Partition Of The Province Of Bengal 1905

Bengal- India's largest province during the British reign with the highest population of 78.5 million was a collection of Bengal, Parts of Chattisgarh, Orissa, Assam, and Bihar. The main cause for the partition of Bengal was due to administrative reasons within the British government. The first partition of Bengal (1905) was announced by Lord Curzon on 19 July 1905 followed by the implementation on 16 October 1905 by the Viceroy of India.

The partition was not a happy boon for everyone few people made it a curse by launching many political crises to regain their homeland back. The Hindus believed that it British supported the divide and rule policy which was not just the division of land/people but also the division of hearts and the brotherhood that people held. As and when Britishers disapproved of all the policies of Mr. Surendranath Banerjee, one of the earliest leaders of the British and founder of Indian national association; he started boycotting British goods, clothes, etc which was label as 'swadeshi' further lead to the starting of Swadeshi Movement. People started malpractices like an assassination in name of religion, bombing, raping women, and looting homes for food and shelter. Many schools, colleges, shops, and businesses were shut during the partition which further resulted in illiteracy and unemployment. After a lot of meetings with the moderates and the extremists, in 1908 congress constitution formed the All-India Congress Committee which was made up of many elected members.

With the formation of the Congress Committee and seeing no halt in the protest, King George on December 1911 announced that eastern Bengal would be a separate Bengal Presidency different and separated with Orissa, Assam, and Bihar. Further, the capital of India has termed New Delhi by providing a stronger base to Bengal. Thought the Muslims were unhappy because they could view the major population of Bengalis in West Bengal and hence made fourth their statements that the revised decision of reunification was not in favor of Muslims.

Lastly, the Bengal Presidency was again divided in 1947 during the partition of India and Pakistan on religious grounds. Bengal became west Pakistan in 1947 and in 1971 Bengal became the independent state of Bangladesh.

Hence, the 1947 partition was purely a division of 2 true hearts.

By: Hitanshi Arora
Sri Venkateshwar International School