Question

Why the British government wanted to divide the Bengal? How did the anti-partition movement led to the swadeshi movement?

Answer 1

Approach:

• Simple question, You need not to explain anything except what is being asked.
• First try to highlight why Britishers wanted to divide Bengal. Give both the official reason and the real reason. Basically the real reason should contain why bengal was important.
• And how this partition resulted in Swadeshi movement.

The Swadeshi Movement had its genesis in the anti-partition movement which was started to oppose the British decision to partition Bengal. The British government’s decision to partition Bengal had been made public in December 1903.

Why Britishers wanted to divide Bengal?
The idea was to have two provinces: Bengal comprising Western Bengal as well as the provinces of Bihar and Orissa, and Eastern Bengal and Assam. Bengal retained Calcutta as its capital, while Dacca became the capital of Eastern Bengal.

Official Reason: The official reason given for the decision was that Bengal with a population of 78 million (about a quarter of the population of British India) had become too big to be administered. It was also stated that partition would help in the development of Assam if it came under the direct jurisdiction of the government. This was true to some extent.

Real Reason (Intention): the real motive behind the partition plan was seen to be the British desire to weaken Bengal, the nerve centre of Indian nationalism. This it sought to achieve by putting the Bengalis under two administrations by dividing them:

(i) on the basis of language, thus reducing the Bengalis to a minority in Bengal itself (as in the new proposal Bengal proper was to have 17 million Bengalis and 37 million Hindi and Oriya speakers); and

(ii) on the basis of religion, as the western half was to be a Hindu majority area (42 million out of a total 54 million) and the eastern half was to be a Muslim majority area (18 million out of a total of 31 million).

Trying to woo the Muslims, Curzon, the viceroy at that time, argued that Dacca could become the capital of the new Muslim majority province, which would provide them with a unity not experienced by them since the days of old Muslim viceroys and kings. Thus, it was clear that the government was up to its old policy of propping up Muslim communalists to counter the Congress and the national movement.

Anti-Partition Campaign and Swadeshi Movement
In the period 1903-1905, the leadership was provided by men like Surendranath Banerjea, K.K. Mitra and Prithwishchandra Ray. The methods adopted were petitions to the government, public meetings, memoranda etc. Their objective was to exert sufficient pressure on the government through an educated public opinion in India and England to prevent the unjust partition of Bengal from being implemented. Ignoring a loud public opinion against the partition proposal, the government announced partition of Bengal in July 1905. Within days, protest meetings were held in small towns all over Bengal. It was in these meetings that the pledge to boycott foreign goods was first taken. On August 7, 1905, with the passage of the Boycott Resolution in a massive meeting held in the Calcutta Townhall, the formal proclamation of Swadeshi Movement was made. After this, the leaders dispersed to other parts of Bengal to propagate the message of boycott of Manchester cloth and Liverpool salt.

The Swadeshi Movement proved to be a “leap forward” in more ways than one. Hitherto untouched sections—students, women, workers, some sections of urban and rural population—participated. All the major trends of the national movement, from conservative moderation to political extremism, from revolutionary activities to incipient socialism, from petitions and prayers to passive resistance and non-cooperation, emerged during the Swadeshi Movement. The swadeshi campaign undermined the hegemony of colonial ideas and institutions. The future struggle was to draw heavily from the experience gained.