Will Bengal Be 'Divided' Further? Mostly Not, Despite All The Rhetoric

When Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India in 1905, announced the partition of Bengal on religious lines, the decision was met with stiff resistance from a section of people. Bengalis, mainly from the Hindu-dominated western part of the province, alleged that the step was part of the British colonial policy of divide and rule. Among the intellectuals who actively led the protests against the bifurcation was Rabindranath Tagore.

The celebrated bard, in an ode to Mother Bengal, composed a song in support of the resistance against the partition of the state: "Banglar mati, Banglar jol, Banglar baayu, banglar phal, Punyo houk punyo houk, punyo houk hey bhagoban". Loosely translated, it says this: "The soil of Bengal, the water of Bengal, the air of Bengal, the fruit of Bengal, blessed be them, blessed be them, blessed be them, Oh Lord". As per historical records, he also initiated a "Raksha Bandhan Utsav" to unite Hindus and Muslims against the division. 

The Raj claimed that the partition was intended to improve administration, with Calcutta being the capital for the western part and Dacca for the east. However, the protesters dubbed it as a ploy to drive a religious wedge among Bengalis. Ultimately, towards the end of 1911, King George V annulled the partition and declared the reunification of the eastern part with the then Bengal Presidency.

Why Few Are Buying The Idea

It's against this background that the votaries of the "divide Bengal" theory today find themselves facing strong opposition from the people of Bengal, where linguistic and cultural bonds are held above religious beliefs. In fact, the 2024 mandate proved that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has managed to successfully navigate the issue of "outsiders" beyond religious lines. Nonetheless, another division, which led to the formation of East Pakistan amidst widespread bloodshed, went against political prudence. 

The northern parts of Bengal and the western areas lying along the borders of Jharkhand and Odisha have seven Lok Sabha and 49 assembly segments each. Any decision to bifurcate or trifurcate the state may affect the TMC electorally in the remaining 28 Lok Sabha and 196 assembly constituencies spread across the rest of the state.

Sporadic voices for a bifurcation, or trifurcation, have been raised by individuals who find that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has done well with voters in the north and southwestern parts of the state. Around half of the dozen seats the BJP has won in Bengal this year are from the north and four from the southwest.

Incidentally, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) too has been working with tribals and other inhabitants of Jangalmahal (the forested areas in the southwestern region of the state) for over two decades, and their work bore fruit for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. However, subsequent internal events - including infighting among some state leaders and their followers - have stagnated its growth. Yet, the party enjoys the status of being the largest opposition in the state.

Two Movements

In north Bengal, separatist movements like the Gorkhaland agitation in the Darjeeling hills and the Kamatapur movement by Koch Rajbongshis of Cooch Behar, have been going on for decades. The Koch Rajbongshis movement - which has always aimed to pressurise the ruling governments in the state - has found the BJP being sympathetic towards it. The party's leadership has not officially accepted its demands, though a few MPs from north Bengal have expressed open support. 

Undoubtedly, the BJP has enjoyed support in these areas of the state; the party has been winning Darjeeling since the 2009 national election. It also won the Cooch Behar seat for the first time in 2019, though it lost it later, apparently due to the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) rules ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The Rajbongshis claim that the rules will allow people who migrated from across the border to continue living on their ancestral land.

The disquiet was again evident when Nagendra Ray, a BJP representative in the Rajya Sabha and staunch advocate of a separate state, reiterated on July 25 the demand for a Greater Cooch Behar state. Ray goes by the name of 'Ananta Maharaj' and claims that he is a direct descendent of the erstwhile rulers of the earlier Cooch Behar state. In the Rajya Sabha, he claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured him that he would look into the demand for a separate state and that the Prime Minister too had instructed the Home Ministry regarding that.

Not An Easy Route

But as was the case with Gorkhaland, a separate state for the Koch Rajbongshi community would entail carving out portions of not only Bengal but adjoining states as well. Such an attempt may not sit well with the adjoining northeastern neighbours, where the BJP has been doing well with support from its North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) partners.

Considering the history, a further division of Bengal is thus an idea that may never come to fruition even if it continues to loom over the state. In any case, Mamata Banerjee will try to gain as much political mileage out of the issue as she can ahead of the 2026 assembly election. 

(Jayanta Bhattacharya is a senior journalist writing on polls and politics, conflict, farmer and human interest issues)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author