WBBSE Class 8 History Chapter 8 From Communalism To The Partition Notes

WBBSE Chapter 8 From Communalism To The Partition Salient Points Introduction

1. Communalism:

The word communalism has various connotations. In Bengali, it implies differences in religious views. In the mid-nineteenth century, communalism referred to the strong grudge that one religious sect bore toward another. People who believe in communalism think that the interests of people belonging to different religions are different.

Important Definitions Related to Communalism and Partition

2. Divide and rule policy:

The policy adopted by the British government to arouse racial and communal disunity and malice was called the divide-and-rule policy. The discriminatory policy of the British was responsible for the rise of communalism in Indian politics.

The shrewd British rulers thought that they could maintain their imperialistic rule in India by implementing a divide-and-rule policy since the country was already divided into so many castes, races, and religions.

WBBSE Class 8 History Chapter 8 From Communalism To The Partition Notes

3. Communal division and the separate electorate:

The British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald introduced the Communal Award on August 16, 1932, to create a rift in the unity of the Indians.

WBBSE Class 8 Communalism to Partition Notes

The main objective was to weaken the national movement. It was a package in which the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Anglo-Direct Indians were given separate electorates.

Again, the backward Hindus were also regarded as a separate minority group. In this way, an attempt was made to destroy the unity of the Hindus. The declaration of the Communal Award made the communal issue more complicated.

4. Muslim League:

The Mohammedan Educational Conference was organized in 1906 under the leadership of Nawab Vikar ul Mulk.

At this conference, the All India Muslim League was founded in the presence of 8000 representatives. Aga Khan became the first president of the League.

Mohsin ul Mulk and Vikar ul Mulk were elected as joint secretaries. The emergence of the League gave rise to the dual nation concept. In later years the activities of the League paved the way for the division of India and the separate state of Pakistan was created.

5. Hindu Mahasabha:

The All India Hindu Mahasabha was founded on April 9, 1915, at Haridwar during Kumbhamela by the efforts of Madan Mahan Malviya.

Other associated members were Bhai Paramananda, Munje, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Ashutosh Mukherjee, Motilal Ghosh, Lala Hansraj, Munshiram (Swami Shraddhananda) Rambhuj Dutta and Bhagwan Dutta. This organization was founded to safeguard the interests of the Hindus.

6. Direct action:

Congress finally accepted the proposal of the Cabinet Mission and agreed to join the ‘Interim Government’. Viceroy Lord Wavell invited Jawaharlal Nehru to form the cabinet.

This offended the Muslim League and they decided to protest under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Muslim League called upon the Muslim society to observe August 16, 1946, as the Direct Action Day against the government. Though it was called against the government it practically turned into a fratricidal riot against the Hindus.

Key Events Leading to Partition Notes

7. The Great Calcutta Killing (Calcutta Riot):

Viceroy Wavell invited Jawaharlal Nehru to form the cabinet on August 12, 1946.

As a protest against this, under the leadership of Jinnah, the Muslim League called upon the Muslims to observe August 16 as a Direct Action Day against the government. At that time, the cabinet minister in Kolkata was led by Surahwardi.

Under his instigation, a massacre was committed in Bengal while the police and administration remained completely neutral. The situation continued for four days. Just in Kolkata, 6000 people were killed and 20000 women were raped The Statesman referred to this incident as the ‘Great Calcutta Killing”.

8. Radcliff Line:

In 1947, the National Congress and Muslim League accepted Mountbatten’s plan of partition. Two frontier commissions were set up to divide Bengal and Punjab.

The British lawyer Cyril Radcliff was the President of the Commission. He prepared a map showing the partition of India and this is called Radcliff Line. However, it was done irresponsibly since he did not have clear knowledge about the frontier of India.

The map was erroneous because Radcliff did not take the opinion of the inhabitants of Bengal and Punjab and did the work in a great hurry.

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