Q. Why was Bengal Partitioned in 1905?

[7]
• Firstly, the population of Bengal was very high. It was ten times the
population of Britain. ​As, it was difficult to manage such a large
population effectively, hence the British partitioned Bengal for the
welfare of the people.

• Bengal was one of the largest province of India and so it was very difficult
for British to rule such a huge area effectively, as a single unit. ​Thus, British
partitioned Bengal into two units East and West Bengal to improve
administration and for efficient governance.

• After the WOI 1857, British-Muslim relationship were poor as Muslims

were solely blamed for the outbreak of war and so they were suppressed
by the British. However, by 1905 British changed their opinion and viewed
Muslim as an important community. The British partitioned Bengal in such
a way that Muslims were given a state where they were in majority. ​Thus it
can be rightly said that British partitioned Bengal in order to get Muslims
support.

• Hindus were becoming stronger in Bengal and were asking for more
reforms through Congress. ​The British were greatly worried by this fact
and in an effort to break Hindu unity, the British partitioned Bengal so
that Hindu threat was removed.

• There were some anti-British movements in India in the late 19​th​ and early
20​th​ century e.g. Tilak of Poona made impassioned speeches and wrote
articles to motivate Indians towards freedom from British. Furthermore,
there were also some societies which sprang up aiming to get rid of British.
The British feared this fact because it was a threat to their rule and so in
order to strengthen their position suppress such activities, one of the
measure they took was to partition Bengal.
Q.​ ​Why was the Partition of Bengal reversed in 1911? [7]
• Firstly, Hindus started large scale riots because they were not pleased with
POB. They created law and order situation in order to reverse the POB. ​This
worried the British and as a result the POB was reversed to restore peace.

• Hindus not only started hundreds of protests against the British

government but they also targeted British officials e.g. they tried to
assassinate the future viceroy, Lord Minto. ​This worried the British and as
a result the Partition was reversed to keep the British officials safe.

• Swadeshi Movement was started by Hindus in retaliation to the POB. In this

movement they boycotted British goods and opted for locally produced
item. ​This badly affected the British economy and thus forced them to
reverse POB so that they could restore their trade & profits.

• Their was a change in Government and the new viceroy Lord Harding was
appointed over India. The new viceroy studied the situation carefully and
came to the conclusion that ​decision of previous Government regarding
POB was ineffective, ​as a RPOB to strengthen their rule effectively.

• King George V who was the most important British official was coming on a
visit to India. The Hindus were threatening to spoil his visit and gave threats
to kill him. ​Hence they reversed the Partition of Bengal in order to make
his visit successful and safe.

• The Congress supported the Hindus in reversal of POB. As Congress was the
​ ritish were forced to
most important and influential party of that time, B
reverse POB to satisfy Congress and gain their support.