Q. How did the partition of Bengal influence the course of India’s freedom struggle? Discuss. [40 BPSC/1995]
Ans:
The partition of Bengal occurred in 1905. The proposed Partition plan was to include the modern States of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa as one province called “Bengal” and Bangladesh, Assam and the North-Eastern States as another province called “East Bengal and Assam”.
The official argument behind the partition was that managing such a huge territory and large population of 78 million posed administrative difficulties. However, historians suggests that the real motive behind the partition plan was the British desire to weaken Bengal, the nerve centre of Indian nationalism.©crackingcivilservices.com
It was to be achieved by putting the Bengalis under two administrations by dividing them on the basis of language, thus reducing the Bengalis to a minority in Bengal itself, and on the basis of religion, as the western half was to be a Hindu majority area and the eastern half was to be a Muslim majority area.
The Indian nationalists clearly saw the design behind the partition and condemned it unanimously. And the anti-partition and Swadeshi Movement had begun. Sumit Sarkar Historain Sumit Sarkar has identified four major trends during Swadeshi movement: [Mention only in brief for this question.]
- The moderate trend:
- The moderates began to criticise the partition scheme ever since it was announced in 1903.
- They used tools like prayers, petitions and public meetings they sought to revise the scheme in its formative stage.
- When the partition was announced in 1905, they took the first initiative to transform the narrow agitation into a wider swadeshi movement. e.g.
- Surendranath Banerjea at a meeting in Calcutta on 17 July 1905 gave a call for the boycott of British goods and institutions.
- At a mass meeting at Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August, formal boycott resolution was passed.
- However, they could not conceptualise boycott as a step towards the regeneration of national economy or start a full-scale passive resistance.
- The constructive swadeshi:
- It had strong emphasis on self-development endeavours.
- Attempts were made to manufacture daily necessities, national education, arbitration courts and village organisation.
- The emphasis was on non-political constructive programmes or a self-strengthening movement before the political agitation.
- Self reliance in various fields meant the re-asserting of national dignity, honor and confidence.
- Rabindranath Tagore emerged as the main ideologue of this constructive swadeshi. He outlined the constructive programme of self-help or atmasakti. This became the creed of the whole of Bengal, with Swadeshi enterprises like textile mills and handlooms, match and soap factories and tanneries coming up everywhere.
- National education movement moved forward with the establishment of national schools and the founding of the Bengal National College and School in August 1906.
- The Swadesh-Bandhab Samiti to have settled 523 disputes through its eighty-nine arbitration committees by August 1906.
- The political extremism:
- Previous trends were criticised by the political extremists like Aurobindo- Ghosh, Bepin Chandra Pal or Brahmabandhab Upadhyay. They argued that without freedom no real regeneration of national life was possible.
- The movement here, after began to take a new turn. Its goal no longer remained the mere abrogation of the partition but complete independence or swaraj. Now movement was not only an expression of narrow Bengali sub-nationalism.
- Their programme included four things:
- boycott of British goods and institutions,
- development of their indigenous alternatives ,
- Violation of unjust Jaws and
- violent agitation if necessitated by British repression.
- This political programme obviously required mass mobilisation and religion was looked at by leaders like Aurobindo Ghosh as a means to reach the masses. Religious revivalism therefore was a main feature of this new politics.
- The other method of mass mobilisation was to organise samitis which got engaged in various forms of mobilising efforts, such as moral and physical training, philanthropic work, propagation of the swadeshi message, organisation of the swadeshi craft, education, arbitration courts etc.
- The other method of mass mobilisation of the swadeshis was to organise labour strikes, primarily in the foreign owned companies.
- The revolutionary terrorism:
- By 1908, political swadeshi was certainly on the decline and was taken over by another trend, i.e., individual revolutionaries against British officials and Indian collaborator.
- They organised swadeshi dacoity to raise funds, set up bomb manufacturing units, assassination attempts for oppressive officials and spies etc.
- This signified, a shift from non-violence to violence and also from mass action to elite action, necessitated primaly by the failure of the mass obilisation efforts.
- Some important individual revolutionaries were Khudiram Bose, Prafullo Chaki, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Hemchandra Qanungo etc.
Influence on the course of freedom struggle:
- With the start of the Swadeshi Movement, the Indian national movement took a major leap forward.
- Women, students and a large section of the urban and rural population of Bengal and other parts of India became actively involved in politics for the first time.
- The Swadeshi movement saw the emergence of almost all the major political trends of the Indian national movement.
- From conservative moderation to political extremism, from terrorism to incipient socialism, from petitioning and public speeches to passive resistance and boycott, all had their origins in the movement.
- The richness of the movement was not confined to politics alone. The period saw a breakthrough in Indian art, literature, music, science and industry.
- As Sarkar argues, programmes of political extremists anticipated the Gandhian programme minus of course his insistence on non-violence.
- The idea of complete freedom also emerged during the Swadeshi movement. As leaders like Aurbindo Gosh believed that the political freedom is the life-breath of a nation.
- Later, the congress demanded the complete independence in its Lahore session in 1929.
- Idea of Swadeshi was further evolved by Tilak and Gandhiji. It became the backbone of the Indian freedom struggle.
- Gandhi’s pivotal role in encouraging the hand-spun cloth and manufacturing of salt in India became mass movements and received support from all sections of the people across the nation.
- The occupation of British in India was to drive up the British economy by draining Indian wealth; Swadeshi movement tried to stem it, ensuring that wealth stays in India.
- People became conscious of the fact that foreign import caused widespread economic distress throughout the nation. Boycott of foreign cloths, liquor etc remained part of the programme of all the Gandhian movement.
- The trend of the tendencies of armed revolutions further progressed and assumed wider form. The tactics and strategies evolved during this phase of revolutionary activities subsequently inspire revolutionaries all across the nation from Bhagat Singh in Punjab to Surya Sen in Chittagong and, of course, later Subhas Chandra Bose. The activities of Indian national army and RIN mutiny are also considered as culminations of this revolutionary tendency.
- This period saw the evolution of a nationalised education system. The idea that modern education is a tool to create better administrators for the British was completely shattered and the Dawn Society showed how one could be modern without serving the divisive interests of the rulers.
- This idea of nationalist education was also adopted by Gandhiji. e.g. As part of the national programme of Gandhiji, a Vidyapeeth was established in the premises of Bihar Rashtriya Mahavidyalay in Bihar.
- The self-help and constructive work at the village level was envisaged as a means of bringing about the social and economic regeneration of the villages and of reaching the rural masses.
- In actual terms this meant social reform and campaigns against evils such as caste oppression, early marriage, the dowry system, consumption of alcohol, etc.
- Such constructive works was part of Gandhiji’s strategy in the truce phase of freedom truggle.
- Participation of masses:
- Students came out in large numbers to propagate and practise swadeshi, and to take a lead in organising picketing of shops selling foreign goods.
- Women, who were traditionally home-centred, especially those of the urban middle classes, took active part in processions and picketing. From now onwards, they were to play a significant role in the national movement.
- Some muslims like Liaqat Hussain, Guznavi, Maulana Azad etc participated. But most of the upper and middle class Muslims stayed away or, led by Nawab Salimullah of Dacca, supported the partition.
- Thus, the social base of the movement expanded to include certain sections of the zamindars, the students, the women, and the lower middle classes in cities and towns.
- This trend of mass participation was to further progress throughout the Indian national movement. People were aroused from slumber and now they learned to take bold political positions and participate in new forms of political work.
- Pan India aspect:
- Movements in support of Bengal’s unity and the swadeshi and boycott agitation were organized in many parts of the country.
- Tilak, who played a leading role in the spread of the movement outside Bengal, saw in this the ushering in of a new chapter in the history of the national movement.
- He realised that here was a challenge and an opportunity to organize popular mass struggle against the British rule to unite the country in a bond of common sympathy.
- Swadeshi movement and resulting revolutionary spirit created enough pressure of British to propose the Morley Minto Reforms (1909).
- But it was rejected by the masses and British eventually had to withdraw the Partition and Bengal was reunited in 1911.
- This period saw, again for the first time, an attempt being made to give a political direction to the economic grievances of the working class. Efforts were made by Swadeshi leaders, some of whom were influenced by International socialist currents such as those in Germany and Russia, to organize strikes in foreign managed concerns such as Eastern India Railway and Clive Jute Mills, etc
- Such strikes were to be a constant feature of the national movement now onwards.
- Swadeshi movement and resulting revolutionary spirit created enough pressure of British to propose the Morley Minto Reforms (1909). It introduced the indirect election for the first time. This trend of incorporation of Indians into politics further increased during the freedom struggle.
- But it was rejected by the masses and British eventually had to withdraw the Partition and Bengal was reunited in 1911.
However, there were some negative developments too:
- The Swadeshi movement attached importance to religious revivalism, as Hindu religion was expected to become the bond of unity for the whole nation.
- Religion was looked as a means to reach the masses. e.g. Tilak’s Ganapati and Shivaji festivals became a medium of swadeshi propaganda.
- This trend led to alienation of the Muslims.
- Swadeshi Movement was not able to garner the support of the mass of Muslims and especially of the Muslim peasantry.
- This period also saw the birth of Muslim league and seeds of partition. The hindu orientation of the anti-partition movement of 1905 also created favourable environment for such trend. The Muslim league was established in 1906 for safeguarding the political interests of Muslims.
- The movement was unable to make much headway in mobilizing the peasantry especially its lower rungs except in certain areas
- In the working class strikes, the nationalists could penetrate only into the ranks of white-collar workers, while the vast body of Hindustani labour force as well as the plantation labour remained untouched by such nationalist efforts.
- The social reform was not given the required focus, so the movement couldn’t attract the lower caste peasants.
- Differences among the moderates and extremists led to Surat Split in 1907 which resulted in weakening of the national movement almost a decade.
- Violent means adopted by the revolutionaries had its own limitations.
To conclude, the events of 1905 contained the seeds that shaped the future of the subcontinent for years to come in terms of nationalism, economic policy and educational reforms. It is considered as turning point in the history of freedom struggle. American historian Will Durant rightly said while describing Lord Curzon’s decision to Partition Bengal, “It was in 1905, then, the Indian revolution began.”
Unfortunately, it also sowed the seeds of division, which culminated in the Partition of the country in 1947. ©crackingcivilservices.com
