Role of the Bengal Province during the Pakistan Movement: A Historical Analysis

Abstract

This article examines the socio-economic, political and electoral role of Bengal in the Pakistan Movement between 1937 and 1947. Bengal was the largest Muslim-majority province of British India. It had significant economic, demographic and political importance. The study traces the transformation of Bengal’s Muslim politics from regional, agrarian-based politics to national- level support for the All-India Muslim League. The study analyses the 1937 provincial elections, the Krishak Praja Party–Muslim League coalitions, the agrarian reforms of A. K. Fazlul Huq’s ministry, the reorganization of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and the impact of the Second World War in the form of the Bengal Famine. The article argues that Bengal’s contributions were not only directed by the Muslim League’s central leadership. Rather, political under-representation, economic inequalities, religious identity, and the demand for provincial autonomy shaped Bengal’s Muslim political consciousness. It was Fazlul Huq’s presentation of the Pakistan Resolution in 1940, which provided decisive provincial legitimacy to the Pakistan demand, while the organizational efforts of Khawaja Nazimuddin, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, and Abul Hashim transformed the League into a mass political organization. The Muslim League’s decisive victory in the 1946 Bengal elections and Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy’s resolution at the Delhi Convention in 1946 on the issue of States was a popular endorsement of Pakistan’s demand by the Bengali Muslims. The study concludes that, despite the support of the United Bengal movement, Bengal’s political leadership’s role was indispensable for the success of the Pakistan Movement.