Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

FREEDOM MOVEMENT

PHASE III - 1905-1918 GATHERING STORM

PARTITION OF BENGAL

A people's proclamation against partition

PROCLAMATION

Whereas the Government has thought fit

to effectuate the Partition of Bengal in spite

of the universal protest of the Bengali nation.

We hereby pledge and proclaim that we as

people shall do everything in our power to

counteract the evil effects of the dismember-

ment of our Province and to maintain the

integrity of our race. So help us God.

1, Nov 1905.

The British convinced themselves that they were doing the Indians a great favour by subjecting them to its benign control. The attitude was best expressed by the poet, Rudyard Kipling when, in 1899, he called upon his countrymen back home to

The main aim of the partition was to divide the Bengali population and to weaken the nationalist movement of which Bengal was the nerve centre. The British also wanted to disrupt Hindu-Muslim unity by convincing the up- per class Muslims that the newly created province was in their interest. However, it only brought all sections of the people in Bengal together into an un- precedented mass movement which soon spread to all parts of the country. The Indian National Congress con- demned the inclusion of Chittagong division and Dacca and Mymensing districts of As- sam in its annual sessions of 1903 and 1904. The vernacular newspapers published from Calcutta started to project before the public the bleak future of the Bengalis in the event of partition. The anti-partition agitation took a mili- tant shape on 7 Aug 1905 when thousands of people at Calcutta resolved to boycott British goods until the partition proposal was withdrawn. The partition came into force on 16 Oct 1905. This day was ob- served as a day of national mourning. Rabindranath Tagore in his poetic lan- guage wrote “Bengal is going to be servered by law on 30th Asvin but God has not separated them; remembering this and for proclaiming this, we shall observe the day as a day of unity for Bengalees and as a token of that shall tie yellow threads on the wrists of one another, saying ‘brothers shall not separate ’ ”. Gokhale, presiding over the Benares Congress, referred to the partition as a ‘a cruel wrong ’ and ‘a complete illustration of

the worst features of the present system of bu- reaucratic rule: its utter contempt for public opinion, its arrogant pretensions to superior wisdom, its reckless disregard of the most cherished feelings of the people... its cool preference of service interests to those of the governed. ’ Lord Curzon's scheme of partition was being opposed at every stage at public meet- ings and in newspapers in Calcutta and all over Bengal. The Bengalee edited by Suren- dranath published on 7 July a leading article under the caption, ‘A Grave National Disas- ter ’ which ‘ forewarned the Government of an impending national struggle of the greatest magnitude in case the Government did not reverse their decision.' 1 The Sanjivani wrote, ‘ Lord Curzon has thrown a shaft at the heart of the Bengalis.... so long as the Bengali race is alive, they will suffer from this pang.... Lord Curzon will convert Bengal into a second Ireland. ’ This partition of Bengal called forth all the latent forces of nationalism which had been gathering for years. The protest took the form of the Swadeshi movement which merged itself into an all-India national struggle for achieving freedom from the British yoke. The continuing unity of Bengal in spite of the partition was symbolised by the proposal to construct "Banga Bhavan " and the raising of a fund for the manufacture of indigenous cotton textiles. Thus "the very weapon that Lord Curzon employed to destroy the unity of Bengal, worked by God's will to sow the seeds of national consciousness in India ."

Take up the White Man's Burden Send forth the best ye breed To bind your sons to exile To serve your captive's need.

Just about this time, Lord Curzon came to India as the Viceroy. He regarded the Con- gress as an unmitigated evil. ‘My own belief he remarked in 1900, ‘is that the Congress is tottering to its fall and one of my great ambi- tions while in India is to assist it to a peaceful demise ’. Lord Curzon's attempts to establish control over the universities and municipali- ties created great discontent and provoked keen protest all over India. Realising the possible political unity among the Bengalis, Curzon apprehended a future source of danger and devised a means of nipping it in the bud and decided to consti- tute two provinces in charge of Lt. Governors. The ferment of extremism had already begun to work. Curzon's policy only quick- ened its growth. He started to plan the future of nearly eight crores of his subjects who inhabited the Bengal Presidency. The Presi- dency, which covered Bihar and Orissa be- sides Bengal, was too large to be managed properly. There were a number of possible solutions to the problem, but Curzon chose the one that would hit the Western educated Bengali Hindus. On 19 July 1905, Curzon announced the partition of Bengal into two provinces. East- ern Bengal and Assam and the rest of Bengal which included Bihar and parts of Orissa.