Partition of Bengal: All About The Divide & The Rule
Partition of Bengal: The British had a lot of power in India when Lord Curzon was the Governor General. The decision was seen as a way of weakening the Indian people’s desire for independence.
- The Bengal Presidency was the largest of all the presidencies of the time, it included West and East Bengal as well as Bihar and Orissa. Assam was separated from Bengal in 1874 itself.
- The government not only divided Bengal to keep Bengalis away from too much power, but they also wanted to reduce the number of Bengali people in Bengal.
- The reason given by the Graji government for dividing Bengal was that without dividing such a large province, its governance could not be carried out systematically.
- The real reason for the partition was, since Bengal was the focal point of the national consciousness at that time and it was to destroy this consciousness that the partition of Bengal was decided.
- Another partition in the Partition of Bengal was implicit in the division on religious lines July 20, 1905 The decision of the partition of Bengal was announced
- On August 7, 1905, in a meeting held in the Town Hall of Calcutta, the ‘Swadeshi Movement’ was announced and the boycott resolution was passed.
Discovery of the Harappan Civilization
Partition of Bengal: Dates of Partition
On August 16, 1905, the plan for the partition of Bengal became effective. After partition, a new province was formed by joining East Bengal and Assam, which included Rajshahi, Chittagong, Dhaka etc., where the total population was 30 million, of which 18 million were Muslims and 12 million were Hindus. Dhaka was the capital here.
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa were part of a place called divided Bengal. A lot of people lived in divided Bengal, about 54 million! Of all those people, 42 million were Hindu and 90 million were Muslim. On October 16, 1905, everyone in Bengal was very sad and they decided to celebrate a special day called ‘Mourning Day’. On this day, people do not eat much, they sing a special song called Vande Mataram, and they tie special bracelets called rakhi to each other.
On partition, Gokhale had said that it was a cruel mistake. Surendranath Banaji said on partition that partition has fallen on us like a thunderbolt.
Impact of swadeshi movement
The impact of Swadeshi movement was seen in the cultural field of Bengal. Bengali was like literature. Tagore also wrote Amar Sonar Bangla at this time, which won Rabindranath Tagore of Bangladesh the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 for his collection of songs, Gitanjali. In the field of art, Abanindranath Tagore started painting by taking inspiration from completely indigenous traditional art completely different from western influence.
The Swadeshi movement, a multi-purpose programme, took a large part of the country under its influence, including the landlords, the urban lower middle class, students and women. During the Swadeshi movement, for the first time women came out of purdah and took part in dharnas and demonstrations. Peasants and the majority Muslim community remained aloof from the Swadeshi and boycott movements. By 1908, the Swadeshi movement slowed down in Bengal as the leaders associated with this movement, Tilak, Ashwini Kumar Dutt and Krishna Kumar were arrested and exiled. The Swadeshi movement awakened the national feeling in that large section of the society which was completely ignorant of ethnic nationalism, ‘Swadeshi’ most influenced the cultural ideology of India.
Swadeshi and boycott movement
It all started when the government decided to divide Bengal into two parts. Sarkar said that this was because there were too many people in Bengal and it was difficult to manage them all. But in reality, the government wanted to make Bengal weak because it was a strong place for people who loved their country. Many people got upset due to this and they opposed the decision of the government.
As a result of partition, the government divided Bengal into two parts. Eastern Bengal and Assam were kept in the first part and the rest of Bengal in the second part.
Activities of Extremists in connection with the Partition of Bengal
The main extremist leaders who played an active role in opposing the partition of Bengal were- Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vipin Chandrapal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Arvind Ghosha.
Main achievements of the movement
The movement had a major impact on society as it activated and involved people who were previously silent. It gave lot of energy and enthusiasm to other movements, strengthened our culture and encouraged more people in India to join politics. It also helped us to realize how important it is for us to stick together and work as a team. We also learned that the ideas and systems of the people who were colonizing us were not good for us.
Calcutta session of Congress (1906)
- In the Congress session held in Calcutta in 1906, a dispute arose between moderates (moderates) and extremists (extremists) over the post of president.
- Finally the dispute was ended by electing Dadabhai Naoroji as the President. • In the Congress session of Calcutta, the extremists passed four resolutions related to ‘Swadeshi Movement’, ‘Boycott Movement’, ‘National Education’ and Self-Government.
- It was in this session of the National Congress that Dadabhai Naoroji presented the demand for ‘Swaraj’.
IMPORTANT Notice-
“Daily updates at your fingertips. Don’t miss out on what’s happening in the world. Get your daily news, jobs, entertainment, sports, and business updates.”Seachgyan is the trusted source of these updates.
Thanx For reading our article .Team Searchgyan wishes you a bright future.
Connect with us on-
Thank you
