Partition of Bengal, 1905

The partition of Bengal of 1905 divided the province during the viceroyalty of Lord Curzon and was annulled in 1911. The measure produced the Swadeshi and boycott movements in Bengal, coincided with the founding of the All India Muslim League at Dacca in 1906, and was reversed together with the transfer of the imperial capital from Calcutta to Delhi. Its motives are characterised differently by different sources, as set out below.

The measure

The partition was effected on 16 October 1905 during the viceroyalty of Lord Curzon (1899–1905) ¹. Bengal had included Bihar and Orissa since 1765; the lieutenant governor of Bengal administered an area of 189,000 square miles, and by 1903 the population of the province had risen to 78.50 million ¹.

Proposals for partitioning Bengal were first considered in 1903 ¹. The government’s three stated objectives were to relieve the government of Bengal of part of its administrative burden and ensure more efficient administration of outlying districts; to develop backward Assam by enlarging its jurisdiction so as to provide it with an outlet to the sea; and to unite the scattered Uriya-speaking population under a single administration ¹. The entry records that Curzon’s original scheme was based on grounds of administrative efficiency, with the division originally made on geographical rather than avowedly communal grounds, and that political considerations seemed to have been an afterthought ¹.

The government’s proposals were officially published in January 1904, and in February 1904 Curzon made an official tour of eastern Bengal, delivering speeches at Dhaka, Chittagong and Mymensingh ¹. The enlarged scheme provided that the new province would consist of Hill Tripura, the divisions of Chittagong, Dhaka and Rajshahi excluding Darjeeling, and the district of Malda, amalgamated with Assam ¹. Bengal was left with an area of 141,580 square miles and a population of 54 million, of which 42 million would be Hindus and 9 million Muslims; the new province, to be called Eastern Bengal and Assam with its capital at Dhaka and subsidiary headquarters at Chittagong, covered 106,540 square miles with a population of 31 million comprising 18 million Muslims and 12 million Hindus ¹. The government of India promulgated its final decision in a Resolution dated 19 July 1905 ¹.

The Swadeshi and boycott movement

The publication of the original proposals towards the end of 1903 aroused opposition, especially among the influential educated middle-class Hindus: Calcutta lawyers feared a Court of Appeal at Dacca, journalists feared local newspapers, the Calcutta business community feared a shift of trade to Chittagong, and zamindars foresaw separate establishments at Dhaka ¹.

Krishna Kumar Mitra, editor of the Sanjivani, urged boycott in his issue of 13 July 1905, and at a meeting held at Calcutta on 7 August 1905 — which the entry records was hailed as the birthday of Indian nationalism — a resolution to abstain from purchases of British products so long as the partition resolution was not withdrawn was accepted ¹. On 28 September 1905, the day of the Mahalaya, thousands of Hindus gathered at the Kali temple in Calcutta, and the priest administered the Swadeshi vow ¹.

The Carlyle Circular was issued to stop students participating in the Swadeshi and boycott movements, and the Anti-Circular Society came into being; the entry states that the first organised student movement was born in Bengal through this protest ¹. Swaraj was first mentioned as the Congress goal in the presidential address of Dadabhai Naoroji at the Congress’s Calcutta session in 1906, and in 1907 the Congress at its Surat session split, in the entry’s wording, into moderate and extremist groups ¹. The entry records that the twin weapons of Swadeshi and boycott adopted by the Bengali Hindus became a creed with the Indian National Congress and formed the basis of Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation, Satyagraha and Khadi movements ¹. The Non-Cooperation Movement itself was launched formally on 1 August 1920 ⁵.

Muslim politics and the founding of the Muslim League

When the proposal was first published in 1903 there was expression of Muslim opposition to the scheme, including in the Moslem Chronicle and from the Central National Muhamedan Association, Kazemuddin Ahmad Siddiky and Delwar Hossain Ahmed; the entry records that even Nawab Salimullah termed the suggestion beastly at the initial stage ¹. The Mohammedan Literary Society later brought out a manifesto in 1905 signed by seven leading Muslim personalities urging Muslims to give unqualified support to the partition measure, and on 16 October 1905 the Mohammedan Provincial Union was founded with Salimullah chosen as its patron ¹.

The All India Muslim League was founded at Dacca in 1906 ¹. One retrieved entry states that it was established in December 1906, that its foundation at Dhaka was on 30 December 1906, that it was initially led by the Aga Khan and ultimately by Muhammed Ali Jinnah, and that the All India Muslim Education Conference was held at Shahbag in Dhaka in 1906 against the backdrop of the Congress-sponsored agitation against the partition and the Swadeshi movement ³.

The entry records that Muslim opinion was not uniform: alongside support there were liberal Muslims who joined the anti-partition agitation, and Khwaja Atiqullah moved a resolution denouncing the partition at the Congress’s Calcutta session in 1906 ¹. The decision to introduce constitutional reforms culminating in the Morley–Minto Reforms of 1909, introducing separate representation for Muslims, marked a turning point in Hindu–Muslim relations ¹. Bampfylde Fuller resigned in August 1906 because of a difference with the Government of India, and his resignation and its prompt acceptance were considered by Muslims to be a political victory for the Hindus ¹.

The annulment of 1911

Lord Charles Hardinge succeeded Minto in 1910, and on 25 August 1911 the government of India recommended changes in the administration of India in a secret despatch ¹. Hardinge sent detailed proposals to the Secretary of State for India on 19 July 1911, and the secretary conveyed agreement by telegram on 7 August 1911 ².

King George V, at his coronation durbar in Delhi in December 1911, announced the revocation of the partition of Bengal together with the shifting of the Government of India’s seat from Calcutta to Delhi ¹. Following the durbar held on 11 December 1911, the King made the announcement on 12 December, and the new arrangement was implemented with effect from January 1912 ². The five Bengali-speaking divisions — Presidency, Burdwan, Dacca, Rajshahi and Chittagong — were to be united into a presidency administered by a Governor-in-Council with an area of approximately 70,000 square miles and a population of 42 million; a Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council was to govern a province comprising Bihar, Chhota Nagpur and Orissa; and Assam was to revert to a chief commissioner ¹. The date chosen for the formal ending of the partition and the reunification of Bengal was 1 April 1912, and Lord Carmichael was chosen as the first governor of reunified Bengal ¹.

Related articles

Partition of 1947 and East Pakistan · Bengal Renaissance · History of Bangladesh

Disputed points

The positions below are reported as their holders state them. This reference does not take a position on the disagreement, and none of the positions is presented as the default.

The government’s contention. As recorded by the "Partition of Bengal, 1905" entry, the measure was purely an administrative measure with the three objectives stated above, resting on administrative efficiency, with political considerations an afterthought. The basis offered is the framing of the January 1904 published proposals and Curzon’s own speeches at Dhaka, Chittagong and Mymensingh ¹.

The "divide and rule" reading. The same entry records the position held by the leadership of the Indian National Congress, and by many others, that the partition was an attempt to divide and rule and a veiled attempt by Curzon to strangle the spirit of nationalism in Bengal, intended to encourage a Muslim power in eastern Bengal as a counterpoise to the educated Hindu community. The basis offered is the creation of a Muslim-majority territorial identity in the new province, with 18 million Muslims against 12 million Hindus, together with the communal electorate introduced by the Morley–Minto Reforms of 1909, read as designed to neutralise major Muslim participation in the Congress ¹.

The origins of the Muslim League. Two accounts appear in the retrieved entries. The "Partition of Bengal, 1905" entry states that the partition and the threat to it was perhaps the most important factor that hastened the League’s birth, on the basis of the League’s first resolution at Dacca condemning boycott agitation and endorsing the partition ¹. The "Muslim League" entry places the League in a longer lineage running from the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s advice to Muslims not to join the Congress, the Aligarh Movement and the cultural organisations of Nawab Abdul Latif and Syed Amir Ali, with the 1906 conference at Shahbag as the immediate venue and a united Muslim stand against agitation for annulment as its immediate object ³.

A colonial-instrument reading. The "Partition Politics" entry, by Sirajul Islam, states that the first partition was effected to maintain colonial control and to weaken the anti-colonial nationalist movement by dividing Bengalis both geographically and communally, and that the measure failed to achieve its objective and was annulled in 1911 against a storm of protest. The basis offered is the outcome, the annulment, set against the government’s stated administrative rationale ⁴.

The 1911 annulment and divide-and-rule. The "Annulment of Bengal Partition" entry asserts that by 1911 the British administrators believed they had successfully destroyed the nationalistic tendencies of building a political movement in which Muslims could join Hindus through their divide and rule policy. This is an interpretive claim about motive rather than a documentable fact ². [disputed]

The origin of Muslim nationalism. The same entry concludes that Muslim nationalism in British India was born centring on the partition of Bengal and its subsequent annulment; this is a historiographical position stated by the entry’s contributor, Helal Uddin Ahmed, not a consensus datum ². [disputed]

Sources

5 sources cited. Tiers: T1 official or primary, T2 scholarly or curated, T3 media of record.

1. Partition of Bengal, 1905 — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Partition_of_Bengal,_1905
2. Annulment of Bengal Partition — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Annulment_of_Bengal_Partition
3. Muslim League — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Muslim_League
4. Partition Politics — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Partition_Politics
5. Non-Cooperation Movement — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Non-Cooperation_Movement

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