NAME : ZAEEM ABID

REGISTRATION NO. # FA19-BEE-213

PAKISTAN STUDIES
ASSIGNMENT # 01
SUBMITTED TO : SYED KAZIM USMAN

REACTION OF CONGRESS AND MUSLIM

LEAGUE TOWARDS PARTITION OF BENGAL
The first Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal Presidency
implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The reorganization separated the largely Muslim
eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. Announced on 19 July 1905 by Lord Curzon, the
then Viceroy of India, and implemented on 16 October 1905, it was undone a mere six years later.

The Hindus of West Bengal complained that the division would make them a minority in a province that
would incorporate the province of Bihar and Orissa. Hindus were outraged at what they saw as a "divide
and rule" policy,even though Curzon stressed it would produce administrative efficiency. The partition
animated the Muslims to form their own national organization along on communal lines. To appease
Bengali sentiment, Bengal was reunited by Lord Hardinge in 1911, in response to the Swadeshi
movement's riots in protest against the policy.

Background
The Bengal Presidency encompassed Bengal, Bihar, parts of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Assam.With a
population of 78.5 million it was British India's largest province.For decades British officialdom had
maintained that the huge size created difficulties in effective management and had caused neglect of
the poorer eastern region.The idea of the partition had been brought up only for administrative
reasons . Therefore , Curzon planned to split Orissa and Bihar and join fifteen eastern districts of Bengal
with Assam. The eastern province held a population of 31 million, most of which was Muslim, with its
centre at Dhaka.Once the Partition was completed Curzon pointed out that he thought of the new
province as Muslim.Lord Curzon's intention was not specifically to divide Hindus from Muslims, but only
to divide Bengalis.The Western districts formed the other province with Orissa and Bihar.The union of
western Bengal with Orissa and Bihar reduced the speakers of the Bengali language to a minority.
Muslims led by the Nawab Sallimullah of Dhaka supported the partition and Hindus opposed it.

Partition
The English-educated middle class of Bengal saw this as a vivisection of their motherland as well as a
tactic to diminish their authority. In the six-month period before the partition was to be effected the
Congress arranged meetings where petitions against the partition were collected and given to impassive
authorities. Surendranath Banerjee had suggested that the non-Bengali states of Orissa and Bihar be
separated from Bengal rather than dividing two parts of the Bengali speaking community, but Lord
Curzon did not agree to this better source needed] Banerjee admitted that the petitions were
ineffective; as the date for the partition drew closer, he began advocating tougher approaches such as
boycotting British goods. He preferred to label this move as "swadeshi" instead of boycott. The boycott
was led by the moderates but minor rebel groups also sprouted under its cause.

Banerjee believed that other targets ought to be included. Government schools were spurned and on 16
October 1905, the day of partition, schools and shops were blockaded. The demonstrators were cleared
off by units of the police and army. This was followed by violent confrontations, due to which the older
leadership in the Congress became anxious and convinced the younger Congress members to stop
boycotting the schools. The president of the Congress, G.K. Gokhale, Banerji and others stopped
supporting the boycott when they found that John Morley had been appointed as Secretary of State for
India. Believing that he would sympathise with the Indian middle class they trusted him and anticipated
the reversal of the partition through his intervention.

Political emergency
The parcel set off extremist patriotism.

Bengali Hindus were annoyed with their minority status in the new territory. They started an irate
disturbance, including illegal intimidation as more youthful individuals received the utilization of
bombings, shootings, and deaths in a mix of strict and political feelings. Bengal was deciphered as the
goddess which had been defrauded by the British. Although there were conspicuous Muslim speakers
the Muslims were not interested in the movement.The British would have been saved from numerous
difficulties had they not split Bengal. With each instance of concealment, emphatic patriotism expanded
in Bengal. Indian patriotism would have been more liberal without this partition.

Patriots all over India upheld the Bengali reason, and were stunned at the British dismissal for
assessment and their apparent separation and-rule methodology. The fights spread to Bombay, Poona,
and Punjab. Ruler Curzon had accepted that the Congress was not, at this point a viable power yet gave
it a reason to energize the general population around and acquire new strength from. The parcel
likewise made humiliation the Indian National Congress. Gokhale had before met noticeable British
Liberals, wanting to get protected changes for India. The radicalization of Indian patriotism in view of the
segment would definitely bring down the odds for the changes. Nonetheless, Gokhale effectively guided
the more moderate methodology in a Congress meeting and acquired help for proceeding with
converses with the public authority. In 1906 Gokhale again went to London to hold converses with
Morley about the possible sacred changes. While the expectation of the liberal patriots expanded in
1906 so did pressures in India. The conservatives were tested by the Congress meeting in Calcutta,
which was in the radicalized Bengal. The conservatives countered this issue by carrying Dadabhai Naoroji
to the gathering. He safeguarded the conservatives in the Calcutta meeting and hence the solidarity of
the Congress was kept up. The 1907 Congress was to be held at Nagpur. The conservatives were
stressed that the fanatics would overwhelm the Nagpur meeting. The setting was moved to the fanatic
free Surat. The angry radicals ran to the Surat meeting. There was a commotion and the two groups held
separate gatherings. The radicals had Aurobindo and Tilak as pioneers. They were secluded while the
Congress was heavily influenced by the conservatives. The 1908 Congress Constitution shaped the All-
India Congress Committee, comprised of chose individuals. Crowding the gatherings would presently
don't work for the fanatics.

Hindu reaction to partition of Bengal

The leadership of the Indian National Congress viewed the partition as attempt to ‘divide and rule’ and
as a proof of the government’s vindictive antipathy towards the outspoken Bhadralok intellectuals.
Mother-goddess worshipping Bengali Hindus believed that the partition was tantamount to the
vivisection , of their ‘Mother province’. ‘Bande-Mataram’ (Hail Motherland) almost became the national
anthem of the Indian National Congress. Defeat of the partition became the immediate target of
Bengalee nationalism. Agitation against the partition manifested itself in the form of mass meetings,
rural unrest and a swadeshi movement to boycott the import of British manufactured goods. Swadeshi
and Boycott were the twin weapons of this nationalism and Swaraj (self-government) its main objective.
Swaraj was first mentioned in the presidential address of Dadabhai Naoroji as the Congress goal at its
Calcutta session in 1906.

Leaders like surendranath banerjea along with journalists like Krishna Kumar Mitra, editor of the
Sanjivani (13 July 1905) urged the people to boycott British goods, observe mourning and sever all
contact with official bodies. In a meeting held at Calcutta on 7 August 1905 (hailed as the birthday of
Indian nationalism) a resolution to abstain from purchases of British products so long as ‘Partition
resolution is not withdrawn’ was accepted with acclaim. This national spirit was popularized by the
patriotic songs of dwijendralal roy, rajanikanta sen and rabindranath tagore. As with other political
movements of the day this also took on religious overtones. Pujas were offered to emphasize the
solemn nature of the occasion.

The Hindu religious fervor reached its peak on 28 September 1905, the day of the Mahalaya, the new-
moon day before the puja, and thousands of Hindus gathered at the Kati temple in Calcutta. In Bengal
the worship of Kali, wife of Shiva, had always been very’ popular. She possessed a ‘two-dimensional
character with mingled attributes both generative and destructive. Simultaneously she took great
pleasure in bloody sacrifices but she was also venerated as the great. Mother associated with the
conception of Bengal as the Motherland’s this conception offered a solid basis for the support of
political objectives stimulated by religious excitement. Kali was accepted as a symbol of the Motherland,
and the priest administered the Swadeshi vow. Such a religious favour could and did give the movement
a widespread appeal among the Hindu masses, but by the same token that favour aroused hostility in
average Muslim minds. Huge protest rallies before and after Bengal’s division on 16 October 1905.
attracted millions, of people heretofore not involved in politics.

Reunited Bengal (1911)

The authorities, not able to end the protests, assented to reversing the partition. King George
announced in December 1911 that eastern Bengal would be assimilated into the Bengal Presidency.
Districts where Bengali was spoken were once again unified, and Assam, Bihar and Orissa were
separated. The capital was shifted to New Delhi, clearly intended to provide the British Empire with a
stronger base. Muslims of Bengal were shocked because they had seen the Muslim majority East Bengal
as an indicator of the government's enthusiasm for protecting Muslim interests. They saw this as the
government compromising Muslim interests for Hindu appeasement and administrative ease.

The partition had not initially been supported by Muslim leaders. After the Muslim majority province of
Eastern Bengal and Assam had been created prominent Muslims started seeing it as advantageous.
Muslims, especially in Eastern Bengal, had been backward in the period of United Bengal. The Hindu
protest against the partition was seen as interference in a Muslim province. With the move of the capital
to a Mughal site, the British tried to satisfy Bengali Muslims who were disappointed with losing hold of
eastern Bengal.

Aftermath
The uproar that had greeted Curzon's contentious move of splitting Bengal, as well as the emergence of
the 'Extremist' faction in the Congress, became the final motive for separatist Muslim politics. In 1909,
separate elections were established for Muslims and Hindus. Before this, many members of both
communities had advocated national solidarity of all Bengalis. With separate electorates, distinctive
political communities developed, with their own political agendas. Muslims, too, dominated the
Legislature, due to their overall numerical strength of roughly twenty two to twenty eight million.
Muslims began to demand the creation of independent states for Muslims, where their interests will be
protected.

In 1947, Bengal was partitioned for the second time, solely on religious grounds, as part of the Partition
of India following the formation of the nations India and Pakistan. In 1955, East Bengal became East
Pakistan, and in 1971 became the independent state of Bangladesh.