Why was Bengal Partitioned in 1905? ( 7 Mark )

 

PAK STUDIES

 CHAPTER 6

7 Mark Questions 

Q3. Why was Bengal Partitioned in 1905?

Firstly, Bengal was the largest of the provinces of India. It consisted of East Bengal with a population of 21 million ( Muslim majority) and West Bengal with e population of 54 million ( Hindu majority ). This was a huge area to govern as one unit; hence, the British had to face administrative problems. British claimed that Bengal was too large to be governed as one province and that it would be more effective if it was divided into two smaller provinces. In 1903, Lord Curzon proposed that Bengal should be partitioned into East and West parts. Consequently, in 1905, the British officially partitioned the area just as Curzon had suggested. 

The Muslims believed that the British have taken such steps to improve their relations with them after years of distrust since 1857. Muslims were delighted at the fact that they had been given a province where they were in majority and considered this to be an initiative by the British to ensure that millions of Muslims could escape from Hindu oppression. Thirdly, Hindus, on the other hand, believed that Bengal had been partitioned as part of the British traditional 'divide and rule policy', which they had used to weakened Hindu unity so that they could reduce the so-called ' Hindu-threat '. Hence, for the Hindus, the partition had more 'sinister' reasons. These were the different aspects of why Bengal was partitioned at that time.