Moander
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2013
- Messages
- 579
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
The United Bengal plan
"After it became apparent that the division of India on the basis of the two-nation theory will almost certainly result in the partition of the Bengal province along religious lines, Bengal provincial Muslim League leader Suhrawardy came up with a radical plan to create an independent Bengal state that won't join either Pakistan or India and remain unpartitioned. Suhrawardy realised that if Bengal is partitioned then it will be economically disastrous for east Bengal[2] as all coal mines, all jute mills but two and other industrial plants will certainly go to the western part since these were in an overwhelmingly Hindu majority area.[3] Most important of all, Kolkata, then the largest city in India, an industrial and commercial hub and the largest port will also go to the western part. Suhrawardy floated his idea on 24 April 1947 at a press conference in Delhi.[4]
However the plan directly ran counter to the Muslim League's, which was a political party during the period of the British Rule which advocated the creation of a separate Muslim-majority nation, demand of the creation of a separate Muslim homeland on the basis of two-nation theory. Initially Bengal provincial Muslim League leadership opinion was divided. Barddhaman's League leader Abul Hashim supported it.[5] On the other hand Nurul Amin and Mohammad Akram Khan initially opposed it.[6][7] But Muhammad Ali Jinnah realized the validity of Suhrawardy's argument and gave his tacit support to the plan.[8][9][10] After Jinnah's approval, Suhrawardy started gathering support for his plan.
On the Congress side, only a handful of leaders agreed to the plan. Among them was the influential Bengal provincial congress leader Sarat Chandra Bose, the elder brother of Netaji and Kiran Shankar Roy. However most other BPCC leaders and Congress leadership including Nehru and Patel rejected the plan. The Hindu nationalist party Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee vehemently opposed it.[11] Their opinion was that the plan is nothing but a ploy by Suhrawardy to stop the partition of the state so that the industrially developed western part including the city of Kolkata remains under League control. They also opined that even though the plan asked for a sovereign Bengal state, in practice it will be a virtual Pakistan and the Hindu minority will be at the mercy of the Muslim majority forever.[12][13][14]
Although the chances of the proposal seeing daylight without Congress central committee's approval was slim, Bose and Suhrawardy continued talks to reach an agreement on the political structure of the proposed state. Like Suhrawardy, Bose also felt that the partition will severely hamper Bengal's economy and almost half of the Hindu population will be left stranded on the Pakistani side.[15] The agreement was published on 24 May 1947.[16] However this was largely a political agreement. The proposal had hardly any support at grassroots level, particularly among the Hindus.[17] Muslim League's continuous propaganda on the two-nation theory for the previous six years combined with the marginalization of Hindus in the Suhrawardy ministry and the vicious riots of 1946, which many Hindus believed was state sponsored, left little room for trust in Muslim League among Bengali Hindus.[18] Soon afterwards, division arose among Bose and Suhrawardy on the question of the nature of the electorate; separate or joint. Suhrawardy insisted upon maintaining the separate electorate for Muslims and Non-Muslims. Bose was opposed to this. He withdrew and due to lack of any other significant support from the Congress's side, the United Bengal plan was discarded.[19] Still, this relatively unknown episode marked the last attempt among Bengali Muslim and Hindu communities to avoid the partition and live together."
Partition of Bengal (1947) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I found this interesting as Indians are blaming Muslims for the petition of Bengal.
"After it became apparent that the division of India on the basis of the two-nation theory will almost certainly result in the partition of the Bengal province along religious lines, Bengal provincial Muslim League leader Suhrawardy came up with a radical plan to create an independent Bengal state that won't join either Pakistan or India and remain unpartitioned. Suhrawardy realised that if Bengal is partitioned then it will be economically disastrous for east Bengal[2] as all coal mines, all jute mills but two and other industrial plants will certainly go to the western part since these were in an overwhelmingly Hindu majority area.[3] Most important of all, Kolkata, then the largest city in India, an industrial and commercial hub and the largest port will also go to the western part. Suhrawardy floated his idea on 24 April 1947 at a press conference in Delhi.[4]
However the plan directly ran counter to the Muslim League's, which was a political party during the period of the British Rule which advocated the creation of a separate Muslim-majority nation, demand of the creation of a separate Muslim homeland on the basis of two-nation theory. Initially Bengal provincial Muslim League leadership opinion was divided. Barddhaman's League leader Abul Hashim supported it.[5] On the other hand Nurul Amin and Mohammad Akram Khan initially opposed it.[6][7] But Muhammad Ali Jinnah realized the validity of Suhrawardy's argument and gave his tacit support to the plan.[8][9][10] After Jinnah's approval, Suhrawardy started gathering support for his plan.
On the Congress side, only a handful of leaders agreed to the plan. Among them was the influential Bengal provincial congress leader Sarat Chandra Bose, the elder brother of Netaji and Kiran Shankar Roy. However most other BPCC leaders and Congress leadership including Nehru and Patel rejected the plan. The Hindu nationalist party Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee vehemently opposed it.[11] Their opinion was that the plan is nothing but a ploy by Suhrawardy to stop the partition of the state so that the industrially developed western part including the city of Kolkata remains under League control. They also opined that even though the plan asked for a sovereign Bengal state, in practice it will be a virtual Pakistan and the Hindu minority will be at the mercy of the Muslim majority forever.[12][13][14]
Although the chances of the proposal seeing daylight without Congress central committee's approval was slim, Bose and Suhrawardy continued talks to reach an agreement on the political structure of the proposed state. Like Suhrawardy, Bose also felt that the partition will severely hamper Bengal's economy and almost half of the Hindu population will be left stranded on the Pakistani side.[15] The agreement was published on 24 May 1947.[16] However this was largely a political agreement. The proposal had hardly any support at grassroots level, particularly among the Hindus.[17] Muslim League's continuous propaganda on the two-nation theory for the previous six years combined with the marginalization of Hindus in the Suhrawardy ministry and the vicious riots of 1946, which many Hindus believed was state sponsored, left little room for trust in Muslim League among Bengali Hindus.[18] Soon afterwards, division arose among Bose and Suhrawardy on the question of the nature of the electorate; separate or joint. Suhrawardy insisted upon maintaining the separate electorate for Muslims and Non-Muslims. Bose was opposed to this. He withdrew and due to lack of any other significant support from the Congress's side, the United Bengal plan was discarded.[19] Still, this relatively unknown episode marked the last attempt among Bengali Muslim and Hindu communities to avoid the partition and live together."
Partition of Bengal (1947) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I found this interesting as Indians are blaming Muslims for the petition of Bengal.
.
.
