Partition of Bengal and Nationalist Response

Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905, issued the official order for the Partition of Bengal in July 1905, and the scheme came into effect on October 16, 1905. The colonial administration claimed the decision was driven purely by administrative convenience, as Bengal was a massive province encompassing Bengal Proper, Bihar, and Orissa, with a population of nearly 78 million. The real motive was political. Colonial authorities sought to weaken Bengal, which had become the nerve center of Indian nationalism. The scheme divided the Bengali-speaking population into two separate administrative units, turning Bengalis into a linguistic minority in the newly structured main Bengal province, while creating a Muslim-majority province in Eastern Bengal and Assam.

Geographical and Demographic Division

Anti-Partition Agitation and Movement Evolution

The announcement sparked immediate outrage across Bengal. Early anti-partition agitation (1903–1905) was led by Moderate leaders like Surendranath Banerjee, K.K. Mitra, and Prithwis Chandra Ray using traditional methods like public petitions, memorandums, press articles, and public meetings at the Calcutta Town Hall. When the partition took effect on October 16, 1905, it was observed as a Day of National Mourning throughout Bengal. People fasted, closed shops, and bathed in the Ganges. Rabindranath Tagore suggested celebrating the day as Raksha Bandhan to symbolize the unbreakable unity between Hindus and Muslims. Tagore also composed the song Amar Shonar Bangla, which became the anthem of the anti-partition movement.

Transition from Moderate to Extremist Leadership

The failure of constitutional petitions to prevent partition shifted political control from Moderates to Extremist leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Aurobindo Ghosh. The political strategy transformed from mild petitions into a four-fold program: Swadeshi, Boycott, National Education, and Passive Resistance.

The Four-Fold Programme of the Swadeshi Movement

Swadeshi and Native Enterprise

The movement emphasized self-reliance (Atmasakti) and domestic manufacturing. Native enterprises sprung up across various sectors:

• Textile Mills and Weaving: Handloom industries revived; local spinning units were established.
• Chemical and Industrial Plants: Prafulla Chandra Ray established Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Works.
• Steam Navigation: V.O. Chidambaram Pillai founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in Tuticorin to challenge British maritime monopoly.
• Indigenous Banking: Native banks and insurance companies, including the Punjab National Bank (founded earlier by Lala Lajpat Rai), saw rapid growth in deposits.

Economic and Cultural Boycott

Protesters organized public bonfires of imported foreign cloth, refused to buy foreign sugar and salt, and picketed shops selling imported goods. Washermen refused to wash foreign clothes, and priests declined to officiate ceremonies where foreign goods were used as offerings.

National Education Movement

Students played a central role in protests, defying government warnings like the Carlyle Circular (issued in October 1905 to punish student agitators). To provide alternative national education:

• National Council of Education: Formed on August 15, 1906, to organize a system of national education in literary, scientific, and technical lines.
• Bengal National College: Established with Aurobindo Ghosh serving as its first principal.
• Bengal Technical Institute: Founded to impart technical training to Indian students.

Passive Resistance

Aurobindo Ghosh articulated the theory of passive resistance in a series of articles published in Bande Mataram in April 1907. He called for non-cooperation with colonial administration, refusal to pay land revenue, and a total boycott of government-run schools, courts, and executive offices.

All-India Spread and Key Regional Leaders

Although rooted in Bengal, the Swadeshi and Boycott movement spread across India through radical nationalist networks.

Mass Mobilization, Women, and Labor

The Swadeshi Movement expanded mass participation beyond the urban intelligentsia:

• Role of Women: Women took an active part in political agitation for the first time, joining picketing lines and boycotting foreign kitchen items.
• Volunteer Organizations (Samitis): Ashwini Kumar Dutta founded the Swadeshi Bandhab Samiti in Barisal, building 159 village branches to provide arbitration courts, physical training, and relief work.
• Labor Strikes: Industrial workers organized strikes at the Clive Jute Mills, the Printers’ Union in Calcutta, and the East Indian Railway.

Imperial Reaction, Repression, and Partition Annulment

The British administration responded with severe legislation and police action:

• Legal Suppression: Passed the Seditious Meetings Act (1907), the Explosive Substances Act (1908), and the Newspaper (Incitement to Offences) Act (1908).
• Exile and Imprisonment: Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested for sedition in 1908 and sentenced to six years at Mandalay Jail. Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh were deported to Burma in 1907.
• Rise of Revolutionary Terrorism: Frustration with peaceful methods led to underground revolutionary groups like the Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar.

To curb rising unrest and appease moderate public opinion, King George V announced the annulment of the Partition of Bengal at the Delhi Durbar in December 1911. Simultaneously, the British government shifted the imperial capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911 and created Bihar and Orissa as a separate province, while Assam was restored to its chief commissionership.

Key Historical Facts and Trivia

Lord Curzon toured East Bengal in February 1904, delivering speeches to Muslim audiences in Dacca to persuade them that the partition would grant them an exclusive Muslim-majority province. K.K. Mitra first suggested the boycott of foreign goods in his Bengali journal Sanjibani in July 1905. The Chief Secretary of Bengal, R.W. Carlyle, issued the Carlyle Circular on October 10, 1905, threatening to withdraw government grants and university affiliations from educational institutions whose students participated in Swadeshi protests. During the anti-partition agitation, Satish Chandra Mukherjee established the Dawn Society to promote national education, youth moral training, and indigenous manufacturing. The Partition of Bengal led directly to the formation of the All-India Muslim League at Dacca in December 1906 under the leadership of Nawab Salimullah, Aga Khan, and Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk.