Why West Bengal marks Bharat Bhukti Dibas on August 18

In 1947, the British were leaving India and splitting it into two countries: India and Pakistan.

A British official named Sir Cyril Radcliffe was asked to draw the line on the map deciding which areas would go to which country.

His instructions were to give areas with mostly Hindu people to India and areas with mostly Muslim people to Pakistan.

But his map made a mistake and handed parts of West Bengal to Pakistan.

So when India celebrated its very first Independence Day on August 15, 1947, people in those places were angry and sad instead of happy.

They protested, and reports said some areas went dark and women stopped cooking for two days.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, Britain's final Governor-General of India, ordered Radcliffe to fix the mistake.

On the night of August 17, it was announced that the corrected map would keep most of the area, including Murshidabad, with India.

The very next day, August 18, people rejoiced and began calling it 'Bharat Bhukti Dibas,' which means 'India Inclusion Day.'

Even today, the Indian flag is raised in many of these places on both August 15 and August 18.