The God Who Failed: An Assessment of Jawaharlal Nehru's Leadership

by Madhav Godbole

‘Far from solving the communal problem, the partition had aggravated it as Mahatma Gandhi’s murder evidenced… Several riots took place during the first decade after independence. In 1950, communal riots broke out in West Bengal in Gora Bazar, Dum Dum etc. In these riots thirty-four Muslims and sixteen Hindus were killed and 146 Muslims and 110 Hindus were injured… Throughout the fifties communal violence kept occurring. In 1954, in all fifty-four riots occurred in which thirty-four persons were killed and 512 injured. In 1955, seventy-five riots took place in which twenty-four lives were lost and 457 were injured. In 1956, eighty-two riots were reported in which thirty-five persons were killed and 575 were injured. In 1957, fifty-eight riots were registered and the toll of human life came to fifty-eight with injuries to 316. Thereafter in 1958, forty instances of communal riots came to be reported in which seven human lives were snuffed and 369 got injured. In 1959, in all forty-two cases of communal violence occurred which claimed forty-one human lives with injuries to 1344. In 1960, twenty-six such incidents took place with fourteen human lives lost and 262 injured. This shows that no year was free of communal violence.’ (Engineer 1995; pp.95–6)