Hunger for credit in time of famine - Cabinet files made public

Mamata Banerjee with some of the files that were made public. Picture by Amit Dutta

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya, TT, Calcutta, Sept. 29: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday made public the papers of 401 cabinet meetings of the provincial government between 1938 and 1947.

The nearly 4,000-page dossier contains minutes of cabinet meetings that took place under the leadership of Abul Kasem Fazlul Haq, Khawaja Nazimuddin and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in a decade that witnessed the Quit India Movement, the Bengal famine and riots before the Partition. All three leaders went to East Pakistan after Independence.

Yesterday, Mamata said before leaving for Delhi: "From the Netaji mystery to the suspicious death of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, everything must be brought to light...."

Some nuggets from the cabinet files of the provincial government:

Release of detainees: In March 1938, Haq tried to coax the cabinet to release freedom fighters ahead of Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Bengal. Gandhi, it was believed, would pressure the government on the issue. "The seven Congress provinces were releasing all prisoners and he (Haq) thought it advisable that this government should also consider the desirability of falling into line," noted chief secretary G.P. Hogg.

Time of war: In September 1938, when Viceroy Victor Hope sought a clarification from the cabinet on whether the British would have the support of Bengal in the event of war, the ministers unanimously promised to "accord unstinted support".

Editorials: In April 1940, Haq mentioned that the order to Hindustan Standard (an English daily previously run by the ABP Group) to submit its editorials for government approval - "the newspaper had retaliated by printing no editorials at all" - be withdrawn. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Haq mentioned, had written to him about the order, "suggesting that it was not wholly legal". The cabinet approved the withdrawal.

Netaji arrest: Bose organised protests in July 1940 demanding the removal of the Holwell Monument, commemorating the Black Hole incident, in Dalhousie Square. He was imprisoned but released after a hunger strike. The monument was relocated to the cemetery of St. John's Church. Since then, intelligence agencies started keeping a watch on Bose's activities.

In a cabinet meeting on July 15, Haq reportedly expressed his "disgust" at a demonstration outside his house the previous evening.

Netaji hunger strike: Bose went on a hunger strike demanding better treatment and allowances for freedom fighters in jail. He was imprisoned in November 1940.

The cabinet discussed Bose on December 2. "Government... must take a strong line. Most of the Congress leaders would soon be in jail and if Subhas was released, he would quickly organise a general movement. Government must be prepared for the worst if he proceeded to extremes, but here also a 'cat and mouse' policy might be employed, which would cover him with ridicule.... Subhas Bose could not be released merely because he had threatened to kill himself by starvation," the papers noted.

The government, however, released him three days later.

Quit India: On August 9, 1942, the cabinet met to decide on action to be taken against the Congress.

"...the A.I.C.C. and the B.P.C.C. (Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee) should be declared unlawful associations in Bengal, and that the Provincial Government should arrest such local Congress leaders and organisers as might be likely to take a prominent part.... The general idea was not to show more strength than necessary and not to take more action than was necessary," said a cabinet paper.

1943 Bengal famine: Cabinet meetings under the leadership of Nazimuddin kept taking stock of the famine that resulted in the death of around 30 lakh people.

A note on one meeting in August 1943 said: "Orders from the G.H.Q. were awaited on receipt of which the local Military authorities would supply the necessary photographic and statistical material to the Publicity Department.... the Military authorities are liable to get all the credit while the efforts of the Civil authorities go unrecognised."

Calcutta killings of 1946: On August 16, 1946, communal riots broke out in the city. On August 18, the cabinet met to set up a panel called the Riots Enquiry Commission. Suhrawardy, then head of the provincial government, was not present.

Partition: From July 1947, two cabinets met - one for the proposed state of West Bengal under Prafulla Chandra Ghosh of the Congress and the other for East Bengal under Suhrawardy.

The cabinet, which met four times till August 11, 1947, discussed the transfer of power from the British to the two soon-to-be-formed territories.