ABSTRACT
Despite the efforts of the Viceroy and the Secretary of State to contain the violence of Noakhali and Tipperah, the Pandora’s box had already been opened and the Noakhali outrage began to send its ripples to various other parts of India. The events of September 1946 in Calcutta proved that the wounds of the Direct Action Day had not really healed. Calcutta was sitting on a powder keg ready to flare up at the slightest provocation. Noakhali sent its shockwaves directly to the neighbouring Hindu majority48 province of Bihar. Hindu-Muslim relations in Bihar were already at a low ebb since the Direct Action Resolution of 29 July 1946. Gandhi’s discerning eyes saw that the Bihar carnage was going to bring nothing but discredit to the ruling Congress government in the province and tarnish the image of the interim government at the centre for having encouraged the show.
