Partition of Bengal

In 1905, the British colonial government in India divided the province of Bengal into two parts, a decision announced under the Viceroy Lord Curzon. Intended, officially, as an administrative reform, the partition provoked one of the first mass political movements against British rule and helped reshape Indian nationalism.

By the start of the twentieth century, the Bengal Presidency was enormous, covering Bengal proper along with Bihar and Orissa, and it had a population of roughly eighty million. British officials argued that it was too large to govern efficiently, and that the eastern districts in particular were neglected. Many historians also point to political motives. Bengal, and especially Calcutta, the capital of British India, was the center of an educated Indian middle class that was increasingly vocal in criticizing the Raj. Dividing the province would, critics charged, weaken that influence and exploit religious differences.

The partition took effect in October 1905. A new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam was created, with Dacca (Dhaka) as its capital, and its population had a Muslim majority. The western portion retained Calcutta, and Bengali speakers there found themselves outnumbered by speakers of Hindi and Odia. Some Muslim leaders welcomed the new province, expecting greater opportunities, while many Bengali Hindus saw the plan as an attempt to divide their community. Opposition, however, was not strictly along religious lines, and the protests drew support from a wide range of Bengalis.

The response was the Swadeshi movement, which urged Indians to boycott British goods and to promote domestic industries, schools, and crafts. Public meetings, processions, and the burning of imported cloth became common. Leaders such as Surendranath Banerjee and, later, figures like Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghose gave the movement direction, while Rabindranath Tagore contributed songs and organized symbolic acts of unity. The movement also fed a more radical strand of nationalism, including some revolutionary groups that turned to violence. Within the Indian National Congress, it deepened the divide between moderates and more assertive "extremists."

The partition had lasting consequences. In 1906 the All-India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka, in part reflecting new communal political organization, although its causes were broader than the partition alone. Facing sustained unrest, the British reversed the decision in 1911, announcing at the Delhi Durbar that the two halves would be reunited and that the capital would move from Calcutta to Delhi. Bengal was reorganized along linguistic lines, with Bihar and Orissa separated. The episode showed that boycott and mass mobilization could pressure the colonial state, a lesson later applied on a larger scale. Bengal would be partitioned again, along religious lines, in 1947.