Partition of Bengal (1905-1911): A Critical Study

Impact and Significance of the Partition of Bengal

Abstract

In 1905, during his term as Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon divided the Bengal Presidency- thelargest administrative subdivision in British India- into the Muslim-majority province of Eastern Bengal andAssam and the Hindu-majority province of Bengal (present-day Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar,Jharkhand, and Odisha). Curzon's act, the partition of Bengal- which had been contemplated by variouscolonial administrations since the time of Lord William Bentinck, though never acted upon- was totransform nationalist politics as nothing else before it. Bengal's Hindu aristocracy, many of whosemembers held property leased to Muslim peasants in East Bengal, raised their voices in opposition.Concerned that they would be outnumbered in the new Bengal province by Biharis and Oriyas, thesubstantial Bengali-Hindu middle class (the Bhadralok) saw Curzon's conduct as retaliation for theirpolitical activism. Protests against Curzon's decision were mostly organized around the Swadeshi ('buyIndian') movement, which called for an economic boycott of British products. Attacks on civilians wereanother, less common, but nevertheless blatant kind of political violence that demonstrators engaged in.The song Bande Mataram ('Hail to the Mother') by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee became the rallying cryfor both sorts of protests the song's lyrics hailed a mother goddess who represented both Bengal andIndia, as well as the Hindu deity Kali. Calcutta's English-educated students went back to their ruralcommunities, sparking turmoil across Bengal. Since the imperial capital was located in Calcutta, the furyand the slogan quickly spread across the country. With an enormous reaction from Bengalis, generalcitizens, and other nationalists hitherto unknown to the British authorities in colonial India, the Partitionof Bengal became one of the major turning points and watershed moments in the history of Indianliberation fight.