বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (প্রথম খণ্ড)/১১৮
| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
|---|---|---|
| বংগভংগ রদ সংক্রান্ত সরকারী দলিল | গেজেট অব ইণ্ডিয়া | ১২ ডিসেম্বর, ১৯১১ |
THE GAZETTE OF INDIA
Extraordinary
DELHI, TUESDAY, THE 12TH DECEMBER, 1911.
HOME DEPARTMENT
NOTIFICATION
Delhi, the 12th December, 1911.
The Announcement graciously made by His Imperial Majesty, the King Emperor, at the Imperial Durbar is republished below and beneath it are printed’ for general information the dispatch of the Government of India of the 25th August 1911...]
ANNOUNCEMENT BY HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY
“We are pleased to announce to Our people that on the advice of Our Ministers tendered after consultation with Our Governor-General in Council. We have decided upon the transfer of the seat of the Government of India from Calcutta to the ancient Capital of Delhi, and simultaneously, and as a consequence of that transfer, the creation at as early a date as possible of a Governorship for the Presidency of Bengal, of a new Lieutenant-Governorship in Council administering the areas of Behar, Chota Nagpur and Orissa, and of a Chief Commissionership of Assam, with such administrative changes and redistribution of boundaries as Our Governor-General in Council, with the approval of Our Secretary of State for India in Council, may in due course determine.
“It is our earnest desire that these changes may conduce to the better administration of India and the greater prosperity and happiness of our beloved people.”
THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY,
DECEMBER 12,1911.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
HOME DEPARTMENT
Simla, the 25th August, 1911
MY LORD MARQUESS.
1. We venture in this despatch to address Your Lordship on a most important and urgent subject, embracing two questions of great political moment, which are in our opinion indissolubly linked together. This subject has engaged our attention for some time past and the proposals which we are about to submit for Your Lordship’s consideration are the result of our mature deliberation. We shall in the first place attempt to setforth the circumstances which have induced us to frame these proposals at this particular juncture and then proceed to lay before Your Lordship the broad general features of our scheme.
2. That the Government of India should have its seat in the same city as one of the Chief Provincial Governments, and moreover in a city geographically so ill-adapted as Calcutta to be the Capital of the Indian Empire, has long been recognized to be a serious anomaly. We need not stop to recall the circumstances in which Calcutta rose to its present position. The considerations which explain its original selection as the Principal Seat of Government have long since passed away with the consolidation of British Rule through the Peninsula and the development of a great inland system of railway communication. But it is only in the light of recent developments, constitutional and political, that the drawbacks of the existing arrangement and the urgency of a change have been fully realized. On the one hand, the almost incalculable importance of the part which can already safely be predicted for the Imperial Legislative Council in the shape it has assumed under the Indian Council Act, of 1909 renders the removal of the capital to a more central and easily accessible position practically imperative. On the other hand, the peculiar political situation which has arisen in Bengal since the Partition makes it eminently desirable to withdraw the Government of India from its present provincial environment, while its removal from Bengal is an essential feature of the scheme we have in view for allaying the ill-feeling aroused by the partition amongst the Bengali population. Once the necessity of removing the seat of the supreme Government from Bengal is established, as we trust it may be by the considerations we propose to lay before Your Lordship, there can be, in our opinion, no manner of doubt as to the choice of the new capital or as to the occasion on which that choice should be announced. On geographical, historical and political grounds, the Capital of the Indian Empire should be at Delhi, and the announcement that the transfer of the seat of Government to Delhi had been sanctioned should be made by His Majesty the King-Emperor at the forthcoming Imperial Durber in Delhi itself. 7. The only serious opposition to the transfer which may be anticipated may, we think, come from the European Commercial Community of Calcutta who might, we fear not regard the creation of a Governorship of Bengal as altogether adequate, compensation for the withdrawal of the Government of India. The opposition will be quite intelligible, but we can no doubt count upon their patriotism to reconcile them to a measure which would greatly contribute to the welfare of the Indian Empire. The Bengalis might not of course be favorably disposed to the proposal if it stood alone, for it will entail the loss of some of the influence which they now exercise owing to the fact that Calcutta is the headquarters of the Government of India. But as we hope presently to show they should be reconciled to the change by other features of our scheme which are specially designed to give satisfaction to Bengali sentiment. In these circumstances we do not think that they would be so manifestly unreasonable as to oppose it, and if they did, might confidently expect that their opposition would raise no echo in the rest of India.
8. Absolutely conclusive as these general considerations in favour of the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi in themselves appear to us to be there are further special considerations arising out of the present Political situation in Bengal and Eastern Bengal which, in our opinion, renders such a measure peculiarly opportune at such a moment, and to these we would now draw your Lordship's earnest attention.
9. Various circumstances have forced upon us the conviction that the bitterness of feeling engendered by the partition of Bengal is very widespread and unyielding and that we are by no means at an end of the troubles which followed upon that measure. Eastern Bengal and Assam has, no doubt, benefited by the Partition, and the Mohammedans of Province, who form a large majority of Population, are loyal and contented, but the resentment amongst the Bengalis in both Provinces of Bengal, who hold most of the land, fill the Professions, and exercise a preponderating in hence in public affairs, is as strong as ever, though somewhat less local.
10.The oppositions to the Partition of Bengal was at first based mainly on sentimental grounds, but, as we shall show late in discussing the proposed modification of the Partition, since the enlargement of the Legislative Councils and specially of the representative element in them, the grievance of the Bengalis has become much more real and tangible, and is likely to increase, instead of to diminish. Everyone with any true desire for the peace and prosperity of these countries must wish to find some manner of appeasement if it is in any way possible to do so. The simple rescission of the portion and a reversion to the stat as quarrante are manifestly impossible both on political and on administrative grounds. The old province of Bengal was unmanageable under any form of Government, and we could not defraud the legitimate expections of the Mohammedans of Eastern Bengal, who form the bulk of the population of that Province and who have been loyal to the British Government throughout the troubles, without exposing ourselves to the charge of bad faith. A settlement to be satisfactory and conclusive must—
11. If the headquarters of the Government of India be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi, and if Delhi be thereby made the Imperial capital, placing the city of Delhi and part of the surrounding country under the direct administration of the Government of India, the following scheme, which embraces three inter-dependent proposals, would appear to satisfy all these conditions:—
12. We elaborated at the outset our proposal to make Delhi the future capital of India, because we consider this the key-stone of the whole project, and hold that according as it is accepted or not, our scheme must stand or fall But we have still to discuss in greater detail the leading features of the other part of our scheme.
13. Chief amongst them is the proposal to constitute a Governorship-in Council for Bengal. The history of the Partition dates from 1902. Various Schemes of territorial redistribution were at that time under consideration and that which was ultimately adopted had at any rate the merit fulfilling two of the Chief purposes which its authors had in view. It relieved the overburdened administration of Bengal and it gave the Mohammedan population of Eastern Bengal advantages and opportunities of which they had perhaps hitherto not had their fair share. On the other hand, as we have already pointed out, it was deeply resented by the Bengalis. No doubt sentiment has played a considerable part in the opposition offered by the Bengalis, and, in saying this, we by no means wish to underrate the importance which should be attached to sentiment even if it be exaggerated. It is, however, no longer a matter of mere sentiment but, rather, since the enlargement of the Legislative Councils, one of undeniable reality. In pre-reform scheme days the non-official element in these Councils was small. The representation of the people has now been carried a long step forward, and in the Legislative Councils of both the provinces of Bengal and Eastern Bengal, the Bengalis find themselves in a minority. being out membered in the on by Beharis and Oriyas, and in the other by the Mohammedans of Eastern Bengal and the inhabitants of Assam. As matters now stand, the Bengalis can never exercise in either province that influence to which they consider themselves entitled by reason of their numbers, wealth and culture. This is a substantial grievance which will be all the more keenly left in the course of time, as the representative character of the Legislative Councils increases and with it the influence which these Assemblies exercise upon the conduct of Public affairs. There is therefore only too much reason to fear that, instead of dying down, the bitterness of feeling will become more and more acute.
14. It has frequently been alleged in the press that the Partition is the root cause of all recent troubles in India. The growth of political unrest in other parts of the country and notably in the Dacca before the Partition of Bengal took place disproves that assertion and we need not ascribe to the Partition evils which have not obviously flawed from it. It is certain, however, that it is, in part at any rate, responsible Jar the growing estrangement which has now unfortunately assumed a very serious character in many parts of the country between Mohammedans and Hindus. We are not without hope that a modification of the Partition, which we now propose, will, in same degree at any rate. alleviate this most regrettable antagonism.
15. To sum up, the results anticipated from the partition have not been altogether relished, and the scheme, as designed and executed, could only be justified by success. Although much good work has been done in Eastern Bengal and Assam and the Mohammedans of that Province have reaped the benefit of a sympathetic administration closely in touch with them, those advanta have been in a great measure counterbalanced by the, via lent hostility which the Partition has aroused amongst the Bengalis. For the reasons we have already indicated we feel bound to admit that the Bengalis are laboring under a sense of real injustice which we believe it would tie sound policy to remove without further delay. The Durbar of December next affords a unique occasion for rectifying what is regarded by Bengalis as a grievous wrong.
16. Anxious as we are to take Bengali feeling into account we cannot overrate the importance of consulting at the sometimes the interests and sentiments of the Mohammedans of Eastern Bengal. It must be remembered that the Mohammedans of Eastern Bengal have at present an overwhelming majority in point of population and that if the Bengali speaking divisions were amalgamated on the lines suggested in our schemes, the Mohammedans would still be in a position of approximate numerical equality with, or possibly of small superiority aver the Hindus. The future province of Bengal, more over will be a compact territory of quite moderate extent. The Governorin- Council will have ample time and opportunity to study the needs of the various communities committed to his charge. Unlike his predecessors, he will have a great advantage in that he will find ready to hand at Dacca a see and capital with all the conveniences of ordinary provincial headquarters. He will reside there from time to time, just as the Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces, frequently resides in Lucknow. and he will in this way be enabled to keep in close touch with Mohammedans sentiments and interests. It must also be borne in mind that the interests of the Mohammedans will be safeguarded by the special representation which they enjoy in the legislative councils; while as regards representation on local bodies they will be in the same position as at present. We need not therefore trouble your Lordship with the reasons why we have discarded the suggestion that a Chief Commissionership, or a semi-independent Commissionership within the new province might be created at Dacca.
24. Before concluding this despatch we venture to say a few words as regards the need for a very early decision on the proposals we have put forward far Your Lordship's consideration. It is manifest that if the transfer of the capital is to be given effect to the question becomes more difficult the longer that it remains un salved. The experience of last two. sessions has shown that present Council Chamber in Government House, Calcutta fails totally; to meet the needs of the enlarged Imperial Legislative Council, and the proposal to acquire a site and to construct a Council Chamber is already under discussion. Once a new Council Chamber is built, the position of Calcutta as the capital of India will be further strengthened and consolidated and, though we are convinced that a transfer will in any case eventually have to be made, it will then be attended by much greater difficulty and still further expense. Similarly, if some modification of the Partition is, as we believe, desirable, the sooner it is effected the better, but we do not see how it can be safely effected with due regard for the dignity of Government as well as for the public opinion of the rest of India and more specially for Mohammedan sentiment, except as part of the larger scheme we have outlined. In the event of these far reaching proposals being sanctioned by His Majesty's Government, as we trust may be the case, we are of opinion that the presence of dig Majesty the King Emperor at Delhi would offer an unique opportunity for a pronouncement of one of the most weighty decisions ever taken since the establishment of British rule in India. The other two proposals embodied in our scheme are not of such great urgency but are consequentially essential and in themselves of great importance. Half measure will be of no avail, and whatever is to be done should be done so as to make a final settlement and to satisfy the claims of all concerned. The scheme which we have ventured to commend to Your Lordship's favorable consideration is not put forward with any spirit of opportunism but in the belief that action on he lines proposed will be a bold stroke of statesmanship which would give unprecedented satisfaction and will forever associate to unique an event as the visit of the reigning sovereign to his Indian dominions with a new era in the history of India.
25. Should the above scheme meet with the approval of Your Lordship and His Majesty's Government, we would propose that the King Emperor should announce at the Durbar the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi and simultaneously, and as a consequence of that transfer, the creation at an early date of a Governorship in Council for Bengal and of a new Lieutenant-Governorship in Council for Behar. Chota Nagpur and Orissa, with such administrative changes and redistribution of boundaries as the Governor General-in-Council would in due course determine with a view to removing any legitimate causes for dissatisfaction arising out of the Partition of 1905. The formula of such a pronouncement could be designed after general sanction had been given to the scheme. This sanction we now have the honor to solicit from Your Lordship.
26. We should thus be able after the Durbar to discuss in detail with local and other authorities the best method of carrying out a modification of Bengal on such broad and comprehensive lines as to form a settlement that shall be final and satisfactory to all.
We have the honor to be.
MY LORD MARQUESS
Your Lordship's most obedient, humble servants,
(Signed) HARDINGE OF PENSHURST
" O’ MOORE CREAGH.
" J. L. JENKINS.
" R. W. CARLYLE.
" S. H. BUTLER.
" SAIYID ALI IMAM.
" W. H. CLARK.