How was the response of the people on the declaration of the partition of Bengal in 1905?

During the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon, the decision to partition Bengal was announced in 1905. The reasons mentioned were difficulty in the administration of a large province of Bengal with 80 million population. This was true in a sense, but the primary motive behind the partition was the policy of ‘Divide and Rule.’ The British aimed at destroying the unity of Hindu-Muslim and target them.

The response by the public completely shook this idea, and there was widespread political unrest.

This can be enumerated as below:

1. The Indian National Congress protested this move and considered it as an attempt to divide the state into communal lines.

2. It was considered as an insult to the motherland by the people. It resulted in Boycott and Swadeshi movements.

3. There was large scale boycott of British products which had negatively affected the Indian markets.

4. People were on the street tying ‘rakhis’ symbolising unity among them and shouting ‘Bande Mataram.’

5. Rabindranath Tagore composed ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ in protest to the partition.

Following these protests, both the Bengals were reunited in the year 1911, and the capital of the British empire was shifted from Bengal to Delhi.