Page 103 - SST Class 08

to the councils were introduced; the number PARTITION OF BENGAL
of members of the legislative council were There was growing discontentment among the
increased; the councils were given the right people because of the policies of the British
to discuss the budget but not vote upon government. But, the event which had the
them. greatest effect in changing the aims and methods

SOME NEW CHANGES IN THE of the leaders of national movement was the
CONGRESS division of Bengal. Bengal was the largest prov-
Under the moderates, there were some achieve- ince of British India. It included Bihar and parts
ments. However, many of their demands were of Orissa. The British masters found it difficult to
not met. The failure of the moderates to achieve administer such a huge region so there had been
something substantial along with the continued plans for reorganising it. However, instead of
oppressive nature of British rule led to the emer- separating the non-Bengali areas of Bihar and
gence of more radical leaders in the Congress. Orissa from the Province, a proposal was made
Some of the newly emergent leaders were not to separate only eastern part of Bengal from the
satisfied with the concessions given by the province.
British. They agitated for greater political conces- The reason behind this proposal was to weaken
sions, by resorting to a radical way of political the national movement which was very strong in
agitation and were even prepared to make all Bengal. Many of the leaders in the Congress
sacrifices for their country. At times, these radical came from Bengal. The British rulers thought
leaders used extreme methods which gave the that the partition of Bengal would weaken the
British government a chance to rope in strong spirit of nationalism. The other aim was to sow
measures to curtail the leaders, to the extent of seeds of disunity between the Hindus and
being imprisoned or exiled. Instead of taking the Muslims living in Bengal. It was suggested that
peaceful path of the moderates, the radicals the new province where Muslims would be in a
chose the path of active retaliation and encour- majority, would be in the interest of the Muslims.
aged people to become bold, brave and patriotic. The British thought that they would be able to
Hence, they were known as the radicals and wean away the Muslims from the nationalist
these phases of the movement was known as the movement with this argument. The nationalist
Radical phase. Some of leaders understood the real intention of the
the leaders were Bal government. Hundreds of meetings were held as
Gangadhar Tilak, Lala a sign of protest against the partition of Bengal.
Lajpat Rai, Aurobindo But, the government disregarded the wishes of
G h o s h a n d B i p i n the people.
Chndra Pal. In fact, Tilak Under the Governor-Generalship of Lord
called for the attainment Curzon, the partition came into effect on 16
of Swaraj. He said October, 1905. The partition led to protest
“Swaraj is my birthright Lala Lajpat Rai movements within Bengal. Protest movements
and I shall have it”. were launched by both the moderates and
Thus, the Congress became a bigger platform for radicals, but eventually the radicals were able to
voicing the grievances of the people. Its earlier gather greater support and momentum, which
membership was limited to a privileged few, but saw their emergence as leaders in this phase of
gradually it built a broad-based movement. the national movement.
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