Gopal Patha : Braveheart who saved Hindus during the great Calcutta killings

Do you know Gopal Patha ? Don’t know? It’s not your fault at all, Ladies and Gentlemen. It’s the fault of the system of education in the Sub Continent. GOPAL CHANDRA MUKHOPADHYAY ‘PATHA’ IS THE MAN WHO SAVED THE HINDUS DURING THE GREAT CALCUTTA KILLINGS ( DIRECT ACTION DAY ) starting on and from the16th of August, 1946.

Birth And Family History

Gopalchandra was born in a Bengali Hindu family in Malanga Lane in Bowbazar street in Kolkata. He was the nephew of the great freedom fighter and revolutionary Sri Anukul Chandra Mukhopadhyay.

His real name was Gopal Chandra Mukherjee (Mukhopadhyay). He got the name of Gopal Patha because his family ran a meat shop at College Street in Calcutta. Gopal Mukhopadhyay was a mutton seller in Calcutta. Legends are that he had the best meat in town. He was known as Gopal ‘Patha’ (Patha means goat/mutton in Bengali). He was at the time of partition a protector to the Hindu community.

His idea of keeping peace was the killing of the other side with equal ferocity.

“He was very ferocious,” recalls Mr. S. K. Bhattacharjee, a sub-inspector in the Lalbazar police headquarters at the time of the Great Calcutta Killing in August 1946, “Gopal looked like a gentleman. He was a criminal, but he was very helpful to the poor. During the riots, he came out to rescue the Hindus!”

Created a Defense Team in response to Direct Action Day

When the Direct Action Day unleashed the communal riots in Calcutta, Gopalchandra assembled his forces.
He asserted, “it was a very critical time for the country, we thought if the whole area became Pakistan, there would be more torture and repression. So I called all my boys together and said it is the time to retaliate. If you come to know that one murder have taken place, you commit 10 murders. That was the order to my boys!”

“We came to know of a Hindu called Gopal Patha,” recalls former Muslim Leaguer G. G. Ajmiri, “He used to catch hold of Muslims and slaughter them.”

Ajmiri was a Muslim strongman, a leader of the League’s student wing in Calcutta along with Mujibur Rahman (He was not that important then) and a member of the Muslim National Guards. Ajmiri, who appeared to have been loyal in turn to Britain, to Pakistan (he served in its army) and now to Bangladesh, lives in Dhaka, where he delights in telling tales of his prowess. “They used to call me brave and strong armed. I never used a shotgun or sword. But I was a good boxer. And sometimes I took the bamboo sticks out of their hands and beat them with those. One day,” says Ajmiri warming to his theme, “somebody said Gopal had grabbed four Muslims together and slaughtered them. Immediately we rushed there.

Patha looked at me and said, “oh, this man had come again!”
I said, “yes, why are you killing people just because they are Muslims?”
He said to me, “you go, we won’t kill anybody more now!”
On the morning of 16th of August 1946, he left for his shop as usual, but when he heard about the troubles in the city he came back to his locality.

Muslim League massacred Hindus shouting slogans

“Muslim League volunteers were marching with long sticks in their hands. From Bowbazar More to Harrison Road you could hear their slogans, Lar ke lenge Pakistan! (We’ll fight and take Pakistan)!”
The Muslim mobs consisting of people who mostly wore the uniform of the Muslim National Guards and carried the Muslim League flag burnt, massacred, looted and raped with these slogans:
“LAR KAR LENGE PAKISTAN!”
“MAR KAR LENGE PAKISTAN!”
”DENA HOGA PAKISTAN!”
“PAKISTAN KAYAM KARO!”

Seeing the Great Calcutta Killings with his own eyes threw Gopalchandra into a rage. He organised a dedicated and salaried band of Hindu hitmen who avenged Hindu deaths by slaughtering the Muslims wherever they could find them. He handed out guns, swords, grenades. He thundered, “for every dead Hindu, I want ten Muslim corpses. Go forth my lads and show no mercy!”

Muslim League Leaders pleaded Gopal to stop

Gopal’s men used those weapons with devastating effect. So much so that an ageing Ghulam Rasool, one of the top leaders of the Muslim National Guards (a terrorist Muslim organisation affiliated to Jinnah’s Muslim League and responsible for most of the Hindu genocide in Bengal) in Calcutta and currently living in Lahore, recalls with terror, “I pleaded with Gopal to stop this madness. Bahut khoon bah chuka, hamari taraf se bhi aur aapki taraf se bhi. Ab is qatl-e-aam ko rokna hoga. Hum aur khoon kharabi ke liye taiyar nahi hain. Hum ceasefire ke liye taiyaar hain!”

Note the Classic Muslim Behaviour of asking for Mercy and Peace, tucking one’s tail between one’s legs and running for one’s life when the Hindu valiantly repels his attack and beats him to pulp!!!

Gopal Patha and Gandhi

His men went on merrily about their task of protecting Hindu honour and lives. Finally a time came when even Mr. Mohandas Karmchand Gandhi tried to persuade him and other Hindu warriors to lay down their arms.
Gopal Mukherjee characteristally replied, “I will not lay down even a nail if it had been used for defending the Hindu honour!!!”

Like Gopalchandra ‘Patha’ Mukhopadhyay the local tough Jugal Chandra Ghosh also had some men at his disposal. He ran an Akhara (Wrestling Club) at Beliaghata, and raised money from the neighboring saw mills, factories and khatals (dairy sheds), distributing it among his Boys! They carried out retaliatory attacks in the Beliaghata area and the Mia Bagan Basti (Slum Settlements)!

I Salute this Royal Bengal Tiger, Hero of the Hindus who saved the Hindus of Calcutta from an eminent much more severe disaster!!!

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Gopalchandra Patha : The man who saved Calcutta from becoming Pakistan and broke Suharawardy’s dream