{"id":809,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=809"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:34","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:34","slug":"08-partition-of-bengal-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/27-supplement-volume-27\/08-partition-of-bengal-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","title":{"rendered":"-08_Partition of Bengal.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n


\n
\nPartition of Bengal<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n                                 
\n<\/span>I<\/b><\/font>T SEEMS strange that few of our old leaders
\nare able to realise the very simple fact that the bearings of <\/span>this
\nquestion have undergone a most radical change in the course of the last few
\nmonths. We objected so strongly to this measure because it was calculated to
\nstrike a serious blow at the political power of the Bengalee-speaking race. Our
\nsecond objection was that it was professedly wanted by the Government to create
\na Mahomedan province with Dacca as its capital, and the evident object of it was
\nto sow discord between the Hindus and the Mahomedans in a Province that had
\nnever known it in the whole history of the present British connection. The first
\nobject of the Government has failed most egregiously. The political power of the
\nBengalee people is a hundred times greater today, divided though they are
\nadministratively now, than it was before the Partition of their Province, and
\nthe continuance of the Partition will in- crease instead of in any way-abating
\nthis power. Those who fear that the present ferment will soon settle down as
\npeople become accustomed to the new order, have misread the whole situation. The
\npresent agitation has clearly touched much deeper grounds than these men seem to
\nhave any idea of. There is in this agitation a consciousness of a new strength,
\nthe quickening of a new life, the inspiration of a new ideal. This agitation is
\nnot an agitation merely against Partition or against any other particular
\nmeasure of the Government; it is an agitation for the coming of the people to
\ntheir own in the political life of their country. Not the revocation of
\nPartition or any modification of it such as will place the Bengalee nation under
\none administration, but the attainment of absolute national autonomy, –<\/span>
\nit is this alone that will settle down this movement. This is the one absolutely
\nun- questionable fact that stands out clearly of the history of Bengal for the
\nlast twelve months; and it proves the complete failure of one at least of the
\nevil objects with which the Partition of Bengal was effected. And the other
\nobject is also bound to fail as egre\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-20<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

giously. The Government has, to some slight extent, succeeded in creating
\na breach between the Hindus and the Mahomedans in the New Province; but signs
\nare not wanting of the total and collapse of this evil endeavour also. In some
\nplaces, as at Comilla for instance, the Mahomedan populations misled just a. while by interested
\nleaders, have already come to recognise ,the identity of their political
\ninterests with those of the Hindu populations, and they have, therefore, already
\njoined the present
\nagitation almost in full force. At Dacca and other places the folly
\nof their present anti-Hindu attitude is being brought home to them by sterner means,
\nand it will not be long before they too come to realise that they must sink or swim
\nwith their Hindu fellow-countrymen and that isolation from or opposition to the
\npresent
\nmovement will necessarily spell their serfdom and subordination in the coming
\nera of India’s national autonomy and national progress. The fatal folly of the
\nAnglo-Indian Press who are trying to incite racial animosities will also be
\ndiscovered to their own authors as it has already been to the general intelligent
\npublic all over India. The idea that by
\nencouraging Mahomedan <\/span>rowdyism, the present agitation may be put down, is
\npreposterous; and those who cherish this notion forget that the bully is neither the
\nstrongest nor the bravest of men; and that because the self-restraint of the Hindu,
\nmiscalled cowardice, has been a prominent feature of his national character, he
\nis absolutely incapable of striking straight and striking hard when any sacred  
\n<\/span>situation demands this. Nor has it been proved even in recent  British-concocted disputes between Hindus and Mahomedans in different parts of India, that the mild Hindu is so absolutely helpless and incapable of defending his rights and liberties he is painted to be by his foreign enemies. Even in Bengal,
\nand more particularly in East Bengal, it must not be supposed that
\nthe fighting capacity of the Mahomedan is greater than that of the
\nHindu, The upper classes, both among Mahomedans and
\nHindus, are equally weak and they do not constitute anywhere
\nthe rowdiest element of society. It is the lower classes alone who find its
\nrowdyism to every society; and the lower class of Hindus, notably the Namasudras,
\n<\/i>than whom a finer set of fighting materials can hardly be found anywhere, are as
\nstrong and as brave as the\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-21<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n


\nlower class of Mahomedans, and in the frequent fights between rival Zemindars
\nthese Hindus form as strong an element as the Mahomedans. There is no desire
\namong any responsible Hindu leader in Bengal or elsewhere to set up the Hindu
\nagainst the Mahomedan, and the influence of educated leadership has always been
\nexerted in the past, as it is being done even now, on the side of amity and
\npeace; but if the larger interests of the nation, which means the larger
\ninterests of both the Hindus and the Mahomedans alike, ever demand that the
\nHindu should show his hand, if only to take the conceit of superior physical
\ncourage or physical force out of any opposing faction in the country, there will
\nbe no hesitancy to do it. The Anglo-Indian publicist who harps constantly on the
\nweakness of the Babu, forgets that the Babu stands no longer by himself, but has
\nthe whole country, and more particularly the whole of the Hindu population, at
\nhis back. The present movement has welded the masses and the classes together;
\nand it is therefore not likely to be cowed down by any threat of violence from
\nany quarter. And all these tend to show that both the evils which the Partition
\nwas designed to work, have no chance of being realised, whether the Partition is
\nkept up or it is revoked and modified.
\n             
\n<\/span>But still we want the revocation of this Partition, because such a
\nrevocation will prove the helplessness of the Government in the face of the
\npresent agitation, and a practical confession of their defeat. The fall of Sir
\nB. Fuller has partly proved this, and the revocation of the Partition will only
\ncomplete this proof. But to reap this precious result out of the reversal of the
\nPartition, we must leave the Government to climb down from their present
\nunfortunate position absolutely by themselves, without any help, either direct
\nor indirect, from us. In this view, we think it would be the height of folly to
\nsend in any fresh petition or representation to the Indian Secretary on the
\nsubject, even though the wire-pullers at Palace Chambers should instruct us to
\ndo it.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-22<\/font>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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