Previous Year Question

Option (b) is correct. Lord Curzon’s government announced the Partition of Bengal in July 1905 and implemented it on 16 October 1905. A new province combining Eastern Bengal and Assam was created, with Dacca as its capital.

The British Government presented administrative convenience as the reason for the partition, but nationalists regarded it as a ‘divide and rule’ policy intended to break Bengali linguistic unity and divide Hindus and Muslims.

Opposition to the Partition of Bengal led to the expansion of the Swadeshi and Boycott Movement. Boycott of foreign goods, use of indigenous products, national education and public meetings were its principal forms. The agitation transformed the Bengal issue into an all-India national movement.

Due to widespread political opposition, King George V announced the annulment of the Partition of Bengal at the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911. The transfer of the capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi was also announced on the same occasion. The new administrative reorganisation became effective in 1912.

Under the reorganisation, the Bengali-speaking areas were reunited, Bihar and Orissa were constituted as a separate province, and Assam was again made a separate administrative unit.

Option (a) is incorrect: The First World War began in 1914, whereas the Partition of Bengal had already been annulled in 1911.
Option (c) is incorrect: The Civil Disobedience Movement commenced in 1930.
Option (d) is incorrect: The Partition of India in 1947 was a separate historical event; Curzon’s Partition of Bengal had ended in 1911.