Kolkata: CM Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday invoked the memory of the Great Calcutta Killings to caution against what he called “appeasement politics,” at an event remembering the violence that broke out in the city on Direct Action Day on Aug 16, 1946.“I bow my head in solemn remembrance of all those who perished during those calamitous days. Let us pledge to learn from the mistakes of the past so that we may never again witness such a horrific breakdown of humanity, fuelled by appeasement politics,” Adhikari posted on X, describing the killings as a dark chapter “where communal hatred was unleashed by the then regime, claiming thousands of innocent lives.”Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, who unveiled a statue of Gopal Mukherjee alias Gopal Patha at Salt Lake on Sunday, described the 1946 violence in stark terms. “Women were raped and their legs were amputated from thighs to be displayed in shops to create an atmosphere of terror. These tormentors later claimed themselves to be secular,” he said.Bhattacharya also linked the killings to Congress’s 1937 decision to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, a controversy that resurfaced recently after Sonia Gandhi was seen apparently expressing discomfort during the song’s recitation at Congress headquarters.“Had we not dissected Vande Mataram in 1937, we wouldn’t have seen the Great Calcutta Killings in 1946. Those who dissected Vande Mataram accepted the partition of this country — they were in a hurry to assume power,” he said.
