Partition of Bengal (1905)

In 1905 the viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, split the huge Bengal Presidency into two provinces: a mainly Muslim east, joined with Assam and centred on Dhaka, and a mainly Hindu west, joined with Bihar and Orissa. Presented as an administrative reform, it was widely seen as an attempt to weaken Bengali nationalism by dividing communities. Mass protest forced its reversal in 1911, but the episode radicalised Indian nationalism and sharpened the political divide between Hindus and Muslims.

The Bengal Presidency, which also took in Bihar, Orissa, parts of present-day Chhattisgarh and Assam, was the largest province of the British Raj, with some 78.5 million people. Officials had long argued that it was too big to govern well and that the poorer east was neglected. Curzon's plan detached fifteen eastern districts and joined them with Assam to form a new province of about 31 million people, most of them Muslim. The remaining western districts were combined with Bihar and Orissa, leaving Bengali speakers a minority there. Scholars still debate his motives; one view holds that Curzon set out to divide Bengalis rather than to separate Hindus from Muslims, though he did describe the new province as a Muslim one.

The partition took effect on 16 October 1905. Educated Bengali Hindus, the bhadralok, saw it as the dismemberment of their homeland and a blow to their influence. When petitions organised through the Congress achieved nothing, leaders such as Surendranath Banerjee turned to boycotting British goods, a campaign they preferred to call swadeshi, meaning "of one's own country". Government schools were shunned and, on the day itself, shops and schools were blockaded until police and troops cleared them. The date coincided with the festival of Raksha Bandhan, and Rabindranath Tagore urged Bengalis, including Muslims, to tie rakhi threads on one another as a sign of unity. Support spread to Bombay, Pune and Punjab, and a militant wing of nationalism grew in strength.

Muslim organisations had at first condemned the proposal, but Curzon toured the eastern districts in 1904 to win support, and many educated Muslims came to see a province of their own as a chance to escape the dominance of Calcutta. The Nawab of Dhaka, Khwaja Salimullah, backed the partition, and in 1906 the All India Muslim League was founded at Dhaka on his initiative. Because the swadeshi campaign carried Hindu overtones, many Muslims distrusted it, although some prominent Muslims did oppose the partition.

Unable to quell the agitation, the British gave way. At the Delhi Durbar of 12 December 1911, King George V announced that the Bengali-speaking districts would be reunited, while Bihar, Orissa and Assam became separate. At the same time the capital of British India was moved from Calcutta to Delhi. Many Bengali Muslims felt betrayed, regarding the reversal as a sacrifice of their interests.

Curzon's measure failed in its purpose and instead gave new energy to the nationalist movement, encouraging leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh. It also strengthened separate Muslim politics: separate electorates for Muslims and Hindus were introduced in 1909. In 1947 Bengal was divided again, this time explicitly on religious lines, during the Partition of India. Its eastern half became part of Pakistan, later East Pakistan, and in 1971 the independent state of Bangladesh.

Our 1900 and 1914 maps show Bengal within the British Raj, just before and just after the years of partition.