desperate, as my father was alone and the fact that he would worry about me might well prove fatal for him. I begged the airport officials to somehow get me through.

They were sympathetic, but regretted they could do nothing. There were other passengers who also wanted to get to town and they kept asking the airport officials to arrange transport. Finally, after what seemed ages, and after several other planeloads of people had arrived at the airport, we were all put into two or three buses and with some sort of improvised military protection-again I cannot remember the exact details--we were sent off to town. But I do remember very clearly the details of that journey. Its horror will remain etched in my memory forever, for it was my first acquaintance with violence at close quarters. From Dum Dum to the city of Calcutta we passed through suburbs most of which consisted of clusters of mud huts with straw roofs. These were all ablaze. I remember our bus passing between what seemed a wall of tall leaping flames on both sides. On the road lay charred remains of cars and rickshaws, and abandoned bicycles littered the road. As we entered the town further ghastly sights of violence met our eyes, dead bodies lay strewn everywhere. I clearly saw the body of a person lying on the marble steps of the porch of a house, his white drill suit splattered with blood, his head was neatly severed from his body and lying a few feet away. I saw a Sikh clad only in shirt and shorts, without his turban, being chased by a man with an unsheathed sword, panting after him like an animal after its quarry.

My house was in Park Circus, so I had to go to the other side of Calcutta and by the time the bus reached my house I was almost the only person remaining in it. As I had feared, anxiety had made my father's condition much worse. He was however greatly relieved to see me back. I was with him and as long as I was there it did not much matter what else happened. The riot in all its frenzy lasted three days, though its aftermath continued for weeks, in fact life and property ceased to be safe in Calcutta from then onwards.

The Hindus had an initial advantage of several hours for the Muslim men were away from their homes and so the slaughter of the women and children took place without any let or hindrance. That the Muslims retaliated in kind I do not deny, for I do not belong to that school of thought which thinks that its own community or its own nation is incapable of cruelty and brutality. Unfortunately, history has too many proofs to the contrary. Once animal passions of hatred and cruelty are aroused there is nothing to choose between nations and peoples. All I want to say is that the riot as such was not diabolically planned by Shaheed Bhai.

It was three or four days after my arrival that Shaheed came one night to our house at about 1.00. He had come because he knew my father was very ill, but he was too tired even to ask how he was. I answered his unspoken question and then walked down the length of the long verandah with him, our arms around each other in silent sympathy for our separate ordeals. His face was grey and haggard and his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep for he had spent day and night round the clock doing whatever was humanly possible .to stop the carnage. He had moved to the Lal Bazar Police Headquarters to be able to get information and direct operations better. He had a map of Calcutta, spread before him on which he followed the course of the riots in the ill-fated city. As the phone calls came through, aid was rushed to wherever it was needed, Shaheed went to the worst affected areas himself, and tried to get the crowd under control by sheer force of personality. I believe he engaged in hand-to-hand fights more than once, pulling bloodstained swords from the hands of hate-crazed individuals. Even his worst enemies have given him credit for complete fearlessness. This quality somehow had a salutory effect in calming a violent crowd. He was endangering his life all the time. One does not do so if one has planned the bloody orgy oneself. That Shaheed worked like a tiger to quell the riots is well known. There are enough people still alive, both Hindus and Muslims, who can bear testimony to it, but for me the greatest proof was the look on his face during those days. It was a look of anguish and suffering. No man who looked as stricken as Shaheed did, could have deliberately planned the riots. No one who knew Shaheed could believe it, for he was a most compassionate man and violence was abhorrent to him. Each time the turning point in his career came after violence. In 1926 he left the Congress after the first Calcutta riots, and twenty years afterwards, in 1946, the carnage of the second Calcutta riots led him to seek Gandhi ' s help in preventing a repetition of it and thus eventually cost him his future in the state which he had helped create.

As soon as the Bengal Legislative Council was in session, an adjournment motion to discuss the failure of law and order was moved and a few days later a no-confidence motion against the Chief Minister personally and the Ministry in general was moved. The adjournment motion was on 17 September, it was the day when my father's condition took a turn for the worse, in fact he was dying. Shaheed Bhai came in the morning before the session was to start, and stood at the foot of thebed. I was reading the Koran and the doctors were making last minute efforts. We were a small but very close family. It was a wrench for Shaheed Bhai to tear himself away and go
face his ordeal, but he had to go. The adjournment motion was defeated. Shaheed Bhai came back straight to the hospital. My father's condition had improved somewhat, so after a while Shaheed Bhai left.

My father died late that night, and for the next two or three days Shaheed Bhai had to execute all the rites and ceremonies connected with my father's death. The leaders of the Opposition were baying like hounds at his heels but despite it, he attended to everything with respect and devotion. Busy as he was he always found time for important family matters, and attended to them willingly and with grace.

The no-confidence motion was tabled on 21 September. The adjournment motion had been tabled in a hurry , but the no-confidence motion was a studied affair with all the guns aimed at Shaheed Bhai and the Muslim League. The Congress and the Mahasabha leaders literally tore Shaheed Bhai to pieces. He was accused of wilful murder, arson and loot. Member after member got up and excelled each other in vilification. This orgy of hatred lasted for two days at the end of which Shaheed Bhai made a civilized, moderate and humane speech. He explained what he had tried to do to stem the tide of violence. He began by saying, .Before I say anything I want to express my heartfelt sorrow, sympathy and regret for the victims of this holocaust and their relations.

The tone of his speech was in marked contrast to the tirade from his opponents. The Governor, Sir Fredrick Burrows, in his letter to the Viceroy makes a special mention of its moderation.

The motion against the Ministry was defeated by 131 votes to 87 and the motion against the Chief Minister by 130 to 85. The Opposition, though defeated, did not desist in its efforts. So persistent were they and so completely in control of the media, that these charges reverberated through the length and breadth of India. Though there had been riots before the Calcutta riots and there were riots later, which were as terrible as that of Gurmukteshwar and as devastating as the Bihar riots which were virtually genocide, they are not even remembered. But the Calcutta riots are stamped in the minds of the people as the Great Calcutta Killing. Such is the power of propaganda.