Question

What were the areas of conflict between the Bengal nawabs and the East India Company?

Answer 1

• The conflicts between the Nawabs of Bengal and the Company intensified through the early eighteenth century.
• The East India Company manipulated the existing privileges and sought more concessions.
• To gain the right to duty free trade, the British forced the Mughal emperor Aurangazeb to issue a farman.
• The farman issued by Aurangazeb only gave them the right to duty free trade, but officials who were involved in the private trade had to pay duty.
• There was an enormous loss in revenues for Bengal as they refused to pay.
• The Bengal Nawabs asserted their autonomy and power after the death of Aurangazeb.
• Sirajuddaulah succeeded Alivardi Khan as Nawab of Bengal who in turn had succeeded Murshid Quli Khan.
• These Nawabs stopped the fortifications of the East India company, stopped the rights to mint coins, demanded the East India company to pay tributes, and refused to grant concessions to the company.
• They said the Nawab authority was undermined as Bengal lost revenues due to the manipulations of the East India Company.
• The East India Company tried to humiliate the officials of the Nawabs, wrote disrespectful letters, and refused to pay taxes to the Nawab.
• The East India Company claimed that trade could only flourish if the duties were abolished, and they claimed that due to unfair demands of the local officials the trade was badly affected.
• The East India Company claimed that if the trade had to be expanded then it had to rebuild the forts, buy up the villages, and increase the size of its settlements.
• All these conflicts finally led to the Battle of Plassey which cemented the position of the East India Company in India.
• At the Battle of Plassey, Sirajuddaulah fought against the army of the East India Company led by Robert Clive.
• Robert Clive had managed to secretly secure the cooperation of Mir Jafar, one of the commanders of Sirajuddaulah. He never fought the battle, which turned out to be one of the main reasons for the defeat of Sirajuddaulah.