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- Provincial state of Bengal had an area of 189,000 sq. miles and a population of nearly 8 crores. It included the Hindi-speaking regions of Bihar, the Oriya-speaking regions of Orissa as well as the Assamese-speaking region of Assam, making it a huge administrative entity. Moreover, the capital Calcutta was the capital of entire British India.
- Lord Curzon decided to partition Bengal into two entities, Muslim majority (East) and Hindu Majority (West) to reduce administrative pressures and divide the population on religious grounds, quelling the Indian Independence Movement.
- Partition of Bengal was made on 16th October 1905, by Viceroy Curzon. Former province of Bengal was divided into two new provinces (1) Bengal: Comprising western Bengal, Bihar and Orissa with capital at Calcutta. It had 17 million Bengalis and 37 million Oriya and Hindi-speaking people thus reducing Bengalis to a linguistic minority in Bengal itself. (2) East Bengal & Assam: with a population of 31 million people and with its capital at Dhaka.
- The partition of the state intended to curb Bengali influence by not only placing Bengalis under two administrations but by reducing them to a minority in Bengal itself. Also, the partition was meant to foster another kind of division-this time based on religion, i.e., between the Muslims and the Hindus.
- The Indian Nationalists saw the design behind the partition and condemned it unanimously. The anti-partition and Swadeshi movements had begun.
- Due to these protests, two parts of Bengal were reunited in 1911. A partition that divided Bengal on linguistic, rather than religious grounds followed, with Hindi, Oriya and Assamese areas separated to form separate administrative units: Bihar and Orissa Province were created in West and Assam Province in east. The Administrative capital of British India was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi as well.
