Yet another untold, unknown horrific incident of Hindu g€Noc!de in Bengal.
🧵 1/3….
26th February 1950, Sealdah Station.
Evening had fallen. The Dhaka-Calcutta Mail was finally entering Sealdah Station. The train was terribly late. It was supposed to have arrived at 7 a.m.
Since morning, Sealdah Station had been crowded. Reports were coming from East Bengal that Hindus were facing severe persecution. To save their lives and religion, large numbers of Hindus were seeking refuge in West Bengal. A large group of such Hindu refugees was expected to arrive on that train. Countless people had come to the station to receive their relatives and loved ones. They had been waiting since dawn.
The train arrived and stopped. But no one got off.
What was wrong ?
There were no passengers on the train. Yet every compartment was strewn with bags, bundles, trunks, broken toys, countless shattered conch bangles, and BLOOD.
To know what happened we have to go back to the time the train departed.
On the evening of 25th February, as mass violence broke out in Dhaka, large numbers of Hindus fled by steamer to Goalundo. Even this journey had not been easy. Muslim boatmen and porters reportedly charged exorbitant amounts from the Hindu refugees, while subjecting them to repeated humiliation. Eventually, they managed to board the train.
Although the train was scheduled to leave at 10:15 p.m., it departed only at midnight.
At 1 a.m. it reached Rajbari. After leaving Rajbari, it proceeded toward Calcutta. About twenty minutes later, near Surjanagar, the train suddenly stopped in an open field.
What happened next ?
Most of the passengers were women, and panic spread among them. Through the silence of the night came the sound of distant voices, growing steadily louder. The passengers tried to barricade the doors with heavy trunks. Men put on lungis and fez caps. Women wore burqas, wiped away their vermilion marks, and broke their conch bangles before their husbands’ eyes.
Yet it was all in vain.
Groups of armed Muslims, waiting in the nearby jungle, attacked the train with swords, stones, machetes, and axes. Breaking open the doors, they entered the compartments and attacked whoever they found. Young girls and women were taken away, while elderly people were killed.
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