The Spoils of Partition: Bengal and India, 1947–1967

Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society

by Joya Chatterji

The partition of India in 1947 was a seminal event of the twentieth century. Much has been written about the Punjab and the creation of West Pakistan; by contrast, little is known about the partition of Bengal. This remarkable book by an acknowledged expert on the subject assesses the social, economic and political consequences of partition. Using new and previously unexplored sources, the book shows how and why the borders were redrawn, how the creation of new nation states led to unprecedented upheavals, massive shifts in population and wholly unexpected transformations of the political landscape in both Bengal and India. The book also reveals how the spoils of partition, which the Congress in Bengal had expected from the new boundaries, were squandered over the twenty years which followed. This is an original and challenging work whose findings change our understanding and its consequences for the history of the subcontinent.

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction, Pakistan

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Joya Chatterji is Professor of South Asian History and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. She specializes in modern South Asian history and was the editor of the journal Modern Asian Studies for ten years.

Reviews

[Deepta Sen · Rating 4 out of 5]

সাধারণ ভাবে বলা হয় বৃটিশরা দেশভাগের হোতা। কিন্তু বাঙলা ভাগের জন্য লেখিকা দায়ি করেছেন তৎকালীন এলিট হিন্দু সমাজকে‌। এরা ছিল সেসময়ে বেঙ্গল কংগ্রেসের একাংশ। অবশ্য দেশভাগের ফলে ক্ষতিগ্রস্ত হয় কংগ্রেস ই। ডঃ বিধান সরকার ও তার সরকার পুরোপুরি ব্যর্থ হন খন্ডিত বঙ্গের আর্থ-সামাজিক শৃঙ্খলা আনতে। শেষ মেষ কমিউনিস্ট পার্টির কাছে বাঙলার রাজনীতির একসময়ের রাজা কংগ্রেস তার মর্যদা হারিয়ে ফেলে। হ্যাঁ এখনো ২০২১ সালেও কংগ্রেস আর পশ্চিম বঙ্গে শক্তিশালী রাজনৈতিক দল নয়। কেন্দ্রেও ক্ষমতার বাইরে আছে দুই মেয়াদের মতো।

[Kavya]

Contrary to mainstream narratives that the British engineered Partition, Indian politicians had agency as well. According to Joya Chatterji, Congress persuaded Atlee and Mountbatten that partition was the only solution. In their plans, Hindu Bengali politicians assumed that India would provide Bengal with help in case of disruptions. Trade between East and West Bengal would continue and Bengal would retain its status in the national economy.
 Before the political debates, human settlements in Bengal shifted according to shifting rivers. Soil on east of flood were more productive. Bengal was the frontier zone with both agricultural and nomadic life.
 Islam spread to Bengal in the 17-18th century but Muslims in Bengal still had a different culture than the Gangetic North. Associated with Cosmopolitanism.
 Rulers from Northern India coveted Bengal but could not capture the place before the British arrived through the decisive Battle of Plassey 1757 and Battle of Buxar 1764.
 The literate elite class who worked for the British bureaucracy (bhadralok) initiated many political and cultural debates on constitutional and civil rights in the 19th century.
But they were only the minority despite their self-importance.
 Hindu bhadraloks lost their status gradually--
a) Muslims filled more positions and elevated their own status.
b) Partition in 1905 was partially rescinded in 1911 but now Orissa and Bihar now no longer belonged to the Bengal Presidency.
c) The capital moved to Delhi in 1912 despite bhadralok protest
d) Raj granted more power to local councils

 Hindu Bengalis such as Chittaranjan Das challenged Gandhi on many fronts in efforts to retain their influence, such as partaking in elections despite Gandhi’s charge that elections were rigged with British allies. But Gandhi won over many aspects and Hindu Bengalis they had to cede seats to Scheduled castes in the 1920s.

Many Hindus saw their position in Bengal similar to Muslims on an All India stage.
Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow granted veto power to Muslim communities over the future political arrangements.
 Nehru’s Congress remained committed to strengthen the center. They could only give the minimum amount of land to Pakistan so they decided to split Bengal and Punjab.
Bengalis also preferred this solution in order to win control. Founding Fathers of West Bengal were the bhadraloks who wished to restore a new homeland, especially after prospects of giving the Bengal province to Muslim rule emerged (14). Subhas and Sarat Bose resisted the plan for Partition but they were purged from the Congress Party and failed to gain Hindu support.

 A lot of time spent on negotiations over rivers, government files and buildings ensued after the 1946 riots. Different factions on the Hindu side also had different versions.
But they had commonalities:
1. Tilted in favor of West Bengal’s core territories
2. Secure Calcutta
3. Intended to benefit their elite interests. They did not consider strategic frontier concerns.
The Center allocated most tax for dynamic industries to itself and left stagnant industries for provinces. This was met with protest in some places but not from West Bengal.
 Eventually the Radcliffe Award was very similar to what Congress wanted. No one knows why Radcliffe made this decision because he did not comment.

This book is an important contribution to the understanding of not only 1947 but also 1971.

[Aaquib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another meticulous research work by Cambridge Historian Mrs. Joya Chatterji. Must read for anyone who is curious about political developments in West Bengal from pre-partition days till 1967. Looking forward to her next book on post-1967 West Bengal.

[Richard Guha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth the effort. I learned a lot from this that was very different from conventional wisdom.

[Mujda · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://anchor.fm/voicemailsfromhisto...

Today's voicemail is taken a snippet of a poem titled Learning Urdu from Agha Shahid Ali, a Kashmiri-American poet.

The partition of British India in 1947 brought about a scale of violence and bloodshed which followed the pattern of the traumatic years following 1945. In this episode, I break down Chatterji's work, in which she has analysed how the partition came about, specifically looking at the Bengal Boundary Commission.

Contrary to previous episodes where I've looked at the experiences of ordinary people, this one focusses more on the 'higher politics', the competing intentions of political groups, and how they contributed, significantly, to the ensuing violence in August 1947. I do spend some time discussing the effects of these decisions on every-day life in Bengal, as outlined in Chatterji's research.

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty dull read
lots of diplomatic play-by-plays and low-level detail