#BookReview : Blood Island by Deep Halder

Blood Island is a non-fiction written by Deep Halder & published by Harper Collins India. The author has been a journalist for seventeen years, writing on issues of development at the intersection of religion, caste and politics. Currently, he is the executive editor at India Today Group Digital.

The book revolves around the lesser known event of the Marichjhapi Massacre and how it affected as well as changed the lives of so many people. In the present day when we hear about the Rohingya refugees & the NRC being done in Assam to keep out “illegal immigrants”, Marichjhapi remains a bloody spot on the history of India. The partition of Bengal has been complex & so has been the creation of Bangladesh, while upper caste Bengali Hindus had already migrated to India the Namasudra Bengalis migrated after things got violent for them in Bangladesh. This collection of oral history takes us to their journey on how they were treated by different parties & governments and poses a pertinent question to us. When will we start treating human beings as they should be? Get this book here to know more,

History is a weird thing because in most cases how you perceive history depends upon the narrative you’ve come across hence it is possible to not know many aspects of it. This book gives us a collection of oral histories of one such event which is comparatively lesser known & discussed. The Marichjhapi Massacre is a perfect example of how political parties when in power speak a different language than when in power. The author has successfully captured the very essence of this event & portrayed it as it is. Each chapter makes you revisit the horror people went through & understand the sense of betrayal they must’ve felt. Surely a must read.