Cultural Hegemony & Untold Genocides v3 by Rinita Mazumdar PhD

For our divided land and for our forefathers. In the story told, there is at the end mention of Nehru and Patel. Nehru was the first Prime Minister of independent India and Patel was the Deputy Prime Minister of independent India. Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, was the longest Prime Minister of India. During this time India and Pakistan went to war for the third time over the rise of East Pakistan and India won the war, although opposed by the USA, and East Pakistan was reborn as Bangladesh.

I do not do rituals or celebrate festivals. Nonetheless, before Diwali, I thought I will start sharing from Collins and Lapierre’s book, “Freedom At Midnight” in parts. For me, this is a way to give back to our forefathers, a knowledge that I was barred from knowing and acting on. In therapy, some old wounds heal, and some remain, for us this will probably never heal. For me this Diwali (Hindu festival of lights) is to keep the Diya alive of our history, culture, our pain, and our joy.

Happy Diwali

15th August 1947: This was India’s first Independence Day. Amritsar Railway station No 10 Down. Certainly, something seriously penetrated through the huge gathering. He saw four armed guards by the side of the driver. He was afraid that something seriously wrong had happened. The anxious public became shocked for an unknown reason. The station master looked at 8 coaches of the train. He saw all the doors were closed and windows were open. Not a single passenger was coming out. Cani Singh entered as the first coach; He got a shock. He found only dead bodies. On the floor parts of human bodies are here and there. Suddenly, he heard a fable voice. He shouted “You are now in Amritsar. We are Hindus and Sikhs. Here are the police. Don’t be afraid. After hearing his voice a few bodies started movement. But then what he saw was a thick clot of blood everywhere. He would never forget the scenery in his life. A woman cried loudly while holding her husband’s hand that was separated from the body with a sharp sword. Children were crying holding the bodies of their father and mother. Station masters were moving to other coaches stepping over the dead bodies. Same scene in all the coaches… In the last coach there was a writing in white color “This train is our gift of freedom to Nehru and Patel.”

Reference: Collins, L. & Lapierre, D. (1975). Freedom At Midnight. Simon and Schuster, NY.

Find previous articles of Dr. Mazumdar's series on Global Conflict by clicking here.