ABSTRACT
Gandhi had for some years struggled to keep Muslims within the Congress Party, the latter of which was becoming more secularist in outlook. He hoped for a united India that was pluralist in religious outlook, but the opposite was occurring as religious factions fought against each other with the possibility of civil war increasing unless something was done. On 16 August, the Week of the Long Knives began with massive riots in Calcutta in which over 4,000 people were killed. Jinnah, calling for a separate Pakistan, declared 16 August to be Direct Action Day; effectively a general strike by Muslims which would involve a series of processions starting with Calcutta. But with such influential newspapers as the Star of India labelling the day a ‘jihad’ which – coinciding with the holy month of Ramadan – was a re-enactment of the paradigm of the Prophet Muhammad’s conflict with polytheists and his subsequent conquest of Mecca, it was inevitable that these processions would not go peacefully. Hindu papers and politicians were equally antagonistic. The rioting only ended after a week with the intervention of British troops.1
