Partition of Bengal and its Annulment, 1905-1911 PDF

This handout is prepared including online available data and maps for the students of HIS103_DHP_NSU only for their reading purpose. Partition of Bengal and its Annulment, 1905-1911 Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency encompassed Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, and a fraction...

This handout is prepared including online available data and maps for the students of HIS103_DHP_NSU only for their reading purpose. Partition of Bengal and its Annulment, 1905-1911 Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency encompassed Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, and a fraction of Chhattisgarh. With a population of 78.5 million, it was the largest province in British India. For decades, British officials had maintained that the vast size of the Bengal Presidency caused difficulties in managing the poor eastern region, which caused severe negligence to the people of this region. Therefore, Lord Curzon planned to split Bengal into two. Partition of Bengal, 1905 The first Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganisation of the Bengal Presidency. It was announced on 19 July 1905 by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, and was implemented on 16 October 1905. The reorganisation separated the predominantly Muslim eastern districts from the largely Hindu western districts. A new province named ‘Eastern Bengal and Assam’ was created, which included the eastern districts, i.e. roughly today’s Bangladesh and the seven northeastern provinces of India, with its capital in Dacca. The Western districts formed the other province with Orissa and Bihar.  This handout is prepared including online available data and maps for the students of HIS103_DHP_NSU only for their reading purpose. The Hindus of West Bengal held that the division would make them a minority in a province that would incorporate the province of Bihar and Orissa. They were outraged at what they saw as a “divide and rule" policy. As Lord Curzon had stressed, it was merely an administrative division and would produce administrative efficiency. However, Lord Curzon intended not to divide Hindus from Muslims but only to divide Bengalis. The union of western Bengal with Orissa and Bihar reduced the speakers of the Bengali language to a minority. Agitation in Calcutta against the partition The Calcutta-centric upper-class Hindus, esp. the absentee rentier classes, were afraid of losing their land properties and other interests in eastern Bengal by the mere administrative division, which came to be known as the Bengal partition. Bengali Hindus were upset with their minority status in the new province. They began an angry agitation featuring terrorism as younger members adopted bombings, shootings, and assassinations. For instance, Khudiram Bose (1889 –1908) was an Indian revolutionary from Medinipore who opposed British rule in India. For his role in the ‘Muzaffarpur Conspiracy’, along with Prafulla Chaki, he was executed at 18. Annulment of the Bengal Partition, 1911 Calcutta became violent by the ongoing anti-partition movement such as Boycott Movement, Swadeshi Movement etc. The boycott movement threatened the all-India mercantile interest of the British. In response, the partition of Bengal was annulled in 1911 by the announcement of King George V at his Delhi Darbar in December 1911. By the royal declaration, the  This handout is prepared including online available data and maps for the students of HIS103_DHP_NSU only for their reading purpose. districts where Bengali was spoken were once again unified; and Assam, Bihar and Orissa were made separate provinces. Thus eastern Bengal was reunified with the Bengal Presidency. British Reactions to the violent agitation in Calcutta The capital of the British Empire in India was shifted from Calcutta to New Delhi, clearly intended to provide the British colonial government with a strong and safe base. By moving the capital to a Mughal site, the British tried to satisfy the Muslims, who were disappointed with losing hold of eastern Bengal. However, the annulment of the administrative division in 1911 sowed the seeds of the final partition of 1947. Muslim Reactions to the Annulment of Bengal Partition When the Muslim-majority province of Eastern Bengal and Assam was created, prominent Muslims started seeing it as advantageous. Since the Muslims, especially in Eastern Bengal, had been backwards in the United Bengal Muslim leaders supported the new province. Muslim League was formed in 1906 to give formal support to this partition. In 1909, policies for separate elections were adopted for Muslims and Hindus. Establishment of Dhaka University as Compensation The Muslims of Bengal were shocked by the annulment of the Bengal Partition. They saw the annulment of partition as a compromise of Muslim interests for Hindu appeasement and administrative ease. During Lord Hardinge’s visit to Dhaka on January 31, 1912, a Muslim delegation consisting of Sir Nawab Salimullah, Nawab Syed Nawab Ali Choudhury, and A K Fazlul Haq had expressed their fears that the annulment of the partition could impede the educational progress of the community. It was this delegation which first articulated the demand for the establishment of a university in Dhaka. Accordingly, 'on February 2, 1912, a communiqué was published stating the decision of the Government of India to recommend the constitution of a University of Dhaka. Then the British government asked the provincial government of Bengal to submit a scheme for the university. Accordingly, the Nathan Commission was formed on 27 May 1912. The Commission had 13 members, with R Nathaniel, Bar-at-Law, as the President. Among the members were Nawab Ali Chowdhury, Nawab Sirajul Islam, Ananda Chandra Ray (Zamindar of Dhaka), and WAT Archbold, the Principal of Dacca College. Some Hindu leaders of Calcutta opposed this decision in print and through speech-making. Nathan Commission gave a positive report on the scheme of Dhaka University in 1913. Thus, the British government took the scheme of Dhaka University as compensation for the annulment of the partition of Bengal. Dhaka University was eventually established in 1921.