Lord Curzon and the Partition of Bengal (1905)

Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal on 16 October 1905, ostensibly for administrative reasons, but in fact to weaken Bengal's nationalism, and it started the Swadeshi Movement.

Curzon's rule in short

Lord Curzon (Viceroy 1899 to 1905) was an able but arrogant administrator. His reforms (Police, Universities, Irrigation, Archaeology, Cooperative Societies, the North-West Frontier Province in 1901) were overshadowed by reactionary measures: the Calcutta Corporation Act (1899) reduced Indian members, the Official Secrets Act (1904) curbed the press, and the Universities Act (1904) increased government control. See Governors-General and Viceroys.

The Partition

• Reason given: The Bengal Presidency (with Bihar and Orissa, about 78 million people) was too large to manage.
• Real reason: To divide Bengal into a Hindu-majority west and a Muslim-majority east, weaken the growing nationalism of the Bengali middle class, and encourage Hindu-Muslim division.
• The plan: East Bengal and Assam (with Dhaka as capital) was a new province. Bengal's western part kept Bihar and Orissa and became a Hindu-majority province in which Bengali speakers were a minority.
• Announced 19 July 1905. It took effect on 16 October 1905. The day was marked as a day of mourning, with fasting and Rakhi bandhan (a symbol of unity) organised by Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote Amar Sonar Bangla.

Reaction

• Leaders such as Surendranath Banerjea, Anand Mohan Bose, Krishna Kumar Mitra and Bipin Chandra Pal led the protest.
• The Boycott resolution was passed on 7 August 1905 at the Calcutta Town Hall.
• Nawab Salimullah of Dhaka supported the partition, and the British encouraged his group.

Annulment (1911)

At the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, King George V announced that the partition was annulled. Bihar and Orissa were made a separate province (1912), and the capital was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. The new capital, New Delhi, was inaugurated in 1931.