Partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi Movement

Prerequisites

• Moderates and Extremists — the two schools that reacted to the partition in different ways
• Founding of the Indian National Congress — the organisation whose Benares (1905) and Calcutta (1906) sessions took up the cause

The Hook: A Thread on the Wrist

Why it matters: Prelims loves the dates (19 July, 7 August, 16 October 1905; 1911), the leaders of swadeshi in each region, and the institutions it created. Mains asks about the causes, programmes, achievements and limitations of the Swadeshi movement.

The Partition (बंग-भंग), 1905

Facts

Official reason and real motive

• Official reason: Bengal Presidency (with Bihar and Orissa) was too large to administer efficiently.
• Real motive (as nationalists read it, and as officials’ own minutes suggest): to weaken Bengal, the nerve centre of Indian nationalism, by dividing Bengalis territorially (two provinces) and linguistically (a Bengali minority in the western province), and by dividing them on religious lines (a Muslim-majority province in the east).
• Curzon’s officials wrote that Bengal united was a power and Bengal divided would pull in different directions. Home Secretary H.H. Risley is the official most often quoted.
• Curzon also courted Muslim opinion in the east, notably through Nawab Salimullah of Dacca, by presenting the new province as a Muslim-majority one with Dacca as its capital.

The Swadeshi and Boycott Movement (स्वदेशी और बहिष्कार आंदोलन)

Timeline

flowchart TD
    A["Dec 1903
Partition proposals published;
Moderate protests: petitions, meetings"] --> B["19 Jul 1905
Partition decision announced"]
    B --> C["7 Aug 1905
Boycott resolution,
Calcutta Town Hall"]
    C --> D["16 Oct 1905
Partition in force: day of mourning,
rakhi, Amar Sonar Bangla"]
    D --> E["Dec 1905, Benares
Congress (Gokhale) supports
swadeshi in Bengal"]
    E --> F["Dec 1906, Calcutta
Naoroji: Swaraj; resolutions on
swadeshi, boycott, national education"]
    F --> G["1907-08
Surat split, repression;
movement declines"]
    G --> H["12 Dec 1911
Partition annulled at
the Delhi Durbar"]

Two phases

The formal proclamation: on 7 August 1905, a massive meeting at the Calcutta Town Hall passed the boycott resolution. This date is often called the beginning of the Swadeshi movement and is now observed as National Handloom Day (since 2015).

Programmes and methods

Spread outside Bengal

Muslim Response

• A section of Muslims, especially in the east, welcomed the new province, which offered them jobs and political weight. Nawab Salimullah of Dacca supported it.
• Others opposed the partition: Abdul Rasul, Liaqat Hussain and Abul Kalam Azad among them.
• The government’s encouragement, the use of Hindu religious imagery by some swadeshi leaders, and economic tensions between Hindu landlords and moneylenders and Muslim peasants in the east deepened the communal divide. It showed in the founding of the Muslim League (Dacca, December 1906) and in communal riots at Comilla and at Jamalpur in Mymensingh district (1907).

Decline and Annulment

Why the movement declined (by about 1908):

1. Repression: bans on public meetings, processions and the press; arrests and deportations; the Newspapers Act (1908).
2. Surat split (1907) weakened the leadership.
3. Loss of leaders: Tilak jailed (1908), Aurobindo withdrew to Pondicherry (1910), Pal withdrew, Lajpat Rai went abroad.
4. No effective organisation to sustain mass participation; the movement could not reach the peasantry deeply.
5. Communal divide limited Muslim participation.
6. A part of the youth turned to revolutionary methods.

Annulment (1911): At the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, King George V announced that the partition was annulled and that the capital would move from Calcutta to Delhi. Bihar and Orissa became a separate province and Assam was made a separate chief commissionership again (from 1912). The decision met the Bengali demand but was resented by many Muslims of the east.

Evaluation: Significance of Swadeshi

Historian Sumit Sarkar identifies four trends in Bengali politics of this period: the Moderate trend, constructive swadeshi (self-help through enterprise and education), political extremism, and revolutionary terrorism. This is a useful structure for a Mains answer.

Chhattisgarh Angle

Memory Tricks

Don’t Confuse

Common Mistakes

Practice

All questions below are original practice questions written in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.

Level 1: Foundation

1. The Partition of Bengal came into effect on ______.
2. The capital of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam was ______.
3. Who founded the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti, and where?

Level 2: Prelims MCQs

Q1. Consider the following statements about the Swadeshi movement:

1. The boycott resolution was passed at a meeting in the Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905.
2. The Congress session at Calcutta in 1906, presided over by Dadabhai Naoroji, declared Swaraj as the goal.
3. The partition of Bengal was annulled by Lord Minto in 1909.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1 and 2 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Match List I (Leader) with List II (Swadeshi activity or region):

• (a) A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4
• (b) A-1, B-2, C-4, D-3
• (c) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3
• (d) A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3

Q3. Which one of the following best describes the real motive attributed to the Partition of Bengal by its nationalist critics?

• (a) To give Assam access to the sea through Chittagong
• (b) To weaken Bengali nationalism by dividing Bengalis on territorial, linguistic and religious lines
• (c) To shift the capital of British India to Delhi
• (d) To create a separate province for the tribal areas of Bengal

Q4. Which of the following was not a part of the Swadeshi movement programme of 1905–08?

• (a) Boycott of foreign cloth
• (b) National education
• (c) Formation of samitis
• (d) Non-payment of land revenue on an all-India scale

Q5. 7 August is observed as National Handloom Day because on that date in 1905:

• (a) The partition of Bengal came into effect
• (b) The boycott resolution was passed at the Calcutta Town Hall
• (c) The National Council of Education was founded
• (d) Vande Mataram was first sung at a Congress session

Level 3: Mains Answer Writing

Q1. (150–200 words) “The Swadeshi movement marked a qualitative change in the Indian national movement.” Discuss its achievements and limitations.

Q2. (60 words) Why was the Partition of Bengal annulled in 1911?

Quick Revision Table

Key Takeaways

What’s Next

• Revolutionary Movements (1897–1918) — the youth who turned to bombs after 1907
• Moderates and Extremists — revisit the Surat split
• The Gandhian Era — how Gandhi scaled up swadeshi and boycott
• Freedom Movement in Chhattisgarh