The large inflow of refugees was accompanied by a process of ‘othering’, or discrimination that they had to face meted out by their Bengali counterparts in West Bengal. Between 19 an estimated of 5 million people crossed borders to enter the present state of West Bengal. Almost all of them were Hindus, who had to leave their ancestral land and property as a result of the large scale communal violence. The moment that separated East from West Bengal was initiator of a process entailing large inflow of migrants into Indian territory of Bengal from the East Pakistani side.
“For people living in Bengal, Partition is a living reality,” says Prabal Banerjee, independent researcher on Partition history and Fellow at the 1947 Partition Archive. However, Partition can hardly be called a specific moment in history. The historic moment in which Bengal got divided between the East and the West happened in August 1947. Wrapped within the large number of colourful Lakshmi Puja pandals and alpona (a local variant of rangoli made on the occasion of Lakshmi puja in Bengal) is the link this popular Bengali festival has with its ghastly history of Partition. It interesting to note though that while the original inhabitants of Bengal, locally referred to as Ghotis do celebrate Lakshmi Puja at other times of the year, it is the festival made popular by Bengali refugee population that has come to be officially recognised as the day of Lakshmi Puja in Bengal. The Kojagori Lakshmi Puja, as locals call this day of worship, is the day when Bangaals (the local term used to refer to Bengalis from East Bengal) offer prayers to Goddess Lakshmi. A lesser known fact, however, is that the Lakshmi Puja that follows Durga Puja and is widely popular all over Bengal as a day of holidaying and festivity, is actually a celebration attributed to a certain section of Bengalis- the refugees who migrated from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) after the partition of the country in 1947.