Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947Whereas previous studies of the end of British rule in India have concentrated on the negotiations of the transfer of power at the all-India level or have considered the emergence of separatist politics amongst India's Muslim minorities, this study provides a re-evaluation of the history of Bengal focusing on the political and social processes that led to the demand for partition in Bengal and tracing the rise of Hindu communalism. In its most startling revelation, the author shows how the demand for a separate homeland for the Hindus, which was fuelled by a large and powerful section of Hindu society within Bengal, was seen as the only way to regain influence and to wrest power from the Muslim majority. The picture which emerges is one of a stratified and fragmented society moving away from the mainstream of Indian nationalism, and increasingly preoccupied with narrower, more parochial concerns. |
Contents
List of maps | viii |
List of tables | ix |
Acknowledgements | xi |
List of abbreviations | xiii |
Glossary | xiv |
Introduction | 1 |
Bengal politics and the Communal Award | 18 |
The emergence of the mofussil in Bengali politics | 55 |
The reorientation of the Bengal Congress 193745 | 103 |
The construction of bhadralok communal identity culture and communalism in Bengal | 150 |
Hindu unity and Muslim tyranny aspects of Hindu bhadralok politics 193647 | 191 |
The second partition of Bengal 194547 | 220 |
Conclusion | 266 |
Bibliography | 275 |
293 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abul Mansur Ahmed Agrarian Ahmed AICC Papers all-India Amrita Bazar Patrika Ashrafuddin Assembly B. C. Roy babu Bartaman Bengal Congress Bengali Hindu bhadralok bhadralok Hindus Bipradas BPCC Burdwan Calcutta campaign caste Hindus cent Chattopadhyay Chaudhuri Chittagong Chittagong Division Commissioner Communal Award Communal Riots Congress Committee Congressmen culture Dacca Delhi District Division elections electoral Fazlul Huq GB HCPB File GB SB PH Ghosh High Command Hindu bhadralok Hindu community Hindu Mahasabha Hindus and Muslims Ibid India interests IOLR MSS Jinnah jotedars Krishak Praja Party Krishak Samiti leaders leadership Linlithgow Linlithgow Collection LOFCR low castes Midnapore Ministry mofussil moneylenders movement Muslim League Mymensingh Namasudras nationalism nationalist organisation Pact Partha Chatterjee peasants Politics in Bengal province Rajshahi religious rent Report rural Sabha Sangha Sarat Bose Saratchandra Scheduled Caste seats second fortnight Shyama Prasad Mookerjee social society Subhas Suhrawardy Tanika Sarkar tenants Tippera Union Boards village West Bengal zamindars