History- Bantva

About 10 km away from the Arabian Sea, On the Khatiawar peninsula in Gujrat is the famous town we all know as Bantva.Prior to the 1947 partition of India, Bantva was a princely state of Manavadar founded in 1760 and locally ruled until February 1948 by Nawab Mo`in ud-Din Gholam Khan, who shared joint descent with Nawab Junagadh.


On September 9, 1947, the Muslim residents of Bantva, mostly members of the Memon community, formed a delegation to meet with the rulers of Bantva Manavadar, demanding to be joined with Pakistan. On September 25, Bantva Manavadar's ruler announced its accession to Pakistan. The Indian government reacted by sending two companies of armed forces to Bantva on October 3, commanded by Colonel Himmayat Singhjee. The invading forces took over all of Bantva's government offices and declared Bantva to be part of the Indian union. Army pickets were established at various places in Bantva.


Various uprisings and invasions took place over the next few weeks in neighboring towns. On November 13,
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, then the minister of India, made inflammatory speeches at a public meeting in Junagadh against the Memon community of Bantava. Specifically, he condemned their contributions to the press fund of the Muslim League when Quaid e Azam visited the town in 1940.


On November 15, farm laborers from adjoining villages attacked Bantva.Hence driving about 90% of the population of Bantva Kutiyana to migrate to Pakistan. Later, in the early 1960s, Bantva was an active center of trade for nuts and cotton.