It has been a year since unprecedented violence took place in West Bengal after the Assembly election results were announced. Why Bengal has been suffering violence (both West Bengal and Bangladesh)? What was the original demographic composition of Bengal and how it has changed; and how this has affected the socio-political milieu in this region? This multi-part series would attempt to trace the origin of socio-political trends in the larger Bengal region (state of West Bengal and Bangladesh) over the last several decades. These trends are related to the evolution of Bengal over the last 4000 years. It’s a long journey and unfortunately most part of it has been forgotten.
Bengal experienced a very significant dichotomy in 19th century that appears to be a mirror image of what we are witnessing today in West Bengal and Bangladesh. This dichotomy was a simultaneous deep spread of Hindu nationalism and Muslim fundamentalism in Bengal. Both these traits were always present in Bengal’s society but what we witnessed in 19th century was consolidation of these traits. In the previous article in this series, we have discussed the spread of Hindu nationalism, in this article we would discuss the spread of Muslim separatism in Bengal in 19th century.
There are several factors which were responsible for the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in Bengal in 19th century, laying the ground for subsequent tragic events that continue to haunt us to date. We would look at some of these factors as these would help us understand the real dynamics of communalism in Bengal region.
Loss of Power
In late 18th century and throughout 19th century, large sections of Muslim society in Bengal couldn’t reconcile to the fact that they had lost power to the British after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The new land revenue regime introduced by the British in the garb of Permanent Settlement System in 1793 also reduced the landholdings of Muslim zamindars substantially.
Nitish Sengupta analyses the mindset of Bengal’s Muslim society during that era in Bengal Divided: The Unmaking of a Nation (Pp7), “The great intellectual awakening in Bengal in the 19th century left the Muslim community untouched except in fringes. In the galaxy of famous names in early Bengal Renaissance we scarcely come across Muslim names before the 20th century arrived. The century from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to the 1857 Mutiny saw the Muslims in Bengal as a sullen, withdrawn community, unreconciled to the loss of political power, and withdrawing itself, so to say, in a shell of suspicion of both the British rulers and the new Hindu meritocracy.” This had prepared a fertile ground for the Muslim fundamentalist movements to grow deep roots among Bengal’s Muslims.
‘Purist’ Islam Movements
The 19th century Bengal was also impacted by the Wahabi, Faraizi and Tarikh-e-Mohammed movements. These movements stressed on ‘purist Islam’ instead of nationalism. Bhaswati Mukherjee has explained it quite lucidly in her seminal work Bengal and Its Partition: An Untold Story (pp 59-61), “During this period rural Bengal and the rural Bengali Muslims were being profoundly affected by … Wahabi and Faraizi movements … In modern context these movements could be termed as ‘fundamentalist’, since they exhorted their followers to ‘cleanse’ and purify Islam by condemning those Hindu traditions that were part of Bengal’s common folk culture. The effort was to restore and revive a more puritanical form of Islam. In Bengal, this adverse development would colour and influence the separatist sentiments that would follow as a consequence.” The Wahabi movement in India was led by Syed Ahmed of Raebareli (presently in Uttar Pradesh) while the Faraizi movement was founded in 1819 in East Bengal by Haji Shariatullah.
Mukherjee says, “From a political perspective though, neither revivalist movement was successful in rural Bengal, it encouraged the religious preachers (Mullahs) funded by the Muslim elite to successfully develop throughout Bengal a communal narrative based on Islamisation.”
Demographic Changes
In 18th and 19th century, Bengal underwent a massive demographic change. Muslims, especially in rural Bengal, became a numerical majority outnumbering Hindus. Both Hindus and the British were quite unaware of this silent but tectonic shift in the demography of Bengal. According to Nitish Sengputa (Land of Two Rivers; pp 280), “It was the 1881 Census which convincingly showed for the first time that in the 28 Bengali-speaking districts of undivided Bengal Presidency, the Muslims numbered significantly more than the Hindus and that in Rajshahi, Dhaka and Chittagong divisions, they formed two-thirds of the population.”
Sengupta points out the significant impact of these developments, “The revelation of this momentous demographic change also marked the starting point of a series of new attitudes. For British administration there was a new appraisal of the importance of Muslim factor. For the marginalised and inarticulate Muslim leadership, it was realisation of their own importance and an assurance that they could not be ignored ant longer.” This realisation among Muslims resulted in setting up of Muslim organisations with a separatist agenda such as Mohammedan Literary Society and National Mohammedan Association of Calcutta. The former was set up by Abdul Latif while the latter was founded by Syed Amir Ali. The final outcome of this trend was setting up of Muslim League in 1906 at Dhaka that played a pivotal role in propagating Muslim separatism across the country resulting in frequent communal violence, especially in Bengal.
The British Policy
William Hunter, an officer of Indian Civil Service, came out with a document titled ‘The Indian Musulmans’ in 1871 that played a pivotal role in shaping the British policy towards promoting Muslim separatism. Hunter advocated that the British should promote Muslims instead of Hindus in every field. Nitish Sengupta explains the shift in the British Policy (Bengal Divided: The Unmaking of a Nation; pp 8), “A subtle change in the official attitude … was underway. Hindus were gradually turning seditious, so the British Raj needed to look for new allies. Only Muslims could provide this. This community could be won over through patronage in the form of job opportunities and educational support. Thus began a new policy of appeasement of Muslims.”
In a resolution in 1871, Governor-General Lord Mayo regretted that Muslims had been kept aloof and British had not paid enough attention to them. The British policy of promoting Muslim separatism was now actively pursued. Indian Education Commission (1882), which was chaired by none other than Hunter, recommended exclusive schools and scholarships for Muslims. The British accepted these recommendations happily despite stiff opposition from Bengal’s Hindu leadership.
In this context, it is important to remember that it was a Muslim Educational Conference in Dhaka in 1906 where a resolution for setting up All India Muslim League was moved and accepted. Muslim League subsequently spearheaded the separatist movement leading to Partition of India. Incidentally, the same resolution, through which Muslim League was set up, had also pledged loyalty to the British government.
ALSO READ | The Bengal Conundrum: How Islamisation of Bengal Started in Medieval Times with Forced Conversion
You can read other articles in The Bengal Conundrum series here.
The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. One of his latest books is ‘The Forgotten History of India’. The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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