Why did British PM Attlee think Bengal was going to be an independent country in 1947?

[Saiful Islam]

@Bangladeshi members:

Is this a common opinion in Bangladesh? That East Bengal would have been better of being an Indian state if an independent union with West Bengal was not possible?

Nope. This dude comments like he's selling his *** to someone.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Marwaris? That's a stupid but convenient way to whitewash the truth. Two things have caused most of the divides, persecution, and genocide around the world throughout history; religion, and politics. And both religion and politics (with greed for power) played a role in partition of India, religious divide was always there, and Jinnah wanted power.

So you think partition was merely a product of Jinnah's personal quest to achieve power? Bengal's 98 percent Muslims voted for Pakistan cause in 1946 election just to fulfill the personal ambition of Jinnah? There was no genuine socio-economic grievance on muslim part played any part in that event? Most of the Indians think like you. They think if Jinnah was bribed Prime ministership of India or if independence was delayed by one year until Jinnah's death, then the partition could have been avoided. Muslims were mere a bunch of misguided pawn of Jinnah.

The underlying theme of this line of thinking is that, partition was artificial and easily avoidable and can be annuled in the future. You are like the same bunch of deluded Pakistanis who think that, separation of East Pakistan was just an Indian conspiracy to break Pakistan. There was no genuine grievance of the people or desire of self determination on part of the people of East Pakistan. Both of these two line of thinking comes from inability to be self critical. Be assured about the position you took and blaming the others. As blaming a whole nation could look distasteful and xenophobic, so the blaming goes to a few individuals. For your case, it was the Jinnah. For Pakistanis, it was the Mujib.

 

[Riyad]

But still.your majority voted to join Pakistan in 47
As for 71 yes atrocities were committed but from both sides as mentioned in book dead reckoning by NRI Oxford professor shermila bose and deaths were in 1000s not millions sonny

East Bengal was Muslim majority with a Hindu Sanskritized language Bangla. Adopting Pakistani Arabo-Farsi-Punjabi language and culture was very difficult for East Bengalis but due to religion Islam we joined with you folks in 1947. It was a just try if we can co-exist together but our Hindu-Muslim amalgamate look and culture didn't make us feel Pakistani at all. Only few folks like Jamaatis were fans of Pakistan but once we realized what mistake we did in 1947 it was already late. So there were a messiah like figure for us named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who helped us realize who we are and where we should belong to. Then our Mukti Bahini soldiers along with Indian fighters fought against Pakistan to separate East Bengal from Pakistan and make it Bangladesh.

 

[Kandari-Hushiyaar]

Who will contradict Bongobondhu?

ভাই আমার, এইখানে কোনো জোর জবরদস্তি'র ব্যাপার তো নাই। আপনি প্রথমেই যা বলসেন তাই থাক; মুজিব'রে ভুল দেখাইয়া কার কি লাভ! ৩০ লক্ষ বীরাঙ্গনা যদি হইতে পারে, এতেই বা আপত্তি কিসের?
এই বিষয়ে যা কইসি, তাতেই থাক।
মনে রাইখেন আমার বাবা সুহরাবর্দি সাহেবের বন্ধু সিলেন শত্রু নন, আমার ঠাকুরদাদা ফজলুল হক সাহেবের সেই ভাবে বন্ধু সিলেন, আমরা শত্রু-পক্ষ নই।

আমি কারোর ওপর দোষ চাপাচ্ছি না । আমি মনে করি হিন্দু মুসলমান কেওই দুধে ধোয়া তুলসি পাতা না। ওইদিনের রায়ট দুই পক্ষের কলকাতা দখলের মানসিকতা থেকেই হয়েছিল , কোন এক পক্ষ একা দায়ী না। শেইখ মুজিব যেটা দেখেছেন সেটা লিখেছেন , অন্য জায়গায় হয়তো কোন হিন্দু মু্সলমানের দ্বারা আক্রান্ত হয়েছেন তার অভিজ্ঞতা আবার অন্যরকম।

তবে আমি মনে হয়না সোহরাওয়ার্দি দায়ী । ক্ষমতায় বসেই কেও নিজের গভমেন্টকে প্রশ্নের মুখে ফেলবে এমন গাধা কী সোহরাওয়ার্দি ছিলেন? আজকের দিনে কলকাতায় হঠাত মুসলমান হিন্দু রায়ট লাগলে মমতাকে জিহাদি মমতাজ বানু নাম দিয়ে অপপ্রচার হবে যে মমতা দায়ী।

আর বীরাঙ্গনার সংখ্যাটা ২ লক্ষ, নিহতের সংখ্যা ৩০ লক্ষ। যেটা মুজিবের আগে প্রাভদা পত্রিকায় ছাপা হয়েছিল। আমি আপনাকে জানি সেন্সিবল পোস্ট করেন শত্রু না মিত্র তা দেখি নাই। তাই মনে হয়েছে আপনাকে জানানো জরুরি কারণ হিন্দু মুসলমান ঐক্যের জন্য ৪৬ এর এই ওয়ান সাইডেড ন্যারেটিভ পালটানো জরুরি

 

[khanmubashir]

East Bengal was Muslim majority with a Hindu Sanskritized language Bangla. Adopting Pakistani Arabo-Farsi-Punjabi language and culture was very difficult for East Bengalis but due to religion Islam we joined with you folks in 1947. It was a just try if we can co-exist together but our Hindu-Muslim amalgamate look and culture didn't make us feel Pakistani at all. Only few folks like Jamaatis were fans of Pakistan but once we realized what mistake we did in 1947 it was already late. So there were a messiah like figure for us named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who helped us realize who we are and where we should belong to. Then our Mukti Bahini soldiers along with Indian fighters fought against Pakistan to separate East Bengal from Pakistan and make it Bangladesh.

Main thing was geographical isolation and resultant cultural differences and Indians and Soviet block exploiting it

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Main thing was geographical isolation and resultant cultural differences and Indians and Soviet block exploiting it

A lot of countries in the world are geographically fragmented, but they are thriving without any problem. Most important point is, common people and leadership in both wings in 1947 accepted that kind of Pakistan wholeheartedly knowing the divided geography. Agitation in East Pakistan was nothing to do with geography. Even if East and West Pakistan was contiguous and Pakistani leadership maintained same policy, still agitation for autonomy and eventual independence would have arisen surely.

Main thing was marginalization of Bengalis in Pakistani state structure. As West Pakistan inherited the big army and bureaucracy, it's people started to think themselves as more than equal. 'Martial' 'bastion of power' 'real Pakistani', 'real Muslim' these narrative permeated to a large section of West Pakistani populace and they started to see the inhabitants of East Pakistan as a subject to rule , lesser Pakistani and lesser Muslim who need conversion. They started to think West Pakistan as the real Pakistan, a 'bastion of power' and East Pakistan as an extra, meant to serve the interest of real Pakistan aka West Pakistan, even be used as a bargaining chip in their showdown with India. These line of thinking made them unapologetic and careless about the perverse exploitative and discriminative system on places and hardened them to accept any compromise or fair sharing. These line of thinking was the main reason why West Pakistan based powerful military-bureaucracy nexus from the beginning started to undermine the democratic course of the new country. Because accepting democracy means accepting Bengalis as equal, which they were not willing to entertain. Palace coup, military coup became the norm, only goal was to deny the rightful share of Bengalis and make them a marginalized, colonial subject serving the interest of West Pakistan.

 

[Joe Shearer]

আমি কারোর ওপর দোষ চাপাচ্ছি না । আমি মনে করি হিন্দু মুসলমান কেওই দুধে ধোয়া তুলসি পাতা না। ওইদিনের রায়ট দুই পক্ষের কলকাতা দখলের মানসিকতা থেকেই হয়েছিল , কোন এক পক্ষ একা দায়ী না। শেইখ মুজিব যেটা দেখেছেন সেটা লিখেছেন , অন্য জায়গায় হয়তো কোন হিন্দু মু্সলমানের দ্বারা আক্রান্ত হয়েছেন তার অভিজ্ঞতা আবার অন্যরকম।

তবে আমি মনে হয়না সোহরাওয়ার্দি দায়ী । ক্ষমতায় বসেই কেও নিজের গভমেন্টকে প্রশ্নের মুখে ফেলবে এমন গাধা কী সোহরাওয়ার্দি ছিলেন? আজকের দিনে কলকাতায় হঠাত মুসলমান হিন্দু রায়ট লাগলে মমতাকে জিহাদি মমতাজ বানু নাম দিয়ে অপপ্রচার হবে যে মমতা দায়ী।

আর বীরাঙ্গনার সংখ্যাটা ২ লক্ষ, নিহতের সংখ্যা ৩০ লক্ষ। যেটা মুজিবের আগে প্রাভদা পত্রিকায় ছাপা হয়েছিল। আমি আপনাকে জানি সেন্সিবল পোস্ট করেন শত্রু না মিত্র তা দেখি নাই। তাই মনে হয়েছে আপনাকে জানানো জরুরি কারণ হিন্দু মুসলমান ঐক্যের জন্য ৪৬ এর এই ওয়ান সাইডেড ন্যারেটিভ পালটানো জরুরি

আপনি খুব ভালো লিখেছেন। আমিও মোটা-মোটি একমত, সামান্য পার্থক্য থাকতে পারে, সেগুলি সম্ভবত বিভিন্ন স্থানের অভিগ্যতার অন্তরের দরুন। আপনার চিন্তাধারা উদারতার প্রমান , যে আশা প্রকাশ করেছেন তার ফলাফল সবার-ই মঙ্গোল, সবাই মিলিত চেষ্টা করা কর্তব্য।

আমার বিকৃত বাংলার জন্যে আপনাদের সবার কাছে ক্ষমা চাই, বহু দিন অন্যদের মাঝে থেকে আমার হিন্দি মজবুত অথচ বাংলা দুর্বল হয়ে পড়েছে।

 

[dray / Rain Man]

So you think partition was merely a product of Jinnah's personal quest to achieve power? Bengal's 98 percent Muslims voted for Pakistan cause in 1946 election just to fulfill the personal ambition of Jinnah? There was no genuine socio-economic grievance on muslim part played any part in that event? Most of the Indians think like you. They think if Jinnah was bribed Prime ministership of India or if independence was delayed by one year until Jinnah's death, then the partition could have been avoided. Muslims were mere a bunch of misguided pawn of Jinnah.

The underlying theme of this line of thinking is that, partition was artificial and easily avoidable and can be annuled in the future. You are like the same bunch of deluded Pakistanis who think that, separation of East Pakistan was just an Indian conspiracy to break Pakistan. There was no genuine grievance of the people or desire of self determination on part of the people of East Pakistan. Both of these two line of thinking comes from inability to be self critical. Be assured about the position you took and blaming the others. As blaming a whole nation could look distasteful and xenophobic, so the blaming goes to a few individuals. For your case, it was the Jinnah. For Pakistanis, it was the Mujib.

You need to stop making assumptions and concentrate more on what was already written. I said religious divide was always there, and by 'always' I mean since the day Muslim invaders entered India, it was always an uneasy co-existence between the two religious communities. The tensions were aggravated by the certain possibility of Muslims being left in a Hindu majority country and out of power in a post-British Raj scenario. Jinnah just saw an opportunity there, that too a low-hanging one, and exploited it.

 

[Riyad]

You need to stop making assumptions and concentrate more on what was already written. I said religious divide was always there, and by 'always' I mean since the day Muslim invaders entered India, it was always an uneasy co-existence between the two religious communities. The tensions were aggravated by the certain possibility of Muslims being left in a Hindu majority country and out of power in a post-British Raj scenario. Jinnah just saw an opportunity there, that too a low-hanging one, and exploited it.

Muslims were always there. The first person Adam was a Muslim. Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus , Buddhists all are Ahle Kitab. So Muslims are not invaders.

Hindus are Indian Ahle Kitab who were given Vedas, Geeta. It is believed that Hindus are people of Noah. Islam condemns idol worship and polytheism but monotheistic Hindus and Muslims worship same God.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_in_Islam

Hindu
A story involving Lord Vishnu and King Manu is found in the Hindu chronicle Matsya Purana. Lord Vishnu in his 'matsya' (fish) avatar ordered the virtuous king Manu to construct a huge boat with animal and plant specimens of all forms, to escape the Great Deluge, and finally when the water receded,the great boat was found atop the Malaya Mountains.[64] Encyclopædia Britannica notes that "Manu combines the characteristics of the Hebrew Bible figures of Noah, who preserved life from extinction in a great flood, and Adam, the first man",[65] which view is reflected in several other works.[66] Indologist David Dean Shulman writes that borrowing between the myths of Manu and Noah "cannot be ruled out".[67] For Krishna Mohan Banerjee, the names "Noah" and "Manu" "had the same etymological root: 'Manu' must have been the Indo-Aryan ideal of Noah."[68] Philologist and founder of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, William Jones, "identifies Manu with Noah", along with whom, "the seven sages can be identified with the eight people aboard the Ark."[69] Furthermore, researcher Klaus Klostermaier reports a Muslim writer who "identifies Brahma with Abraham .... and Manu with Noah."[70] Others, however, would say that "the story is thoroughly Indian" and the "boat is not the equivalent of Noah's Ark, though it is still the symbol of salvation"[71] According to Purana Manu's story occur before 28 chaturyuga in the present Manvantara which is the 7th Manvantara. This amounts to 120 million years ago.[72][73][74]

 

[Saiful Islam]

The model to follow is the Bengal Sultanate period, it was not a dependency but independent for most of its period. It enforced Islamic values (that served the Muslim populace) whilst also promoting equal social ladder for everyone.

 

[khanmubashir]

A lot of countries in the world are geographically fragmented, but they are thriving without any problem. Most important point is, common people and leadership in both wings in 1947 accepted that kind of Pakistan wholeheartedly knowing the divided geography. Agitation in East Pakistan was nothing to do with geography. Even if East and West Pakistan was contiguous and Pakistani leadership maintained same policy, still agitation for autonomy and eventual independence would have arisen surely.

Main thing was marginalization of Bengalis in Pakistani state structure. As West Pakistan inherited the big army and bureaucracy, it's people started to think themselves as more than equal. 'Martial' 'bastion of power' 'real Pakistani', 'real Muslim' these narrative permeated to a large section of West Pakistani populace and they started to see the inhabitants of East Pakistan as a subject to rule , lesser Pakistani and lesser Muslim who need conversion. They started to think West Pakistan as the real Pakistan, a 'bastion of power' and East Pakistan as an extra, meant to serve the interest of real Pakistan aka West Pakistan, even be used as a bargaining chip in their showdown with India. These line of thinking made them unapologetic and careless about the perverse exploitative and discriminative system on places and hardened them to accept any compromise or fair sharing. These line of thinking was the main reason why West Pakistan based powerful military-bureaucracy nexus from the beginning started to undermine the democratic course of the new country. Because accepting democracy means accepting Bengalis as equal, which they were not willing to entertain. Palace coup, military coup became the norm, only goal was to deny the rightful share of Bengalis and make them a marginalized, colonial subject serving the interest of West Pakistan.

Whixh other country existed having its sworn enemy in the middle dividing it???
Having islands in open sea with direct sea route instead one circling around your much bigger enemy r different

 

[Saiful Islam]

Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus , Buddhists all are Ahle Kitab.

You effed up.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Whixh other country existed having its sworn enemy in the middle dividing it???
Having islands in open sea with direct sea route instead one circling around your much bigger enemy r different

So, presence of India in the middle was the reason that Pakistani ruling nexus engaged in a policy of discrimination and suppression against East Pakistan?

 

[khanmubashir]

So, presence of India in the middle was the reason that Pakistani ruling nexus engaged in a policy of discrimination and suppression against East Pakistan?

There was some but not as much as propagated again as I said by some vested interest and foreign powers exploiting the geographic isolation and resultant cultural differences

 

[Homo Sapiens]

There was some but not as much as propagated again as I said by some vested interest and foreign powers exploiting the geographic isolation and resultant cultural differences

When your house is divided then foreign hostile power will take opportunity, why you should complain about that ? The question is, what pragmatic steps were taken by ruling class to strengthen the national cohesion in that times? The answer is none. Rather they engaged in policies which was contrary to it. If Pakistan settled early it's federal structure like Malaysia then supposed 'foreign instigation' could not have succeeded. Malaysia is also divided into East Malaysia and West Malaysia with diverse ethnic, cultural and religious set-up. But they are thriving without any problem. Same with Indonesia. Many states in Indonesia are not only fur flung Islands from Jakarta, but they also have different culture and dominant religion(like Christianity or Hinduism in contrast of Muslim Indonesia).

Pakistan also could have gone in a same direction. But instead, power was concentrated among the west Pakistani based military-bureaucratic nexus. The reason of why they could not set up a working federal structure even in the long 24 years where all federating units will enjoy same privilege was due to their inability to digest the Bengali majority playing an influential role in national life. Main reasons were the arrogance of power and contempt on part of west Pakistanis towards Bengalis. That's why they propagated the theory of 'Bastion of Power' and 'defence of East Pakistan lies in West Pakistan' mantra. The attitude was clear, West Pakistan is bastion of power and heartland of Pakistan, East Pakistan is periphery and expendable. So, no compromise and fair policy. With such attitudes how can they hope to keep the original country intact?