Seldom was a prophecy more literally fulfilled. On the basis of the data collected by the Indian Association, The annual report for 1911 gives thye gives the following summary which cannot be very far from the truth.
"from Dec. 1903 to Oct. 1905 more than 2000 public meetings attended by 500 to 50,000 people, both Hindus and Musalmans, were held in different parts of East Bengal and West Bengal to protest against the partition.The resolutions unanimously adopted at these meetings were regularly sumbitted to the Govt. of India as well as Secretary of State.The people of united Bengal, both Hindus and Musalmans, maharajas, Nawabs, Rajas, the educated community and the masses met five times at Calcutta, Town Hall to give expressionsto their feeling and protest against the ill-advised measuress. memorials were submitted by the British Indian Association , the Begal Land-holders' association, as well as nearby all the important and recognised public bodies and associationsin either part of the province, and in July 1905 when the public mind was in a state of feverish anxiety, a mamoth representation of over the signature of about 70,000 people of all classes and communitieswas submitted the Secretary of Statefrom east Bengal".
The Indian Press, Anglo Indian press were deeply wounded at the attitude of the Govt. The persons like Surendra nath Banerjee, Ambika charan Majumdar, Bhupendra nath Basu and Jogesh chandra Choudhury in the Bengal Legislative Council on July 8, after the official announcement of the final scheme of partition expressed their note of dessent. on this unilateral decision of the govt.
Some Papers in England also condemned the partition. London Daily News said,
" In India the announcement seems to have come as a complete surprise."
Krishna kumar Mitra, editot, Sanjibani, in his issue of 13th july suggested that in view of the attitude of the Govt. people should boycott all British goods, observe mourning,and shun all contactswith officials and official bodies. this suggestion was accepted in a public meetingheld at Bagerhat (Khulna District, Bangladesh) on 16 july, 1905, in which the following resolutions were passed ;
1. All British and Foreign goods should be boycotted untill partition orders were withdrawn,
2. There should be no participation in public amusement or rejoicing for six months,
In a letter published in the Amrita bazar Patrika of 17th july, 1905, believed to have been from the pen of Lal Mohan Ghosh a proposal was madeto abondon and oppose the use of English goods, specially Manchester cloth, as a meansof compelling the English to pay attention to the troubles in India.A meeting was held at Dinajpur on the 21st of July, the Maharaja of Dinajpur presided and Lal Mohan Ghosh (president, Indian National Congress, 1903) addressed the meeting .
He said that he did not consider that any demonstration would be of any use. It was necessary to draw the attention of the British publicby adopting concrete measures.He suggested withdrawal of support to the Govt. by,
1. resignation in a bodyof all Honourary magistrates,
2. Resignation of all members of District Boards, Municipal Commissioners, and Panchayats in a body,
3. National mourning for 12 monthsduring which period the people should refuge to participatein any public rejoicing.
The examples of Bagerhat and Dinajpur was followed by Pabna. In a meeting presided by the Zamindar of Tantibanda, Jnanada Gobinda Choudhury, a resolution f Boycott was accepted. Similar protest meetings were organised in faridpur, Tangail (Myamensing), Magura, Bagura, Jessore, Manickgunge, Narayangunge, Dhaka, Birbhum, Barisal etc.
16th Oct.,1905 was fixed for effecting the Partition of Bengal. It was felt that the day should be marked as a symbol for showing unity of Bengal. About the begining of Oct. Rabindra Nath Tagore issued a letter to public which was translated in English as follows
"the day should be commemorated by an observance of "Rakhi Bandhan" to indicate the indelible unity of the Bengali Race."
Tagore in 1906
