Swadeshi Turns 120

'Bengal united is a power; Bengal divided will pull in several different ways. That is perfectly true and is one of the merits of the scheme,' wrote HH Risley in one of his notes on 6 December 1904. 'The only rejoinder that I can think of is that Bengal is very densely populated; that Eastern Bengal is the most populated portion, that it needs room for expansion and that it can only expand towards the East. So far from hindering national development we are really giving it greater scope, and enabling Bengal to absorb Assam,' added the civil servant who had contributed immensely to ethnographic studies on India. These words, often quoted in different contexts, attained a degree of notoriety.

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News headlines from Bangladesh, and the diverse reactions in India and other countries, are not only disturbing and distressing, but also disquieting as they bode ill for developments in South-east Asian politics. The promising dawn of the 'century of Asia' seems to be eclipsed in the dark shadows of violence. Bangladesh, liberated in 1971 with the help of the Indian Army, is at the crossroads of history facing the harsh realities of civilian-Army politics, ethnic clashes, bloodshed and social turmoil across its otherwise serene riverine countryside.

In the new year of 2025, it pays to recall the sub-continent's historic Swadeshi movement and the heights it reached in 1905: also, an opportune moment to pay homage to heroes of the movement, 120 years after their singular and often spectacular achievements. It is also an eye-opener to the shaping of nationalist thought and action which brought together some of the finest, bravest, boldest Indians when the decision to partition Bengal was implemented by the British Raj in 1905. The unity demonstrated in 1905 could serve as a lesson of history today.

Years before Prof Sumit Sarkar of Delhi University wrote the epic 'The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal 1903-1908', his address during the Indian History Congress in 1970 sought a deeper understanding of the nature and working of imperialism, both in India and on a world scale. His address was titled 'Imperialism and Nationalist Thought'; it was focused on Bengal while acknowledging equally significant political and social developments in Maharashtra and Punjab.