History and Anthropology

Chiseled and incisive, this book provides interpretive accounts of major riots involving Hindus and Muslims in Bangladesh and West Bengal during and after the Partition of India: 1946, 1950 and 1964. Drawing on the extensive research into contemporary accounts and documents to chronicle these devastating  riots, it identifies the key incidents, individuals, organizations, and trends associated with these purposeful bloodlettings and responses to them. Showing how and why the rule of law quickly eroded, Dr. Biswas shines his lights on mob violence and religious fundamentalism that ran amok. Equally important, the book shows how different human agencies of peace started operations to restore sanity within the society gripped in violence.