• THE REVOLT OF 1857

• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 The earliest rebellion was sparked by Fakir-Sannasis in mid-1760s and continued for three
decades subsequently. The BEIC banned the offering of money, food, or shelter to the Muslim
Fakirs and Hindu Sannasis.

 The Tebhaga movement in 1946 launched by the harvesters who demanded two-thirds of the
produce for themselves and one-third for the absentee landlords.

 Famines, poverty , Class struggle ( Zamimdari system, poor farmers etc. )

 British Plundering of Bengal resources

 Exploitative land administration & the permanent settlement of 1793

 Discontent/ dissatisfaction of the peasants for the expansion of poppy growing areas

• The agrarian structure that emerged out of the Permanent Settlement was composed of the
zamindars at the top, beneath them the tenure-holders (both independent and dependent),
then the ryots, and the under-ryots below them. The sharecroppers, commonly known as
bargadars, adhiars and bhagchashis, were at the bottom of the structure, along with the
landless labourers or khet-mazdoors .

• Features

• Out of hundred plus rebellion that took place over 190 years of colonial rule, the most striking
one participated by impoverished farmers was the uprising of 1857

• The Revolt of 1857 started at Barrackpur under the leadership of Mangal Pandey on 29 March
1857 and soon spread to Meerut, Delhi and other parts of India. It created serious tension
throughout Bangladesh. The resistance in Chittagong and Dhaka and skirmishes at Sylhet,
Jessore, Rangpur, Pabna and Dinajpur had left Bangladesh in a state of alert and excitement. The
rebellion spread to the various parts of poppy growing areas in northern India. The Revolt of
1857 is regarded as the FIRST INDIAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT/WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

• On 18 November 1857 the Native Infantry of Chittagong rose in open rebellion and released all
prisoners from the jail. They seized arms and ammunition, ransacked the treasury, set the
Magazine House on fire and proceeded towards Tippera.

• Several studies indicate that the mass uprising was more serious in the poppy-growing areas of
northern India. On the other hand, people in the south generally aided the British colonial
government. The most vulnerable areas were Oudh, Rohilkhand, Doad, Meerut, Bengal, Bihar,
Benares, Gujarat, Bombay, and Allahabd where the rural population extensively took part with
the urban people in the uprising.

• Poppy growing areas in northern India under the BEIC

• Mangal Pandey : A brave soldier

• The rebellion spread to the various parts of poppy growing areas in northern India.

• The war was deadly in Oudh, where over 100,000 civilian-armed men joined in the rebellion.
The annexation of Oudh in August 1856 was described by Ralph Moore as 'the blackest crime'
that England ever committed, and was the 'immediate cause' of the so-called Sepoy Mutiny of
1857.

• Upon suppression of the rebellion by 1860, hundreds of Bengali soldiers were hanged to death
in and around the Bahadur Shah Park in old Dhaka city today.

• Questing the use of terminology-Sepoy Mutiny

• A great of twisted and misleading history has been written about the rebellion, amongst which
the colonial rulers portrayed it as “Sepoy Mutiny” for the convenience of its suppression.

• Mixed Reactions:

• The role and reaction of various classes of people of Bangladesh during the revolt present a
gloomy picture. The landed aristocracy were decidedly opposed to the sepoys and some of them
rendered logistic support to the Company authorities by supplying carts, carriages and
elephants; informing the movements of the fleeing sepoys and finally organizing local volunteer
corps to resist the sepoys

• The British government acknowledged such services of the landed aristocracy with thanks and
subsequently awarded them titles of Nawab, Khan Bahadur, Khan Shaheb, Rai Bahadur, Rai
Shaheb etc and rewarded them with all sorts of worldly gains.

• The Muslims as a community had an important stake in the uprising on different grounds. The
traditional Islamic revivalist groups such as the Faraizi, Tariqah-I-Muhammadiyah, Ahl_I-Hadith ,
Tabligh Jamaat and the Seerat Conference etc. had active and passive support in the
Revolt/Uprising

• Causes and Consequences of the Revolt of 1857:

 The revolt of 1857 can largely be ascribed to the discontents of local zamindars and poppy
cultivators who persistently opposed the colonial opium monopoly system. Under the opium
monopoly, the economic conditions of the poppy farmers deteriorated and the strength of the
zamindars was undermined. The introduction of forced poppy cultivation sparked mass rebellion
in the region of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

 The forceful introduction of ‘Enfield Rifle’ ignited both the Hindu and Muslim soldiers to revolt
on distinctive religious grounds during 1857-58. COW & PIGS FAT

 The annexation of Oudh in August 1856 was described as 'the blackest crime' that England ever
committed, and was the 'immediate cause' of the so-called Sepoy Mutiny of1857.
  After the mass uprising, the British colonial government came to realize that a policy of ‘divide
and rule’ would be effective. Eventually the colonial government continued to pursue a divide
and rule policy between the two major communities-the Muslims and the Hindus.

• In peasant societies with strong patronage, leaders must have charisma in addition to other
qualities to counterbalance the patrons‘ awe and power over their clients. Since patrons are less
dependent on their clients, more so in densely populated pre-industrial economies, leaders who
can inspire confidence among the latter by providing alternative material, psychological and
moral support, can successfully lead them, even against the former.

• Peasants under both the zamindar - and jotedar dominated sub-regions had the greatest
propensity to follow leaders from outside the peasant community. The zamindar-dominated
sub-region included districts of Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Barisal, Pabna, Rajshahi and parts
of Bogra-Dinajpur-Rangpur. The middle peasants were dominant in Tippera, Noakhali and
Chittagong districts. And the jotedars were very powerful in Dinajpur, Rangpur, parts of
Mymensingh-Pabna- Bogra-Rajshahi, Jessore, Khulna and eastern Nadia (Kustia).

• Hindu bhadralok vs. Muslim peasants

• Kinship (gushti) and lineage (bangsho) were important factors in forming factions.

Subsequent to the rebellion, the patronage and protection of the colonial drug trade was shifted from
the BEIC to the Crown government in the UK.

 After the 1857 revolt, the colonial government had become aware that they had not been quite
fair to Muslim interests.

 Sir William Hunter in his well-known book, The Indian Mussalmans , published in 1871, pointed
out that Muslims had suffered grave injustices, particularly in the matter of administrative and
judicial jobs in Bengal.

 All-India National Congress was formed in 1885 with the support of the British government. The
Congress was founded by A. O. Hume who was a former home secretary of India.

 Professor Khalid bin Sayeed in his book, entitled, Pakistan: The Formative Phase, wrote that the
formation of the Indian National Congress was largely inspired by British influence
(Sayeed,1960:29).

 To bring a change in the Muslim attitude , Sir Syed Ahmed Khan(1917-1898) launched Islamic
Renaissance through his Aligarh Movement. He pledged with the Muslims to remain loyal to the
British and not to participate in the Congress movement. He felt that the Muslim community
should remain aloof from all kinds of political agitation because by taking active role in the
Indian Mutiny of 1857 they had already placed themselves in danger by arousing British
antagonism. The only path that lay before the Muslims, according to sir Syed, was that of
equipping themselves with English education. He established the Anglo-Oriental College in 1875
which later became the well-known Muslim university of Aligarh ( Sayeed, 1967).
 • Although the annulment of the Partition in 1912 disillusioned the Muslims in general and shook
their faith in the government, instead of turing anti-British, they became more anti-Hindu
throughout the region. Meanwhile they achieved separate electorates in 1909, as well as a
national Muslim organisation - the Muslim League ( 1906) – and several vocal Muslim
representatives in the Legislative and Executive Councils, Nawab Syed Nawab Ali Chudhuri,
Nawab Syed Shamsul Huda, A. K Fazlul Huq and Nawab Khwaja Salimullah of Dacca

Bengal Muslim Renaissance

The Bengal renaissance, the conviction of the triumph of ‘nava yuga’ (new age) and ideas of alternative
modernity had contributed in defining the cultural process of 19th century Bengal (Anindita Ghoshal,
“Introduction”, see her book titled, Refugees, Borders and Identities, 2021, Rutledge: London, page-11).

• There were four aspects of the Renaissance movement, which the Bengali intelligentsia
developed systematically throughout the nineteenth century.

 First, there was the modernization of the Bengali language and the simultaneous birth of a new
Bangali literature.

 Secondly, there was the rediscovery of, and identification with an Indian classical era hailed as a
golden age which placed South Asian civilization on a par with the grandeur of Greece and
Rome.

 Thirdly, there was the Sreerampore missionary interpretation of the Protestation Reformation,
which Indians applied creatively to their own historic situation.

 And finally, there was the secular view of universal progress on which India's hope lay not in
resurrecting the past but in projecting the golden age into the future.

THE Bengal Muslim Renaissance refers to a socio-cultural, educational and religious reform movement
during the nineteenth and early twentieth century in undivided India's Bengal province. It is said to have
begun with Sir Sayed Ahmed (1817-1898).

Muslim Renaissance in Bengal begins with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan . He helped the Muslims to learn English
to compete with the Hindus during the British period. They lagged behind the Hindus as they did not
cooperate with the British when the British conquered India from the Mughols. The Muslims believed
that as long as the non-believers ruled India, the subcontinent was a 'Dar-ul-Harb' for Muslims and it
was the duty of all to wage struggle against the British rule in order to regain the lost.

• Aligarh Movement of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

To bring a change in the Muslim attitude , Sir Syed Ahmed Khan launched Islamic Renaissance through
his Aligarh Movement. For him, Western science and technology strengthened Islamic convictions, since
Islam was not dialectically opposed to reason. Our focus will be on the work and activity of Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan.
 • Sir Syed Ahmed intends to achieve two goals:

• Firstly, he wanted to minimize all grounds of animosity which the Muslims were likely to harbor
against the British.

• Secondly, he wanted to remove all doubts from the British mind that Muslims were not likely to
be loyal to the British because their religion did not permit them to adopt such an attitude.

• Causes of the Indian Revolt of 1857:

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan wrote a monograph, titled, Causes of the Indian Revolt and he tried to find out the
following root causes of the first war of Independence:

• Non-representation of the Indians in the legislative councils

• Forcible conversion of Indians to Christianity

• Mismanagement of the Indian Army

• British negligence to the Muslims community interests

• And many other ill-advised measures of the Government which created large scale
dissatisfaction among the various sections of society.

• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s Religious Reformation:

• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s Educational Reforms:

• pledged with the Muslims to remain loyal to the British and not participate in the Congress
movement. He felt that the Muslim community should remain aloof from all kinds of political
agitation because by taking active role in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 they had already placed
themselves in danger by arousing British antagonism. The only path that lay before the Muslims,
according to sir Syed, was that of equipping themselves with English education. He established
the Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 which later became the well-known Muslim university of
Aligarh ( For details, See K. B. Sayeed, The Political System of Pakistan, Oxford, 1967).

• Other Muslim reformers at a glance:

• It was Nawab Abdul Latif (1828-1893) who in fact initiated the renaissance or the reawakening
movement of the Muslims in Bengal. He was a social worker and pioneer of Muslim
reawakening in 19th century Bengal. Nawab Abdul Latif (1828-1893) is considered as the
architect and Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (1873-1965) was one of the pioneers of the Renaissance
in Bengal.

• Syed Ismail Hossain Shiraji

• Syed Ismail Hossain Shiraji (1880-1931) was born in Sirajganj, Pabna. He was a writer, orator and
peasant leader. He was anti British and organized movements against the British. He suffixed the
term Shiraji with his name for his love of the place where he was born in the year 1880 and died
in 1931. Ismail Hossain Shiraji also inspired the Rebel Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899 -1976). Poet
Nazrul, born 19 years after his birth, was greatly inspired by his speech and the books he
 published at that time, most of which were anti-British and caused Siraji to suffer much at the
hand of the British who imprisoned him and then confiscated his book Anal Probaho (Waves of
Fire).

• Syed Ismail Hossain Shiraji

• Kazi Nazrul Islam

Islam, Kazi Nazrul (1899-1976) national poet of Bangladesh, called the 'rebel poet' for his brave
resistance to all forms of repression. His poetry, with its vibrant rhythms and iconoclastic themes, forms
a striking contrast to rabindranath tagore's poetry. Though he had great regard and admiration for the
older poets and writers, he did not imitate any poet or writer, even not Rabindranath, though it was a
fashion of the day.

• Through literature, journalism and political activism, Nazrul fought against foreign rule,
communalism, imperialism, colonialism, fundamentalism and exploitation.

• In response, the British colonial government proscribed his books and newspapers and put him
behind bars. Through his written Rajbandir Jabanbandi (a political prisoner’s deposition) and his
40-day hunger strike, Nazrul protested against the harassment. In support of him, Rabindranath
dedicated one of his books to him.

• The Freedom of Intellect Movement in Bengali Muslim Thought, 1926-1938:

The Freedom of Intellect Movement(Buddhir Mukti Andolan) was a Bengal Renaissance Movement
advocating rationality against religious and social dogma in Bengali Muslim society. It was spearheaded
by intellectuals in the University of Dhaka during the British Raj.

Notable members included Kazi Abdul Wadud, Abul Fazal, Muhammad Shahidullah, Qazi Motahar
Hossain, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Abdul Quadir.

• Shikha the mouthpiece of the muslim sahitya-samaj or literary society founded in Dhaka in

1926. Shikha was totally different from other contemporary periodicals. It drew due attention of
the intellectuals with its very first issue. As it contained reports on the year-long activities of the
Muslim Sahitya-Samaj, it naturally attracted the keen interest of its readers.

• The mast of every issue of the journal carried this slogan: 'Where knowledge is limited, intellect
is inert, freedom is impossible.'(‘জ্ঞান যেখানে সীমাবদ্ধ, বুদ্ধি সেখানে আড়ষ্ট, মুক্তি সেখানে অসম্ভব’ ).This
slogan was regarded by the journal's writers as their motto or guiding principle.

• Some enlightened Muslim groups like the Muslim Sahitya Samaj (founded in Dacca in 1926)
launched parallel movements against such communal positions. The Buddhir Mukti Andolon
(movement for the emancipation of the intellect) tried to connect the idea of Muslim identity
with the concept of ‘Pan-Indian identity’ through its mouthpiece Siksha. Kazi Abdul Wadud, one
of its leading members, argued, a ‘Bengali Muslim is a human being first by the right of his birth,
then a Bengali by being made of the soil of Bengal, and then a Muslim, and a Bengali Muslim
last’ (Anindita Ghoshal, Refugees, Borders and Identities, London, 2021, pages 16-17).
Leading Figures of the Bengali Hindu Renaissance

• Bengal Renaissance refers largely to the social, cultural, psychological, and intellectual changes
in Bengal during the nineteenth century, as a result of contact between certain sympathetic
British officials and missionaries on the one hand, and the Hindu intelligentsia on the other.

• The setting for the Bengal Renaissance was the colonial metropolis of Calcutta.

• There were four aspects of the Renaissance movement, which the Bangali intelligentsia
developed systematically throughout the nineteenth century.

 First, there was the modernization of the Bengali language and the simultaneous birth of a new
Bangali literature.

 Secondly, there was the rediscovery of, and identification with an Indian classical era hailed as a
golden age which placed South Asian civilisation on a par with the grandeur of Greece and
Rome.

 Thirdly, there was the Sreerampore missionary interpretation of the Protestation Reformation,
which Indians applied creatively to their own historic situation.

 And finally, there was the secular view of universal progress on which India's hope lay not in
resurrecting the past but in projecting the golden age into the future.

• When the College of Fort William hired the Baptist missionary, william carey in 1801, as head of
the Bengali Department every available kind of financial, technological, and human resource
was put at his disposal.

• Carey's first textbook (which would go through five editions) was the Bengali Grammar,
completed in 1801. Also in 1801, Carey helped to edit a reader for the Bengali students entitled
Kathopakathon or Dialogues. This book is perhaps the first by a European that did not concern
itself with the Hindu high culture. For the first time, the idiomatic language, manners, and
customs of merchants, fishermen, women, day laborers, and other common folk were given the
dignity of minute and sympathetic observation. It would not be farfetched to call Carey, as a
result of this work alone, India's first cultural anthropologist.

• Vidyasagar, Ishwar Chandra (1820-1891) Sanskrit scholar, writer, educationist, humanist pundit,

social reformer and philanthropist, was born on 26 September 1820 in a poor brahman family in
a village in Medinipur. His father Thakur Das Bandhyay was a clerk at a shop in Kolkata

•  Vidyasagar did not write in one single style; for example, the style he followed in his textbooks
was, of course, different from the one he used in his literary works.  Until he published his
Vetalpavchavingshati in 1847, the Bangla prose style, created by the pundits of Fort William
College or by Rammohun Roy, was archaic, artificial and barely adequate for communicating
information, but it fell far short of what can be termed as literary prose - a prose style suited to
writing literature.

• Passing of the Hindu Widow’s Remarriage Act

• The Hindu Widow's Re-marriage Act, 1856 (For details, see the link:
http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-9.html)

• Marriage of Hindu widows legalized

• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar will be more remembered as one of the greatest intellectuals and
activists of the 19-century and the ‘Father of modern Bengali prose.’ 

• If Rammohun Roy played the role of the first humanist pundit in Bengal by translating,
reinterpreting and publishing old shastras, and thus started the process of the Bengal
Renaissance, Vidyasagar was the second. Whereas the former did it mainly for his campaign
against sati, the latter did it for the remarriage of child widows, stopping polygamy, introducing
female education and for improving the condition of the down-trodden in society, particularly
women.

• Writers such as michael madhusudan dutt (1824-73) and rabindranath tagore (1861-1941)

wrote beautifully in English but that they also chose to express their literary genius creatively in
Bangali certainly helped shape the renaissance of that literature. Dutt's Meghnadhbadh Kabya
and Tagore's geetanjali for examples, were renaissance masterpieces in the manner that
tradition was modernized. It is of no small importance that Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1913, one year after he published an English translation of Geetanjali (Song
Offerings).

• If the Bengal Renaissance produced one outstanding progenitor who imbibed the Orientalist
contribution as effectively as he did linguistic and literary modernization and the effective
defense of Hindu theism against the double-edged challenge of Christianity and secularism, it
would be rammohun roy

• Roy, Raja Rammohun (1772/74-1833) the great reformer, was born in a conservative Brahmin
family in the village Radhanagar, West Bengal. He received the traditional education that was
common in 18th century India. During his boyhood and early youth he had acquired remarkable
proficiency in several oriental languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, besides Hindi and his
mother tongue Bangla.

• He became well versed in Hindu religious scriptures and through his close contact with Muslim
scholars and officials of the revenue and judicial departments of the east india company’s
government gained considerable knowledge of Islamic theology and jurisprudence. It may be
noted that until 1837 the East India Company’s Government as the language of official business
in revenue and judicial transactions retained Persian. After Rammohun settled in Calcutta and
published his translation of the Vedanta in 1815.

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the founder of the Brahma Samaj, which played a major role in
reforming and modernising the Indian society. In August 1828 Rammohun founded the 'brahma
sabha' or Society of God, which in fact emerged as a new sect of Hinduism. He inaugurated the
great age of Hindu reform. The public opinion, which he was able to arouse against the evil
practice of satee, ( the custom of burning of widows upon the funeral pyres of their deceased
husbands) influenced the government to abolish it in 1829 through a special legislation. He
denounced the Hindu caste system.
 • গৌড়ীয় ব্যাকরণ  বাঙালি রচিত প্রথম বাংলা  ব্যাকরণ। রচয়িতা রাজা  রামমোহন রায়, প্রকাশিত ১৮৩৩ খ্রিস্টাব্দে

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy also contributed much to the growth of national consciousness in the
subcontinent. In his political views he was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Jeremy
Bentham. Principle of “utilitarianism”: Welfare of the people –Greatest happiness of the
greatest number of the people.

• Rammohun and other Bengali leaders who followed him were loyal supporters of the British raj.
They believed that in course of time the political privileges that the British people at home were
enjoying would be extended to the people of the British territories overseas.

• In 1830 Rammohun Roy left for England to represent to the British king and parliament the
grievances of the titular Mughal Emperor Akbar II (1806-1837), who had invested him with the
title of 'Raja'. In England he was widely acclaimed by leaders of British society. He also visited
France in 1832. In 1833 while visiting Bristol he fell ill and died on 27 September. Debendranath
Tagore, Rajmohan Majumdar, Prasanna Kumar Tagore etc. were the followers of Rammohun
Roy.  

The Partition of Bengal & Communal politics, 1905-1911

Historical Background:

Bengal’s socio-economic configurations provided a crucial structural condition in which the Hindu–
Muslim relations were articulated. The fact that the peasantry in east Bengal was predominantly Muslim
and landlords largely Hindu remained important in organizing one community against another. In view
of a well-defined borderline between the two communities, the clash of economic interests between
the Muslim peasantry and their oppressors, the high caste landlords and moneylenders with whom the
entire Hindu community came to be identified in the Muslim mind, seemed to be inevitable.

The permanent settlement of 1793

The Revolt of 1857

Formation of the Indian National Congress (1885)

Aligarh Movement led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

Toward the end of the 19th century, there was an emergence of a Hindu Revivalist Movement under
Swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chandra Chatterji (Anandomath novel published in 1882 & Bande
Matharam song in the novel ) and Bal Gangadhar Tilak from Maharastra. Tilak published a newspaper:
Kesari. In his newspaper, Tilak was writing fiery articles propagating the supremacy of the Hindu
Brahmin.
The Hindu Revivalist Movement was perhaps more anti-Muslim than anti-British (For details see, K.B.
Sayeed, Pakistan: The Formative Phase, Oxford, p.21). Sri Aurobindo had begun the practice of Yoga in
1905.

April 1902, Lord Carzon wrote to the Secretary of State regarding the question of provincial boundary. In
his opinion Bengal was an area of nearly 200,000 squares miles with a population of 78.5 million, was
too large a charge for a single man. He also pointed out that the district of East Bengal had been
neglected and the neighboring province of Assam was too small for efficient administration.

 In 1905 the British divided the huge province of Bengal into a western part (‘Bengal’) and an
eastern part (‘Eastern Bengal and Assam’). Please look at the Map in the next slide.

 The British government asserted (or commited) that :

“The partition of Bengal is a settled fact and it can by no means be unsettled.”

Eastern Bengal and Assam: Creation of a New Province

Administrative reasons/causes

Political strategy of ‘Divide and Rule’

Economic

Cultural

Social

Global colonial environment

Internal-External factors

Mixed Reactions to the Partition of Bengal, 1905:

A very vocal opposition developed, especially among the middle and upper classes in Kolkata. They
feared a loss of economic power (tea and jute exports might now go through the port of Chittagong),
inconvenience (east Bengal’s absentee landlords had settled in Kolkata) and competition (a new court
system in east Bengal might exclude Kolkata lawyers and new newspapers might restrict the circulation
of the Kolkata press).

Swadeshi movement by the Hindu Bhadralok to boycott British products and commodities

The Congress movement was largely led by Hindu lawers, merchants, and landlords who were
determined to oppose the partition of Bengal because it would disrupt Kolkata’s commercial and
professional life in which they had so much at stake.

The Swadeshi movement was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the
development of Indian nationalism. Shadeshi Movement appealed to the Indian masses to use only
goods produced in India. The Indian farmers were forced to produced indigos and cottons.

Swadeshi Movement has been characterized as cloth production in India. It originated from Bengal
because the sentiments due to closed down domestic cloth industry was very high.
Use of Khadi instead of foreign cloths.

 Historian professor Sumit Sarkar attempts a detailed study of a five-year period in Bengal's
history (1903-1908) which despite its brief duration has come to occupy a very notable place in
the historiography of nationalism and in the collective memory of our people. Apart from the
abundant literature of biographies and memoirs, individual aspects of this anti-partition or
Swadeshi Movement already have their historians, the main landmarks of political history have
been adequately covered in numerous works on Indian nationalism, and growing access to the
private papers of viceroys and officials have produced recently a spate of monographs on
government policies in general.

 Bepinchandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh, Surendranath Banerji and Lala Lajpout Rai were very active
in the anti-partition movement.

Following Tagore's call, hundreds of Hindus and Muslims in Kolkata, Dhaka and Sylhet came out in large
numbers to tie Rakhi threads as a symbol of unity. Tagore's heartland Santiniketan still follows the
tradition and the university students tied Rakhi to neighbours and common people to give a message of
harmony

Support in favor of the partition plan came from different segment of the Muslims society. Signed by
seven leading Muslim leaders, the Mohammedan Literary Society published a proposal in 1905 for a
total support to the partition plan. In 1906, the Muslims organized an Islamic Conference in Dhaka as a
move to emphasize their separate religious identity and to express reaction against the communal flavor
of the Swadeshi Movement. Muslim organizations such as Anjuman-I-Mufidul, Islam Procharok etc.
were in favor of the partition scheme.

The All-India Muslim League founded in Dhaka (1906), supported the partition in totality.

Simla Deputation organized by the Indian Muslim leaders, met the Governor General and Viceroy Lord
Minto in Simla on October 1906. Aga Khan and Nawab Ali Chowdhury were the key leaders . Shimla
Deputation 1906 was first systematic attempt from Muslims side to represent their demand before
British India. 

Demands of the Muslim leaders were: (a) preservation of a certain number of seats for Muslims in the
municipal and district boards and in the university senate and syndicate; (b)separate election of Muslims
to the Provincial council based on their political importance and not on the population ratio

The debate over the separate and joint electorates as rival modes of election to the various
representative institutions by the British began with the Simla deputation of 1906 and remained
controversial till 1947. Not only was the issue controversial in the pre-Independent India, it also raises
debates among contemporary historians and political scientists.

Separate electorate for the Muslims was recognized in Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909/the India Act of
1909. The Morley-Minto reforms made a landmark towards the development of constitutional
government. The Act, however, contributed to the growth of separatist politics in communal line.

The old agrarian tensions between Hindu landlords and Muslim tenants had transformed into new
power equations. The focus revolved around the aspiration for better social positions and participation
in political decision-making. It also stimulated competitions between Hindu and Muslim elite groups by
negotiation with the British administrators. The Partition plan and its complex reaction broadened the
gulf wider between the two communities by involving political identity in the individual belief system. It
intensified the religious and class-consciousness in every possible way ( Anindita Ghoshal in
“Introduction”, see her book entitled, Refugees, Borders , Identities, 2021, Routledge: London, page-11).

Outcomes/Impacts:

Recognition of the Muslim separate electorate in Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909

Bengali literature and cultural development ( Rabindranath Tagore’s literary work, for instance)

The birth of the All-India Muslim League, 1906

Hindu-Muslim communal conflicts & mistrust

Educational and infrastructural developments of the new province

The establishment of the University of Dhaka in 1921

Awareness of religious identity and nationalism

Growth of terrorism and communal violence (Formation of Anushilan Samiti, Jugantor etc.)

Reactions Annulment of the partition in 1911

University of Dhaka

Fuller Road

Conclusions and Implications:

 First world war, 1914-18

 India Act of 1919/Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, 1919

 Increase of Jute price in 1920s

 Chauri Chaura Tragedy , 1922

 Khilafat Movements , 1919-1924

 Mohatma Gandi and the Non-Violent Movement

 Bengal Pacts, 1923

 Nehru reports , 1928

 Fourteen points of Jinnah , 1929

 The Government of India Act, 1935

 Quit India Movement, 1942

 The Great Divide of 1947 & Two Separate States: India & Pakistan

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