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ORIGIN The province of Bengal had an area of 189,000 sq miles and a population of 78.5 million. Eastern Bengal was almost isolated from the western part by geography and poor communications. In 1836, the upper provinces were placed under a lieutenant governor, and in 1854 the Governor-General-In-Council was relieved of the direct administration of Bengal. In 1874 Assam , including Sylhet , was severed from Bengal to form a Chief-Commissionership, and the Lushai Hills were added to it in 1898. PARTITION Partitioning Bengal were first considered in 1903 . There were also additional proposals to separate Chittagong and the districts of Dhaka and Mymensingh from Bengal and attaching them to the province of Assam . Similarly incorporating Chhota Nagpur with the central provinces. Government officially published the idea in January 1904 , and in February, Lord Curzon made an official tour to eastern districts of Bengal to assess public opinion on the partition. He consulted with leading personalities and delivered speeches at Dhaka, Chittagong and Mymensigh explaining the government's stand on partition. The new province would consist of the state of Hill Tripura , the Divisions of Chittagong, Dhaka and Rajshahi (excluding Darjeeling ) and the district of Malda incorporate with Assam province. Bengal was to surrender not only these eastern large territories but also to cede to the Central Provinces the five Hindi-speaking states. On the west side it was offered Sambalpur and a minor five Uriya-speaking states from the Central Provinces. Bengal would be left with an area of 141,580 sq. miles and population of 54 million, where 42 million would be Hindu s and 9 million Muslim s. The new province was named Eastern Bengal And Assam with Dhaka as its Capital and subsidiary headquarters at Chittagong . Its area would be 106,540 sq. miles with a population of 31 million, where 18 million would be muslims and 12 million hindus. Administration would consist a Legislative Council , a Board Of Revenue of two members, and the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court would be left undisturbed. Government pointed out that Eastern Bengal and Assam would have a clearly demarcated western boundary and well defined geographical, ethnological, linguistic and social characteristics. The government of India promulgated their final decision in a resolution dated July 19 , 1905 and the partition of Bengal was effected on October 16 of same year. This created a huge political crisis. The Muslims in the East Bengal had this impression that a separate region would give them more opportunity for education, employment etc. But the partition was not liked by the people in West Bengal and a huge amount of nationalist literature was created during this period in the West Bengal. Rabindranath Tagore wrote the modern Bangladesh 's national anthem Amar Shonar Bangla during this period (in 1906). Amidst political protests, the two parts of Bengal were reunited in 1911. SEE ALSO
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