The author argues that Marichjhapi for many is a discarded and distorted record. The book is divided into nine chapters, encompassing anecdotes of nine individuals who directly or indirectly are related to Marichjhapi and had witnessed the massacre in varying degrees of atrocities. Kindle eBook deals starting at ?29 Oral History as a Writing Style Jalais (2005) points out that most of the Marichjhapi settlers were from the lower caste and were given the ‘shrift’ from the Left Front government who claimed themselves to be “the government for the casteless and classless margins”, but were, in reality, bound with upper-caste hegemony. Scholars like Annu Jalais and Ross Mallick have observed this carnage from a caste perspective, camouflaged by the government’s sternness on safeguarding ecology. The underlying theme that the book addresses is how ‘caste-bias’ becomes a significant proponent of gaslighting the massacre. This translated to the killing of thousands of refugees at point-blank range, raping of women, the merciless beheading of children all of which was a discernment of violation of human rights, which can be compared with the recent political discourse of intolerance and lynching. In the Preface and Afterword, the author leverages on the ideals of a ‘good journalist’, by being responsive on revisiting the tragic stories of Marichjhapi, a state-managed violence led by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu and exhume facts by digging out old inconvenient truths. Min 40% Off on Kindle Exam Central eBooks

This led to the second wave of migration into India during the 1960s-70s of the lower caste and class (like, Namasudras) who lacked the means to survive on their own. But soon, incongruity started to grow, and they were persecuted based on religion. They thought their class- solidarity and shared–livelihood would help them coexist peacefully with the Muslims. In contrast, several lower caste Hindus decided to stay back in East Bengal as they were attached to their land (now Bangladesh) as farmers, fishers or artisans. After the partition of India, West Bengal saw its first wave of migration inflow, comprising mostly the upper-class Hindu Bhadralok.

The Introduction of the book sets a tone of violence, sufferings and pain as it summarizes the ceaseless ordeals of the refugees. It was more than just an episode, a dreadful journey from East Bengal to West Bengal, living at different camps and finding a place like Marichjhapi which temporarily became their safe abode but later turned into a burning hell. The author, Deep Halder’s aims is to restore the ‘lapse memory’ by transcribing the narratives of the victims who had not only faced the atrocities meted out to them during the Marichjhapi massacre but had survived the post-massacre ordeals. The book under review is an honest attempt to corroborate the goriness and tenebrosity of a long-harkened pogrom executed on the untouchable refugees from East Bengal which took place from January 1979 to May 1979 and is popularly known as the Marichjhapi Massacre.

Blood island