Partition of Bengal

          General Knowledge ➨ Partition of Bengal (1905)  ➨Indian history 

• Partition of Bengal was announced in July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon.
• The participation took effect in October 16, 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas,
• The government version was that the partition of Bengal was an administrative measure with three main objectives
• Firstly it wanted to relieve the government of Bengal of a part of the administrative burden and to ensure more efficient administration in the outlying districts.
• Secondly the government desired to promote the development of backward Assam by enlarging  its jurisdiction so as to provide it with an outlet to the sea.
• Thirdly the government felt the urgent necessity to unite the scattered sections of the Oriyaspeaking population under single administration.
• Partition of Bengal led to staunch opposition.
• The Indian national congress viewed the partition as an attempt to divide and rule policy.
• Agitation against the partition manifested itself in the form of mass meetings, rural unrest and swadeshi movement.
• They started mass movement declaring October 16 as the day of mourning in Calcutta.
• In 1906 Rabindranath Tagore wrote Amar sonar Bangla as the cry against the partition of Bengal.
• The ceremony of Raksha Bandhan was observed on October 16, 1905. Hindus and Muslims tied rakhis on each other’s wrist showing solidarity.
• The final division of Bengal at the partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947, which split Bengal into India in the west and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) in the east, was accompanied by intense violence.
• But due to extensive political protest against Bengal partition, the eastern and western parts of Bengal were reunited in 1911.
• The final division of Bengal at the partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947, which split Bengal into India in the west and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) in the east, was accompanied by intense violence.