Timeline
16 August 1946
Direct Action Day was the All-India Muslim League's call for mass agitation on to press its demand for Pakistan, triggering the Great Calcutta Killings.
29 July 1946
At its Bombay session on 27–, the League passed a resolution rejecting the Cabinet Mission scheme, withdrawing its nominees, and resolving to resort to "dire…
19 August 1946
Calcutta erupted into communal carnage now known as the Great Calcutta Killings, lasting roughly four days (16–).
Positions at a glance
Indian National Congress
The call followed the League's withdrawal of its earlier acceptance of the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 and the breakdown of negotiations after the Congress, under whose interpretation the grouping of provinces would not be compulsory, was invited by Viceroy Lord Wavell to form an interim government.
All-India Muslim League
Direct Action Day, observed on 16 August 1946, was a day of mass protest proclaimed by the All-India Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah to demonstrate Muslim solidarity behind the demand for a separate sovereign state of Pakistan. At its Bombay session on 27–29 July 1946, the League passed a resolution rejecting the Cabinet Mission scheme, withdrawing its nominees, and resolving to resort to "direct action" to achieve Pakistan — abandoning, in Jinnah's words, constitutional methods for the first time.
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In 2024, Indian schoolbook debates again cited 16 August 1946, when Suhrawardy's Bengal ministry declared a holiday for Jinnah's Direct Action Day, precipitating the Great Calcutta Killings that left thousands dead.
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