Samvad Cell Pashchimbanga: Understanding West Bengal politics The Partition – 1905 and the Reunification

Going through daily tweets and Facebook posts we found lots of youths have started taking interest in politics of West Bengal. Which was just the opposite a decade back. That’s really great , maybe we are reading few of our future Chief Minister’s tweet or Facebook post daily! Or maybe a future Prime Minister’s!! People from other parts of our country are equally interested to know about political development in West Bengal. To understand the present status, we need to look back. While looking back we found few topics which are a must-know for all of us. These incidents in History of Bengal have a huge impact on the present political scenario of West Bengal.

We shortlisted few of those past incidents which till date influence West Bengal politics. They are

1. Partition of Bengal – 1905

2. Reunification of Bengal – 1911

3. Partition of Bengal – 1947 (Formation of East Pakistan)

4. 1971 Indo-Pak War (formation of Bangladesh)

Covering all four topics in one article/ blog will be too long and the reader might lose interest reading it in today’s world of hectic schedules. So we will try to cover all the four shortlisted historical events in two to three blogs with same headline and different titles.

Partition of Bengal – 1905

Partition of Bengal, (1905), division of Bengal carried out by the British viceroy in India,

Lord Curzon, despite strong Indian nationalist opposition. The partition took place on 16 October 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. The government announced the idea of partition in January 1904. The idea was opposed by Henry John Stedman Cotton, Chief Commissioner of Assam 1896-1902.It began a transformation of the Indian National Congress from a middle-class pressure group into a nationwide mass movement.

According to the British, partition was carried out mainly for the convenience of administration. Bengal in those days was the biggest province of India with huge population. It was comprised of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and was under the control of one lieutenant Governor. After Lord Curzon took charge as Governor General of India the discussion over the Partition began due to the following issues:

Area of the Province: Bengal was as large as France. It was spread over the area of 1,89,000 square miles with the population of 80 million, which was too enormous one to be managed by one lieutenant Governor. He could not make a tour of the whole province due to its enormity once during his tenure.

2. Communication: Communication in the provinces was limited due to rivers and forests. The law and order condition of the provinces was also worst due to insufficient police and inefficient management. Therefore the need of partition was felt severely.

3. Language: The difference of Languages and civilization of the inhabitants of West Bengal and East Bengal. The inhabitants of West Bengal considered themselves superior in civilization to the resident of East Bengal. The Condition demanded for the division of Provinces.

4. Need of the time: The division of Bengal was the need of the time to develop trade in East Bengal and to promote the Port of Chittagong, which could be done only by division of the Provinces.

Partition: The Partition was thus calculated to restore efficiency in the Government and administration on one hand and stimulated local creativities for progress and development on the other. Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal and formed two new provinces – East and West Bengal. East Bengal consisted of Dacca, Mamansingh, Assam, Kaula, Rangpur, and Bogra district, the Dacca was the capital of East Bengal constituted a majority Muslim Province, while the Bihar and Orissa constituted a separate province to be called as West Bengal with the capital of Calcutta and become the Hindu Majority provinces. East Bengal contained a population of 18 million Muslims and 12 million Hindus. Whereas West Bengal had a population 54 million of which 42 million were Hindus and thus was the Hindu majority province.

Actually the facts were entirely different. The opening years of the twentieth century were stormy. The political scenario was undergoing a change, and the British were beginning to feel a bit uneasy. Discontentment was developing. Political discontent was growing due to the inability of the government to organize effective relief during the period of plague and famine. In order to curtail the discontent, the British played the political trump card with great composure. For the first time, they used their divide-and-rule political game with great force. From 1870 onwards, the British started inciting the Hindus and the Muslims to form their own political parties to establish their distinct religious identities. That was, perhaps, the beginning of the communalisation of politics. The British not only encouraged the two communities to form political parties along religious lines, they took various constructive steps to create a situation whereby Hindus and Muslims would be forced to think in a way as if their religious identity is at peril. This effort culminated in the partition of Bengal in 1905. West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar were on one side and the erstwhile East Bengal and Assam were on the other. The partition was made along communal lines. This partition provided a stimulus to the religious divide and, as a result of that, All India Muslim League and All India Hindu Mahasabha was formed. Both the organisations intended fanning communal passions.

The main reason for the Partition was purely political. The Hindus were in a better position in terms of economic status, professional qualities, etc. With the spread of Western education Hindus made a big way, but the Muslims could not. A sense of deprivation crept in. Perhaps, the sense of deprivation was engineered. When the discontentment grew in the beginning of this century, the British capitalised on this sense of deprivation. A feeling of inferiority was there. The British merely added fuel to fire. Suddenly both the communities became aware of their religious identities. The net result is the Partition of Bengal.

The following excerpts from Curzon’s letter of 2 February 1905 to St. John Brodrick, Secretary of State for India, give an idea of his aims in partitioning Bengal:

“Calcutta is the centre from which the Congress Party is manipulated throughout the whole of Bengal, and indeed the whole of India. Its best wire pullers and its most frothy orators all reside here. The perfection of their machinery and the tyranny which it enables them to exercise are truly remarkable. They dominate public opinion in Calcutta; they affect the High Court; they frighten the local Government, and they are sometimes not without serious influence on the Government of India. The whole of their activity is directed to creating an agency so powerful that they may one day be able to force a weak government to give them what they desire. Any measure in consequence that would divide the Bengali-speaking population; that would permit independent centres of activity and influence to grow up; that would dethrone Calcutta from its place as the centre of successful intrigue, or that would weaken the influence of the lawyer class, who have the entire organization in their hands, is intensely and hotly resented by them. The outcry will be loud and very fierce, but as a native gentleman said to me – ‘my countrymen always howl until a thing is settled; then they accept it’.”

Partition ignited a major political crisis along religious lines. Hindu confrontation exploded as the Indian National Congress began the Swadeshi movement that included boycotting British goods and public institutions, meetings and processions, forming committees, propaganda through the press, and diplomatic pressure. Hitherto untouched sections of Indian society participated in these movements, providing a base for later movements. Masses were educated for a bolder form of politics and colonial authority was undermined. The Muslims in East Bengal hoped that a separate region would give them more control over education and employment, hence, they opposed those movements.

The richness of the movement extended to culture, science and literature. RabindranathTagore, the famous Nobel-laureate and writer, spoke out against this political event by means of a highly inspiring poem: Banglar mati Banglar jal, Banglar bayu, banglar phal, punya houk, hey Bhagaban…(May the soil of Bengal, the water and the air of Bengal be hallowed ...). Tagore himself led mass protests by people on the streets, singing the song and tying Rakhi on each other's wrists to symbolise unity and brotherhood. Amar Sonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal) sung at a Calcutta meeting to protest the impending partition. It became a rallying cry for proponents of annulment of the Partition. A huge amount of nationalist literature was created during this period.

There were widespread agitations across the state. October 16, 1905, the day on which the partition came into effect, was observed as a day of mourning and fasting throughout Bengal. The Amrita Bazar Patrika of Calcutta wrote in an editorial the next day "the people of Calcutta observed it as the day of mourning."

The sear of Partition is yet to heal.

Reunification of Bengal – 1911

Partition barely lasted half a decade, before it was annulled in 1911. In 1911, the year that the capital was shifted from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Delhi, East and West Bengal were re-united; Assam again became a chief commissionership, while Bihar and Orissa were separated to form a new province.

In 1911, Bhupendranath Basu was deputed by the Indian Association, Calcutta to make a new representation to the New Secretary of State Lord Crewe about Bengal. The representation was timed with the coming coronation of George V. Lord Crewe showed a sympathetic appreciation of the case of Bengal in his interview with Bhupendranath Basu in June 1911.

The Governor General, Lord Hardinge sent for Surendranath Bannerji and advised him to make a representation to the Government and to drop the anti-partition campaign which was being organised afresh. The campaign was dropped on 12^th June 1911 and a memorandum for annulment of the partition of Bengal was submitted to the Viceroy. Lord Hardinge worked out a scheme to resolve the problem. On 12^th December 1911, the scheme was announced after King’s Coronation. Just as the King was leaving the pavilion, he stood up and made the announcement about the annulment of the partition of Bengal. The annulment of the partition was received with rejoicing.

The aim was to combine appeasement of Bengali sentiment with administrative convenience. This end was achieved for a time, but the Bengali Muslims, having benefitted from partition, were angry and disappointed. The Muslim League condemned the annulment of the partition of Bengal. This resentment remained throughout the rest of the British period.

The final division of Bengal at the partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947, which split Bengal into India in the west and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) in the east, was accompanied by intense violence. This will our next article.

Reference

- WHKMLA: Map of Eastern Bengal & Assam Province 1905-1912 in deep green colour

- Encyclopedia Britannica, "Partition of Bengal”http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/60754/partition-of-Bengal

- Wikipedia

- Gordon Johnson, "Partition, Agitation and Congress: Bengal 1904 To 1908," Modern Asian Studies, (May 1973) 7#3 pp 533-588