Lord Curzon (1899-1905)
Bangladesh was the creation of the concept of the two nation theory adopted by the then leaders of the Muslim League and the divide and rule policy of the British.
After the growth of capitalism to its monopoly stage during the end of the 19th and the begining of the 20th century The British took the weapon of ruling India by divide and rule. They took three steps for fulfilling their ambition;
1. Partition of Bengal,
2. Separate electorate of the minority group in India, and
3. creation of Pakistan and to divide India permanently in the interest of the monopoly capitalists.
Partition of Bengal :
Map of Eastern Bengal and Assam Province
Partioning Bengal was not a bad idea in regards to the ,
1. Administrative point of view,
2. Security point of view, and
3. To take care of villages for better collection of revenues and other aspects.
Bengal which included Bihar and Orissa since 1765, was administratively two large for a single province of British India. The premier province grew too vast for efficient administration and required reorganisation and intelligent division.The lieutenant Governorof Bengal had to administer an area of 189,000 sq.miles by 1903 the population of the province had risen to 78.50 million. Cosequently, many districts in eastern Bengal had been practicaally neglected because of isolation andand poor communication which made goodjimpossible. Calcutta and its nearby districts attracted all the energy and attention of the Govt. The condition of peasants was miserable under the exaction of absentee landlords and trade, commerce and education were being impaired.The administrative machinary of the province was under staffed. Especially in east Bengal, in country side so cut by rivers and creeks, no special attention had been pai to the peculiar difficulties of police work till the last decade of the 19th century. Organised piracy in the waterways had existed for at least a century.
Along with administrative difficulties, the problems of famine, of defence or of linguastics had at one time or other prompted the govt. to consider the redrawing of administrative boundaries. Occasional efforts were made to rearrange the administrative unit of Bengal. In 1836, the upper province was sliced off from Bengal and placed under lieutenant governor. In 1854, the Governor-Generai-in-councilwas relieved of the direct administration of Bengal which was placed under a lieutenant governor. In 1874, Asssam (alongwith Sylet) was severed from Bengal to form a Chief-commandership and in 1898, Lushai Hills were added to it.
Proposal for pastitioning Bengal was first considered in 1903. Curzon's original scheme was based firstly on geographical point and susequently it took the shape of a communal basis.
The Govt.'s proposal was officially published in Jan. 1904. In Feb. 1904, Curzon ,officially, visited east Bengalto ascertain the public opinion. He went to Dhaka, Chittagong, and Mymensing and addressed public meetings.
The scheme was approved by the Govt. of Bengal and Assam. The new province would consist of Hill Tripura, the divisions of Chittagong, Dhaka, and Rajshahi (exclluding Darjeeling) and the district Maldah amalgamated with Assam. this district would br renamed as Eastern Bengal and Assamwith its capital at Dhaka and would cover an area of 106,540 sq.miles with a population of 31 million of which 18 million Muslim and 12 million Hindu. The other portion would lose 5 Hindi speaking districts to Central Province and would add Chtonagpur and 5 Oriya speaking districts of C.P.with an area of 141,580 sq.miles having a population of 54 million of which 42 million Hindus and 9 Million Muslims.
This is to be noted that in both the states the Bengalee speaking Hindu population would be minority.
