I n the 1946 election, though the Hindu Mahasabha opposed Congress in 26 general seats, it polled only 2.73 per cent of the total Hindu vote and won only one seat, which was a special Reserved University seat from where Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (1901-53) was elected unopposed. “It was not a support for secular nationalism” pointed out Joya Chatterji “but rather against Hindu communalism”.

The general understanding was that the Congress was in a much better position than the Hindu Mahasabha in protecting the interests of Bengali Hindus. The election brought the Muslim League back to power in Bengal under the Prime Minister-ship of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (1892-1963). The anti-Muslim feeling was enhanced by his role during the Bengal famine as it was believed that 4 million people perished because of his negligence and corruption. Suhrawardy did not believe in elite accommodation and did away with the principle of parity of Hindus and Muslims in ministry formation. Pakistan-isation of Bengal looked certain. The Bengali Hindus were terrified at the prospect of becoming second-class citizens as Muslims constituted 54 per cent of Bengal’s population, similar to the Muslim feeling of being a permanent minority within the national movement with Hindus as the permanent majority.

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A number of prominent Bengali intellectuals, Jadunath Sarkar, Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Meghnad Saha, Sisir Kumar Mitra and Suniti Kumar Chatterji sent a telegram on 7 May to the Secretary of State expressing lack of confidence in Suhrawardy’s ministry and called for a separate Hindu Bengal. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, earlier a champion of unity of Bengal,........

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