Research paper on

“Bengal Partition 1905” was the worst idea”

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Course Code: EMB101
Course Title: Emergence of Bangladesh
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“Bengal Partition 1905” was the worst idea”

 Abstract

“Bengal Partition 1905” is one of the historical events. Lord Curzon was the viceroy of India

during the Bengal Partition. The spirit of nationalism at its height and core in Bengal was

established at his time. Lord Curzon then decided to crack nationalism from the root. He agreed

in 1903 to split Bengal into B parts-East Bengal and West Bengal. The number of Bengal

inhabitants was around seven and a half crores, a fourth of India’s individuals. Moreover, he gave

Bengal’s segment that it is trying to offer administrative service because of such an enormous

populace. So, it is necessary to divide Bengal given administrative assistance. In comparison,

East Bengal was a majority Muslim region and West Bengal was a majority Hindu region. Lord

Curzon's main motive, however, was to split Hindu and Muslim into two parts to prevent them

from uniting and pushing against the British Government. It is known as the “Divide and Rule”

policy, so that as long as they desired, they could dominate the whole of India.The study is an

analysis of the short-term and long-term impacts of “Bengal Partition 1905”. Only secondary

data have been used and analyzed to determine the fact. The study indicates that dividing

Bengal into two parts based on religion has created many problems like war, riots,

movements. The partition was done to rule India more times, but it was the English

government’s worst idea.

Keywords: Bengal Partition 1905, Hindus, Muslims, administrative, “Divide and Rule” policy.

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Table of Contents
 Page

1) Abstract----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2)

Table of Contents----------------------------------------------------------------- 2 3)

Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3-4 4)

Research Methodology----------------------------------------------------------- 4 5)

Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5-8

a) Short Term---------------------------------------------------------------- 5-6 i)

Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms------------------------------- 5 ii) Government Act of

India 1935------------------------------- 5-6 iii) Direct Action Day

1946--------------------------------------- 6 b) Long

Term---------------------------------------------------------------- 6-8 i) Partition of

1947------------------------------------------------ 6-7 ii) War of Independence

1971------------------------------------ 7-8 iii) Jammu-Kashmir

issue------------------------------------------ 8 6)

Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 7)

Acknowledgment----------------------------------------------------------------- 9 8)

Reference-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

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Introduction

The year 1905 is one of Bengal's most eventful years. It was no exaggeration to say that this was

an epoch-making year that had significant consequences for its political history. Bengal was split

into two different provinces this year. The roots of Bengal are found in Sir Strafford
Northcote's 18 January 1868 Minuten in which Northcote said that the region of Bengal was

so large that in times of emergency, the outlay of the area suffered. In 1903 the provincial

population had grown to 78,5 million. The Lieutenant Governor of Bengal controlled an area of

189,000 sq miles. (Stein, 2010, p.156) The government formally unveiled the idea of partition in

January 1904, and in February, to test public opinion regarding its divide, Lord Curzon,

governor-general of India, made an official tour in eastern Bengal districts. "Under the British,

the province of Bengal was as large as France, with a population of seventy-eight and a half

million, nearly as populous as contemporary France and Great Britain combined," said Hardy.

Curzon explains that the division of the land was an institutional change. (Hardy, 1972, p.148)

The Swadeshi movement was born in a humiliating incident like a split, known as Suraj Split.

(Ludden, 2013, p.156) Muslims lived in East Bengal, and the Muslim League was created for

Muslims’ welfare. Besides, Muslims were not against the partition because they were getting

their rights, and they were improving their political, educational & economic situation

(Srivastava & Calkins, 2020). The partition was annulled in 1911 because of the stern protest,

and the capital moved to Delhi. But this annulment can’t bring Hindu & Muslims together.

Muslims started to insist that separate states be formed for Muslims to protect their interests. (M.

Brown,, 1985, p.366) The difference between the two nations shown in Montagu–Chelmsford

Reforms. Both nations were getting different electorates, which is not liked by Hindus.(Kaul,

2004) Even the Government Act of 1935 couldn’t satisfy them. Pakistan wanted an independent

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country. (Singh & Talbot, 2009) Even Bengal again partitioned in 1947 based on religion

because of a lot of riots and fights (Khan, 2017, p.18) Moreover, after the partition was done on

faith as it was done in 1905, it revealed that there is also nationalism & language matter. And this

leads to another Independence war in 1971, and Bangladesh was created. Besides, there is still a
clash between India & Pakistan regarding Jammu-Kashmir. (K. M., 1930, p.111-125)

Research Methodology

The present research is a combination of short-term impact & long term impact of Bengal

Partition 1905. However, in this research, I have included Montagu-Chelmsford Reform 1919,

Government Act of 1935, Direct Action Day 1946, Partition of 1947, Bangladesh Independence

War 1971 & Jammu-Kashmir incidents. All of the data are collected from secondary sources. So

we focused on oral traditions, scholars' essays, documents, newsletters, censuses, state and

non-government records, and so on.

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Analysis

Bengal partition 1905 was a historical event of the Indian Subcontinent. It was done on the basis

of religion which had a short & long-term effect in later-days. A lot of incidents took place after

the partition.

Short Term

Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms 1919, Government Act of India 1935 & Direct Action Day 1946

are short incidents but it leads to bad incidents in the future.

Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms

The Indian Secretary of State was Edwin Montague. Montague said that his government needed

more of an Indian representation in an attempt to meet local demands in its famous August

Declaration submitted by the House of Commons on 20 August 1917. Some proposals in this act
were- Muslims would get a separate electorate & The Imperial and Legislative Council for

Muslims reserved 40 Muslim seats. Muslims agreed with it but Hindus protested against it

because they wanted Muslims as their slave. It created riots and movements against each other. It

increased the distance more.

Government Act of India 1935

There were two parts of the Government of India Act of 1935. The first part was central, the

second the provincial one. In that Act Muslims again offered a different electorate but this time

they rejected because in between some riots took place which increased the distance between

Hindu and Muslims. In 1933 Mohammad Ali Zinnah proposed for Pakistan but in the 1935 Act

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there was no proposal for it. That’s why they rejected it. On the other hand, Hindus rejected it

because they don’t get autonomy. This increases the clashes more.

Direct Action Day 1946

The Muslim League decided to demonstrate how far Pakistan could get. On 6 August 1946,

Kolkata was selected as a direct action. In 72 hours, 6,000 people died. There were more than

20,000 wounded and more than 100,000 homeless. Three hundred cotton mill employees have

been stripped and cut off from their families. All of this was Uriya Mazur. The struggle began. In

Rajabazar, Kelabagan, and College Street, the full violence took place.

All these lead to big incidents like the Partition of India 1947, Bangladesh Independence war

1971, etc.
 Long Term

The partition of India in 1947 took place and it proved without religion there are many other

things like nationalism & language also fact. As a result, in 1971 another independent country

created Bangladesh.

Partition of 1947

In 1947 the province was divided into two halves in the same geography, mainly by

communitarian consideration, 36 years after the annulment of the first division of Bengal. The

second partition of Bengal was carried out by the carving of India in line with the two-nation

theory of Jinnah. West Bengal, the Hindu majority, was part of the Indian Union, with East

Bengal being part of Pakistan as a Muslim majority. The Hindus mostly opposed the 1905

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faction, and most Muslims supported it But the Hindus, and especially the Hindu Mahasabha,

initially opposed and later sweetly approved the idea, recommended a division of Bengal in 1947

and Muslim leadership. The rapid shift in the Hindus' and Muslims' political tendencies should be

measured by the complicated policies of the local community, imperialism, and communalism of

the time. HS Suhrawardy, Chief Minister of Bengal, has made a last effort to transcend the

boundaries and unite Bengal with the status of an independent country. However, his drive

towards a United Bengal Independent soared. The Indian Independence Act on 15 July 1947

provided for an end to British rule in India. The division of India into two Sovereign Dominions

was also stipulated. India and Pakistan are known as the Hindu majority state of the Indian

Union. In a referendum on 7 July, the Sylhet electorate delivered its verdict on Pakistan with a
majority of 55,578 votes (2,39,619 voted to join East Bengal against 1,84,041 in Assam). The

Indian Independence Act provides that the division is completed by 15 days from the passage of

the Act. The Chairman of the Boundary Board hastily completed the boundary in 15 days. As a

result, there was a territorial demarcation between the two newly created states in the Boundary

Commission, headed by Sir Cyril Radcliffe. By the Indian Independence Act 1947, Pakistan and

India, respectively, were officially transferred on 14 and 15 August.

War of Independence 1971

War of Liberation, which started on 26 March 1971 and ended on 16 December 1971 with the

declaration of Bangladesh. The military conflict resulted in a variety of incidents, circumstances,

and problems that led to the steady deterioration of East and West Pakistan ties. The problems

surrounding agricultural reform, State language, inter-wing economic and administrative

inequalities, the autonomy of the provinces and the preservation of East Pakistan and various

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other repercussions have after the separation of the country from Great Britain in 1947, strained

relations between the two wings of Pakistan. People of East Pakistan were deprived of their

rights and a lot of things. East Pakistan’s condition was deteriorating and West Pakistan’s

condition was improving which is clearly a disparity. As a result, the liberation war took place

and about 3 million people were killed and 0.2 million women lost their dignity. This liberation

war clearly illustrates that the partition done based on 1905 in 1947 was wrong. Religion is not

the only thing to divide and it created a massacre.

Jammu-Kashmir issue
India and Pakistan waged war against the princely state of Kashmir following independence from

colonial rule. At the end of the war, the most valuable parts of the state were governed by India.

Sporadic activity but no coordinated insurgency existed during this period. The first

parliamentary elections took place in 1951 in Jammu and Kashmir. The secular faction of Sheik

Abdullah remained unchallenged. In the Hindu majority of India, Jammu and Kashmir is the only

Muslim majority state. A noticeable disturbance of government election in 1987 stirred the

insurgency. In contrast with Hindus in India as a whole, Muslims are historically, culturally and

economically marginalized. Just four seats were won by the Muslim United Front (MUF) despite

voting 31%. The votes, though, have been commonly considered rigged, shifting the state's

direction of politics. The Manifesto of MUF underlined the need to address all unresolved

problems under the Simla Agreement.

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Conclusion

Bengal was divided into religious lines, in 1905, the then vice-roy from India claimed to be a

strong government, and Muslim dominated Eastern bengal was divided into Hindu doiminished

West bengal, declared by Lord Curzon in 1905. But instead, the partition triggered a wave of

nationalism. Bengalis launched a boycott of British made goods which was a part of the

Swadeshi Movement and we can also see the rise of Riots between Hindus and Muslims which

proved the harmony and distances between them. Later, it created a lot of miserable incidents

Direct Action Day 1946, Bengal Partition 1947 etc. Eventually it gave rise to the war between

India and Pakistan and Ultimately the liberation war of Bangladesh. Moreover, the

Jammu-Kashmir issue is still running and it is taking a lot of lives. So, it can be stated that British

Government had done the partition to rule more in India but later it became the worst idea.
 Acknowledgment

First of all, I would like to thank Allah to keep all of us safe during this pandemic Second, I want

to thank my parents for the treatment I have given me and the courage to leave the online

semester in this adverse state. I would like to thank Mr. Shashuddoha Monir, our esteemed course

mentor, for his intense support during the course of this research paper. It would have been

almost impossible for me to finish this study paper without his correct instructions. I very much

appreciate the encouragement he has shown through this pandemic, mental support, and

encouragement. I am fortunate to have such a teacher like him. I would also like to thank my

friends and classmates who were very supportive of the course EMB101. (Word Count: 2216)

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Reference

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● Ali, I. (2019, December 08). Partition of Bengal. Scribd.

https://www.scribd.com/document/438779536/Partition-of-Bengal
● BookStawa. (2020, January 03). Direct Action Day 1946. Bookstawa.
https://bookstawa.com/direct-action-day-1946/
● Bookstawa. (2020, March 22). Surat Split 1907. Bookstawa.
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b8%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%aa%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%b2%e0%a4%bf%e0%a4%9f-surat-s
plit/
● Bookstawa. (2020, December 22). Background of Bengal Partition. Bookstawa.
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● Hardy, T. (1972). The Muslims of British India. CUP Archive. 7 December 1972 ●
Kaul, C. (2004). Montagu, Edwin Samuel (1879–1924). Oxford Dictionary of National
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● Khan, Y. (2017). The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan, New Edition.
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● K. M., P. (1930). Gulab Singh. London: Martin Hopkinson Ltd.
● Ludden, D. (2013). India and South Asia : a short history. Oneworld Publications. ●
Murad, T. R. (2018). The Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Scribd.
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& Calkins, P. B. (2020, December 23). India. Encyclopedia Britannica.
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