United Bengal

History

As the Hindu-Muslim conflict escalated and the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan became popular among Indian Muslims, the partition of India on communal lines was deemed inevitable by mid-1947. To prevent the inclusion of Hindu-majority districts of Punjab and Bengal in a Muslim Pakistan, the Indian National Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha sought the partition of these provinces on communal lines. Bengali nationalists such as Sarat Chandra Bose, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Kiran Shankar Roy, Abul Hashim, Satya Ranjan Bakshi and Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry sought to counter partition proposals with the demand for a united and independent state of Bengal. Ideological visions for a "Greater Bengal" also included the regions of Assam. Suhrawardy and Bose sought the formation of a coalition government between Bengali Congress and the Bengal Provincial Muslim League. Proponents of the plan urged the masses to reject communal divisions and uphold the vision of a united Bengal. In a press conference held in Delhi on April 27, 1947 Suhrawardy presented his plan for a united and independent Bengal and Abul Hashim issued a similar statement in Calcutta on April 29. A few days later, Sarat Chandra Bose put forward his proposals for a "Sovereign Socialist Republic of Bengal."

Proposal

With the support of the British governor of the Bengal province, Frederick Burrows, Bengali leaders issued the formal proposal on May 20:

1. Bengal would be a Free State. The Free State of Bengal would decide its relations with the rest of India.
2. The Constitution of the Free State of Bengal would provide for election to the Bengal Legislature on the basis of a joint electorate and adult franchise, with reservation of seats proportionate to the population among Hindus and Muslims. The seats set aside for Hindus and Scheduled Caste Hindus would be distributed amongst them in proportion to their respective population, or in such manner as may be agreed among them. The constituencies would be multiple constituencies and the votes would be distributive and not cumulative. A candidate who got the majority of the votes of his own community cast during the elections and 25 percent of the votes of the other communities so cast, would be declared elected. If no candidate satisfied these conditions, that candidate who got the largest number of votes of his own community would be elected.
3. On the announcement by His Majesty's Government that the proposal of the Free State of Bengal had been accepted and that Bengal would not be partitioned, the present Bengal Ministry would be dissolved. A new interim Ministry would be brought into being, consisting of an equal number of Muslims and Hindus (including Scheduled Caste Hindus) but excluding the Chief Minister. In this Ministry, Chief Minister would be a Muslim and the Home Minister a Hindu.
4. Pending the final emergence of a Legislature and a Ministry under the new constitutions, Hindus (including Scheduled Caste Hindus) and Muslims would have an equal share in the Services, including military and police. The Services would be manned by Bengalis.
5. A Constituent Assembly composed of 30 persons, 16 Muslims and 14 non-Muslims, would be elected by Muslim and non-Muslim members of the Legislature respectively, excluding Europeans.

Failure

The proposal made no mention of Bengal's status in the Commonwealth if it were to become independent, such as would it accept dominion status as was done later with the Union of India, the Dominion of Pakistan and Ceylon; or totally sever ties with the United Kingdom.

Oppostion

On May 12, 1947 Abul Hashim and Sarat Bose met Mahatma Gandhi to discuss the United Bengal scheme and received his blessings. But the day after, on May 13, 1947, the president of the Indian National Congress, JB Kripalini, dismissed any notions to "save the unity of Bengal". In reply to the plea, made by Ashrafuddin Chowdhury, a Muslim nationalist and peasant leader from Tippera, Kripalini wrote: "All that the Congress seeks to do today is to rescue as many areas as possible from the threatened domination of the League and Pakistan. It wants to save as much territory for a Free Indian Union as is possible under the circumstances. It therefore insists upon the division of Bengal and Punjab into areas for Hindustan and Pakistan respectively."

The Muslim League and the Congress issued statements rejecting the notion of an independent Bengal on May 28 and June 1 respectively. The communists also rejected such notions According to Mountbatten, Muhammad Ali Jinnah agreed to the proposal of a United Bengal though and it was only after Nehru and Patel rejected it that Jinnah agreed to the division of Bengal. Madhuri Bose, niece of Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose claimed that Jinnah agreed to reconsider his partition plan, on the condition that Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose take over the leadership of the Indian National Congress.

When the Congress agreed to the partition of Punjab, the Hindu Mahasabha, fearing a Muslim majority, dropped its aspirations for a United India and started to fiercely oppose the notion of independent Bengal. Bengali Muslim leader Khawaja Nazimuddin and Maulana Akram Khan sought the exclusion of Hindu-majority areas to establish a homogenous Muslim Pakistan.

Amidst aggravating Hindu-Muslim tensions and the opposition of the Congress and Muslim League leadership, on June 3 British viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten announced plans to partition India and consequently Punjab and Bengal on communal lines, burying the demand for an independent Bengal.

Legacy

In 2016, Madhuri Bose, niece of Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose claimed in her book The Bose Brothers, Sarat Bose held the Congress more responsible of the failure of the idea than the Muslim League.