PARTITION MEMORIES IN BANGLADESH: INTERPLAY BETWEEN OFFICIAL HISTORY WRITING AND FAMILY NARRATIVES

Abstract: This essay discusses how Partition (of British India) is remembered today in Bangladesh and how personal memories and narratives may differ considerably from public history writing. It examines the influence of state, community and family on the formation of popular memories about Partition. The idea of homeland or “desh” has been associated with the idea of motherland. The concept of “desh” has been used as an important tool for strengthening the idea of national integration. However, to the displaced persons the word “desh” corresponds to a different meaning. It refers to the ancestral land which had been lost for ever. It only exists in memories. The essay tries to understand the nostalgia for a lost homeland cherished by the uprooted Muslims from West Bengal on the basis of the memories. It attempts to answer the questions ‘how do we know what we remember (of Partition)? Is what we remember, what we used to know? What relationship is there between what we remember and what we experienced?’ Literature which discusses the relationship between memories and history and identity formation of a nation provides the framework for this analysis.