East Bengal was majorly into food and raw material production which the West Bengal people consumed and industrialized.
by Dewesh Kumar Vinod 3 February 2022
Introduction
In this paper, I argue that despite the suggestions of the mainstream writings, swadeshi was not a pan-Bengal movement, and it was limited because of extremist Hindu ideologies. I also argue that Swadeshi was a pivotal point in terms of Hindu-Muslim political ideological conflicts and that the factors that caused the Hindu-Muslim divide back then, continue to have a presence even in today’s political sphere. This is what is causing Muslim politics to take a separatist path.
The entire swadeshi movement came to act as the embodiment of a renaissance of the Bengali cultural, religious, and traditional understanding. The means of boycott and swadeshi were supposed to act incongruence as a double-edged sword. The idea was that if a fierce fiscal blow could be delivered to the English industrialists through the combined movements, it would coerce them to, in turn, bludgeon the British government through their powerful lobbies.[i] However, behind this veil of politico-economic steps, lay the attempt to create “an imagined political community”.[ii] The Swadeshi movement intended to rekindle within the Bengalis, a sense of reverence for their rich traditions and ‘glorious past’, to give them incentives to associate with the movement rigorously.[iii] New songs, novels, newspapers, and magazines projecting ideas of the ‘Bengali spirit’ and ‘Bharat Mata’ was coming out, with an intent to rouse the nationalistic feelings of the population of Bengal.[iv] Novels like Anandamath, bolstered the notion of ‘the mother’, which was a call to the Goddess, as well as to Bengal. This fusion of patriotism and religious devotion gave birth to modern Hindu nationalism.[v] However, this cultural ingredient is what led to the entire movement ending up as a crusade, which sought to reinstate the structure of Hindu-elite ascendancy.
Writing the discourse of Swadeshi through Bangla literature
Bangla literature was one of the media which were being used to disseminate the rejuvenated Bengali pride. To that end, folklores were dug up, refurbished, and made popular. Several writers like Rabindranath Tagore and Mitra Majumdar became the fountainheads for Bengali folklores for children and young adults,[vi] intending to bring the new generation up to speed about the rich tradition of Bengal, and thus, investing in them, a need to protect and fight for it. More importantly, the choice of the genre of their and other such works needs to be understood in the context of what was happening in Bengal. The folklores and other indigenous tales, cooked up as substitutes to books from the west, were mostly about princes, kings, and queens, taking on elephantine demons and other extremely powerful villains. This served to fill two mouths with one morsel:
- It helped project Bengalis as a valorous, intelligent, and resilient race. This was an attempt to demolish the depiction of Bengalis as feeble, effeminate, and sedentary, by Macaulay and others.
- It also served as a reminder for Bengalis to look back at these glorious days, draw inspiration, and vanquish the evil colonizer.[vii]
However, despite picking up the right genre, the writers failed to garner the interest of the marginalized groups, such as lower-caste Hindus and Muslims. The reasons for the same also lie in the literature itself. On one hand, these fables were buoying up the young generation to dauntlessly withstand the white oppression, while on the other, they were also warning them about cunning foes who often disguise themselves as companions.[viii] Such tasteless allusions at Muslims and other groups in support of the partition, did not sit well with them. Moreover, the presence of caste and class biases in the stories played a crucial role in keeping the non-elite Hindu Bengalis from being staunch supporters of the movement. Writing stories only from the perspectives of the bourgeoisie, with barely any representation from the oppressed classes/castes, and depicting members of lower castes/classes as Rakshasas,[ix] created a deep wedge between the well-off and the marginalized, thus playing a significant role in keeping them away mostly, from this movement.
The ‘Hindu’ roots of Swadeshi and the consequences thereof
The form of literary exclusion mentioned above was not confined just to the aspects of literature in the movement but extended to other traditional and religious aspects of the movement as well. Every propaganda, every facet of the cultural movement seemed to be a manifestation of the religious beliefs of the upper caste elite Bengali Hindus. Draping the entire movement in a religious shade, embracing and propagating the Sakti cult to ditch British goods, declaring swadeshi as a part of Hindu dharma, summoning masses to fight for ‘Bharat Mata’, and administering Swadeshi vows in temples, where the entry of Muslims and lower-caste Hindu Bengalis was not permitted,[x] were some of the factors that made the earlier disregarded communities maintain their distance with the agitation. This Hindu shade did have a very significant effect on the upper-caste Hindus though. Ascribing the idea of sovereignty to women, and depicting the scheme as an attack on Mother India led to an ebullition of emotions, which were profound enough to give birth to a sort of ‘Hindu Terrorism.[xi] This reshaped the language of the movement, from a passive expression of disapproval to a vigorous and violent resistance.[xii]
Conclusion
Had it been able to amass the goodwill of the Muslim community, the agitation would have been exceedingly stronger, but the very cultural notion that tied most of the Bengali Hindus together acted as a deterrent for the Muslim community. Hindu-Muslim communal antagonism thus, intensified, with the partition, with the members of the Hindu bhadralok accusing the other groups of the Bengali society for siding with the British, without acknowledging their own contributions to the issue. Muslim separatism and Hindu Nationalism, became permanent characteristics of Indian politics from then onwards. It is often argued that these features became the reasons for the partition of Bengal back then, and of the country ultimately, in 1947.[xiii]
These same factors seem to be reappearing in today’s politics. Muslims are not given a mainstream platform to voice their demands, and then, when there are demands of separate elections/governance by the community, hues and cries are raised about the separatist ‘agendas’ of the entire religion itself. The need of the hour is for political groups to acknowledge their role in destabilizing ‘religious equilibriums’, and to work towards an inclusive political space.
[i] Johnson, Gordon. “Partition, Agitation and Congress: Bengal 1904 to 1908.” Modern Asian Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, 1973, pp. 533-588. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/311853. Accessed 13 May 2021.
[ii] Paul, Debosmita. “‘Through the looking glass’: An analysis of the Swadeshi Movement through the ‘indigenous’ “Thakurmar Jhuli.”” Indian Literature, vol. 59, no. 6, 2015, pp. 153-167. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44478647. Accessed on 10 May 2021.
[iii] ibid.
[iv] Ghosh (2021).
[v] McDermott (2014).
[vi] Paul (2015).
[vii] ibid.
[viii] ibid.
[ix] ibid.
[x] Biswas, A. K. “Paradox of Anti-Partition Agitation and Swadeshi Movement in Bengal (1905).” Social Scientist, vol. 23, no. 4, 1995, pp 38-57. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3520214. Accessed 11 May 2021.
[xi] Ghosh (2021).
[xii] ibid.
[xiii] ibid.