It is important to elucidate the party’s stand on partition. We were against partition nut we did not have the power or the influence to stop it. Though we were regarded as a third force, we were far behind in influence compared to the Congress and the Muslim League. We had no alternative but to accept partition. However the Union Jack have been lowered.

Between 1942 and 1947, our party made major progress and inroads through various agitations. "In 28 Districts, there were 2200 party members in 1942 which grew to 26,000 in 1947 : 14,000 in West Bengal, 12,000 in East Bengal (Source : Saroj Mukherjee in "Three Decades"). Our party wanted to keep the unity of Bengal intact. Suhrawarddi wanted unity too. But he wanted a "Greater Bengal"; we were against this.

Sarat Chandra Basu also raised his voice against partition. As far as I can remember, he was one of those who were the first to sign leaflets against partition. Suhrawarddi and Sarat Basu had together chalked out a formula to avoid partition. But there were differences between then. Even after independence Sarat Babu had continued to speak about a Unified Bengal. The joint formula was rejected by both the Congress and Muslim League.

Suhrawarddi went to live in East Pakistan after partition..

Bengal was partitioned. From 15th August 1947, the Congress took the reins of power in West Bengal. Dr. Prafulla Chandra Ghosh became its first Chief Minister. On 20th June 1947, the last meeting of the Bengal Assembly was held. At this meeting, the partition of Bengal was formalised through voting. It was also decided that Sylhet would be a district in East Pakistan. A referendum was held whether it would be in India of Pakistan. Sylhet went to East Pakistan.

A border commission was set up of to delineate the borders of West Bengal and East Pakistan. The process of partition was complete. Nurul Amin was the first Chief Minister of East Pakistan.

We were forced to accept reality. Both Pakistan and India went wild with the enthusiasm for new found independence. There were festivals and celebrations everywhere. I still remember that on 15th August 1947, the gates of Governor House (now Raj Bhavan) were kept open for all. At the same time at another level, minority refugees were arriving in hordes from East Pakistan. This became a national issue. A total of 35 lakh people came to West Bengal. Subsequently the number increased and the figure went up to around 70 lakhs. Even after 50 years, the Central Government led by the Congress could not solve this problem.

In 1946, shortly after the publication of Dainik Swadhinata, a printing press was set up in our office at Deekers Lane in December. The house has been rented in the name of Snehangshu Acharya.

The party’s 4th conference at the provincial level was held on the roof top of this house. This was after independence. Since the party was growing, a big provincial committee was elected. I was also one of the members. A part of this committee was told to look after the affairs of East Bengal. A part of this committee was asked to look after matters pertaining to East Bengal.

I was still involved in the railway trade union activities and was touring throughout the State. I used to visit the railway union office every day whenever I was in town. After from the railway union, I was also involved with other labour units.

Eight more ministers were taken in by Chief Minister Prafulla Ghosh in his cabinet. They were Dr. S. C. Banerjee, H. C. Naskar, Kamal Krishna Roy, Bhupati Mazumdar. The new legislative assembly had 83 members. Some congress members, who were in the earlier Assembly, had resigned. Their places were taken by new members. Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had been earlier elected from the University Centre and was taken into the Central Cabinet. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy was made a member of the assembly. Rupnarayan Roy could not become a member of the new assembly since his constituency fell in East Pakistan. We were left with only two members - Ratanlal Brahman and myself. Those of the Muslim League who remained in West Bengal formed a separate group. While they did not sit in the opposition benches they supported us on many issues. Md. Khuda Bux and Hassam Saheb were two of those. Hassan Saheb was the uncle of our former Stati Law Minister Mansur Habibulla. He was a progressive minded leader. I the new Assembly, there was hardly any presence in the Opposition benches. We, having only two members, were the only active opposition to the Treasury benches.

The first session of the newly formed Legislative assembly sat on 21st November, a full three months after independence. Topmost on the agenda was the selection of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Iswar Das Jalan and Ashutosh Mullick were chosen Speaker and Deputy Speaker without any opposition. Ashutosh Babu continued till 1962 as the Dy. Speaker. He was an extremely lovable man and had a sense of humour.