Question

Why is October 16,1905 regarded as an important day in the history of Indian National Movement?

Answer 1

Hint:October 16, 1905 is a historic date in Indian National Movement because from this day, the partition of Bengal came into force on the orders of the erstwhile Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon.It was observed as amourning day throughout Bengal as they felt this partition was done to divide the unity of people of Bengal.People fasted and walked barefoot in processions singing Vande Mataram on the streets. People tied rakhis on each other’s hands as a symbol of unity of the two halves of Bengal.

Complete answer:
The decision to divide Bengal was announced by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India in July 1905. This partition came into effect on 16 October 1905 and divided the Muslim majority of eastern Bengal from the Hindu majority of the western Bengal.
Reason for the partition-
The Britishers presented the argument of administration. Bengal had a population of 78 million which was too big to be administered by the officials of the company, but the real motives behind the partition was to weaken Bengal, the epicentre of Indian nationalism and divide the Muslims and Hindus on the basis of religion.
Indians were enraged at this decision and referred to it as “divide and rule” by the British, who were turning Indians against each other. Bengali Hindus, who held a strong foothold in business and in the rural areas, argued that the Partition would make them a minority in their own native state. This led to the Swadeshi Movement which was of utmost importance as it was the threshold point of Indians and started the extremist phase of Indian History.

Swadeshi Movement-
Swadeshi Movement was a revolution by the people of Bengal boycotting the foriegn goods and adopting the ‘swadeshi’ or domestic goods.The primary learning for this movement according to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Lala Lajpat Rai, was training in ‘self-determination’, ‘self-help’, and ‘self-reliance’ . Krishna Kumar Mitra’s newspaper, ‘Sanjivani’ highlighted the prospects of national education and ‘Economic Swadeshi’.This was a comprehensive movement that lasted for about 6 years.

Note:Radicalism became a synonym of the Swadeshi movement after the partition of Bengal. After the partition, industrial strikes became the hallmark of the Swadeshi movement which seriously affected British trade. There were strikes in various cotton , jute factories of Bengal; railway workers also went on strike. This all fueled the nationalism in Indians and they started to believe they could stand up against the British.