A Partition of Contingency? Public Discourse in Bengal 1946–1947
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Multiple Nations-Draft02.pdf
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Author(s)
Roy, Haimanti
Date Issued
February 2009
Journal
Modern Asian Studies
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation
HAIMANTI ROY (2009). A Partition of Contingency? Public Discourse in Bengal, 1946–1947. Modern Asian Studies, 43 , pp 1355-1384
doi:10.1017/S0026749X08003788
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The historiography on the Partition of Bengal has tended to see it as a culmination of long term trends Hindu and Muslim communalism within the province. This essay offers a counter narrative to the ‘inevitability’ of the Partition by focusing on Bengali public discourse in the months leading up to the Partition. The possibility of a division generated a large-scale debate amongst the educated in Bengal and they articulated their views by sending numerous letters to leading newspapers, district political and civic organizations and sometimes published pamphlets for local consumption. A critical examination of this public debate for and against Partition reveals the countdown to August 1947 as a period of multiple possibilities. Understanding the genesis provides the starting point and the necessary corrective to evaluate India’s path to post –colonial nationhood.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Humanities. History Section
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Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
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DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X08003788
