In the last post, we studied Lord Curzon’s Foreign Policy. His Foreign policy was aggressive as he wanted to secure British interests in India. The next worst thing he did to India was, he sowed the seeds of communalism in India. One of the many reasons, we see communal riots in our country. 🙁
The seeds of communalism were sown by the Partition of Bengal. Here in this post, we shall read about the reasons and consequences of the Partition of Bengal.
Lord Curzon: Partition of Bengal
Preface
Bengal was the first place in India, which was conquered by Britishers. Though Bengal of that time was a very large province and proved the golden land for Britishers. Because from the Bengal they also got access to the Eastern Golden Islands like Indonesia, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra etc.
So, in India Calcutta was the Capital of Britishers. We all somewhere in our lives have read Newton’s Third Law of Motion. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same was true in the case of Bengal. As Bengal was the capital of British India, so the people of Bengal were suffering from the peak level of exploitation.
So, from the third law of Newton, Bengal became the center of organized Nationalism in India. The exploitation and suppression of people gave birth to the feeling of Nationalism among the masses. So, divide the feeling of nationalism on the basis of religion Lord Curzon played his ace card in Bengal.
Divided on the basis of Religion
Bengal was a very big province to govern. Simultaneously the Nationalist activities also rising in Bengal. So, Lord Curzon in 1903 first gave the proposal for the Partition of Bengal. In 1904, the government gave the official statement regarding the Partition of Bengal.
Lord Curzon himself went for the inspection of the Bengal in 1904 and decided the partition boundary there. Though the nationalists were not against the Partition. But they were against the way of Partitioning. The Bengal was the province of India which had both Hindu and Muslim populations living as complementary to each other.
So, Lord Curzon was of the opinion to divide the Bengal on the basis of religion. The Muslim population dominated eastern Bengal and western Bengal was inhabited by the Hindu majority. So, he demarcated the line in as such that it divided the whole Bengal on the basis of religion.
This was surely unacceptable by the masses. Because at the phase of growing nationalism if anyone tries to divide Indians on the basis of religion it was, in any case, unacceptable to the nationalists.
Impacts
Promotion of Communalism
The Partition of Bengal sown the seeds of communalism in India. Therefore after this time to time, some stupid people keep watering this seed of hatred. And the people are still facing the side effects of its fruits. We got partitioned independence in 1947. The issue of communal violence to date affects our peace and harmony. It is not that all the people are responsible for the communal violence. But the people who do not have a proper understanding of religion preach to the masses. This is the biggest cause of the suffering of the people in the current scenario.
Linguistic Minority
Calcutta was the heart of Nationalism at that time. It was also the capital of Bengal. But the partition was so planned that Orissa (Odisha) and Bihar also became a part of West Bengal. So, the Bengalis became the linguistic minority in the Bengal Province.
Increased Administrative Pressure on the Nationalists
The Partition also became the cause of trouble for the nationalists. Because it increased the administrative pressure on Nationalists. Though nationalists resolved this problem by creating the two headquarters after the partition. The new headquarters were Dacca and Calcutta.
Conclusion
Though this was the diplomatic move of Lord Curzon which sowed the seeds of communalism in India. But, there were nationalists too, they used this partition of Bengal as the reason for the start of the first mass movement of India! The Swadeshi Movement! From here started the leadership of the new phase of the Indian National Congress.
The phase of Extremist! We shall discuss this period in the upcoming post.
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