HIS104- EMERGENCE OF

BANGLADESH
•United Bengal Scheme
•Indian Independence Act of 1947
•The Partition of Bengal
Proposals Pushed by Several Groups
Divided Bengal in the
Union of India (The
Bengal Provincial
Congress Committee)

United Bengal United Independent

Bengal ( Bose-
in the Union of Suhrawardy
Pakistan Accord)

Divided Bengal
in the Union of
Pakistan
Divided Bengal in the Union of India

The Bengal Provincial Congress

Committee formally declared in favour of
partition of the province and the creation
of a separate Hindu majority province
(West Bengal), which included Calcutta
within the union of India.
Provincial Congress+ All India
Congress+Hindhu Mahasabha
Where is Hindu Mahasabha?
Divided Bengal in the Union of India
Almost simultaneously, the Bengal Provincial
Hindu Mahasabha took a resolution
proclaiming its firm resolve that the Hindus of
Bengal, at least the ones in Hindu majority
areas, should remain within the Union of India
and should not be separated from the rest of
India. SHYAMA PRASAD MUKHERJEE
 was able to win the majority of Bengal
Congress and Bengal Hindu representatives in
the Central and Provincial Legislative
Assemblies to his side.
United Bengal: Fathers
United Independent Bengal

In a press conference held in Delhi on 27

April 1947, Suhrawardy put forward his
plan for a united independent Bengal.
Following him Abul Hashim declared his
views on the same issue through a
statement issued in Calcutta on 29 April
1947. A few days later, Sarat Bose put
forward his proposals for a Sovereign
Socialist Republic of Bengal.
United Independent Bengal Scheme
Suhrawardy and Hashim continued their efforts to reach an
agreement with Hindu leaders of the province on the basis of
their schemes
Frederick Burrows, Jinnah and Lord MOUNTBATTEN
Sarat Bose raised a voice of protest against the AICC's March
resolution.
Kiran Shankar was convinced that if League leaders were
prepared to come forward with some offer to the Hindus, the
province could still be kept unified.
They met Gandhi with their proposals during the latter's visit
to Calcutta and sought his suggestions.
They also tried to persuade the Congress and the League
High Commands to accept their views
Bose-Suhrawardy Accord

Finally, a tentative agreement was reached at a meeting, held on 20

May 1947, in Calcutta among Bengali leaders who were favourable
to the move for a united and independent Bengal.
The following were the terms of the agreement

1. Bengal would be a Free State. The Free State of Bengal would decide
its relations with the rest of India.
2. The Constitution of the Free State of Bengal would provide for
election to the Bengal Legislature on the basis of a joint electorate and
adult franchise, with reservation of seats proportionate to the
population among Hindus and Muslims. The seats set aside for
Hindus and Scheduled Caste Hindus would be distributed amongst
them in proportion to their respective population, or in such manner
as may be agreed among them. The constituencies would be multiple
constituencies and the votes would be distributive and not cumulative.
A candidate who got the majority of the votes of his own community
cast during the elections and 25 percent of the votes of the other
communities so cast, would be declared elected. If no candidate
satisfied these conditions, that candidate who got the largest number
of votes of his own community would be elected.
3. On the announcement by His Majesty's Government that the
proposal of the Free State of Bengal had been accepted and that
Bengal would not be partitioned, the present Bengal Ministry would
be dissolved. A new interim Ministry consisting of an equal number
of Muslims and Hindus (including Scheduled Caste Hindus) but
excluding the Chief Minister would be formed. In this Ministry,
Chief Minister would be a Muslim and the Home Minister a Hindu.
4. Pending the final emergence of a Legislature and a Ministry under
the new constitutions, Hindus (including Scheduled Caste Hindus)
and Muslims would have an equal share in the Services, including
military and police. The Services would be manned by Bengalis.
5. A Constituent Assembly composed of 30 persons, 16 Muslims and
14 non-Muslims, would be elected by Muslim and non-Muslim
members of the Legislature respectively, excluding Europeans.
Guess about the Reaction of the Concerned Groups

The British The Congress

Muslim League
The Role of Indian National Congress :
Both Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were totally
opposed to the concept of a sovereign Bengal
Nehru thought that through this scheme the Muslim League in
Bengal would force practically the whole of Bengal to join
Pakistan.
He made it clear that Congress would regard a separate state of
Bengal as an extension of Pakistan.
Sardar Patel too offered determined resistance to the move for
Bengal unity.
His correspondence with influential Hindu leaders of Bengal
during April-June 1947 indicates his role in directing Hindus to
the partition of the province as well as his fanatical opposition to
the idea of a sovereign Bengal.
He condemned those Hindu leaders of Bengal who had got
themselves involved in negotiations with the Muslim League
leaders of the province.
The Role of Jinnah and Muslim League:
True, Jinnah, was not totally opposed to the proposition
It is evident that he had once offered some encouragement to the scheme.
Considering the arguments of Mountbatten that in case of a division of India there
should be a partition of the Punjab and Bengal, Jinnah initially was ready to agree to
the proposal of a united independent Bengal.
His primary consideration was to avert the partition of Bengal; the possibility of a
potential alliance between an independent Bengal and Pakistan in the future was of
secondary importance to him.
But he could not finally settle his mind in favour of the issue.
Although apparently he had given his blessings to the move, several factors seemed
to have been responsible for making Jinnah reconsider his stand.
He rejected the idea in the end, perhaps he felt that it was after all a deviation from
the creed of Pakistan. He was not interested in offering any concessions such as joint
electorate etc, as incorporated within the terms of the tentative agreement.
The Premier of Bengal had sincerely felt that the formation of a coalition Ministry in
the province would be an important step towards bringing the Hindus and Muslims of
Bengal closer together as well as preventing the province from being partitioned. But
Jinnah never considered these issues to be matters of great urgency.
His veto to a coalition cabinet in Bengal proved to be fatal to the Suhrawardy-Bose
Formula.
Fazlul Haque
He was remained silent on this issue
Politically frustrated
The Reaction of The Hindus
Majority was in favor of partition
According to Amritya Bazar-98.3% on behalf of
Partition and 0.6% on behalf of united
Congress and Hindu Mahashava influenced the
Hindus of West Bengal
Scheduled Caste hindus was in favor of United
Bengal (Most of them were from East Bengal)
ML and SCL were united in East Bengal for their
demand to form an Independent United Bengal
The Reaction of the British:

The British were never totally allergic to the idea of a sovereign

independent Bengal.
Burrows, the Governor of the province, were not at all in favour of the
partition of the province.
In fact, he was inclined to the Suhrawardy- Bose Formula and had
tried his best for its implementation to the last.
The Viceroy was also not unwilling to offer united Bengal the status of
a Dominion along with India and Pakistan.
He had assured Suhrawardy that the British would accept any
settlement about Bengal approved by the League and the Congress
High Commands.
But the British had to look at the question from an all India point of
view. They were not eager to compromise the safety of the whole of
India for the interest of one province. Hence in the long run the failure
of the scheme was inevitable.
 FAILURE OF THE PLAN

The final blow to the concept was

given when the Congress and the
League High Commands accepted
Mountbatten Plan (the 3rd June
Plan of 1947) for partition of India
and for transfer of power to the
two Dominions of India and
Pakistan.
CAUSES BEHIND THE
FAILURE
Organizational Weakness
Administrative Cause
Demographic Partition
Communal Riot
Belated Scheme
The Unwillingness of Congress
Lack of Foresightness