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Three million lives lost. Countless families torn apart. A civilisation scarred by hunger. The Bengal Famine of 1943–44 is remembered as one of the greatest human tragedies of the twentieth century. But what if it was not an unavoidable wartime disaster? What if it was engineered? Written in 1944, Panchasher Manwantar is Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s searing indictment of the policies that, he believed, turned food scarcity into mass starvation. Rejecting the official narrative, he argues that the Churchill government deliberately created the conditions for famine through a series of calculated measures—from the infamous ‘scorched-earth’ policy to anti-hoarding laws that stripped ordinary families of their food reserves. These policies were reinforced by the communal politics of the provincial Muslim League government, with devastating consequences for Bengal. In this compelling commentary, translator Sudip Kar Purkayastha returns to Mookerjee’s landmark work with fresh insights and renewed urgency. He argues that the Bengal Famine was not simply a story of administrative failure but of deliberate political choices that culminated in what he describes as “the genocide of Bengalis”. Part history, part political testimony, and part moral reckoning, this book challenges long-held assumptions about one of the British Empire’s darkest chapters. It asks not only how millions died, but why—and why the answers still matter today.
Translator Sudip Kar Purkayastha believes this was a deliberately crafted and ruthlessly executed policy that resulted in the GENOCIDE of Bengalis. He argues that those responsible have yet to be held accountable. Purkayastha is the author of On the Road to Freedom, Parts 1 and 2.
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