A new element was added to life in Calcutta as the 20th
century dawned. The city became increasingly mobilised for
mass political agitation. Lord Curzon, the viceroy at the
time, announced a plan in 1905 to partition the province of
Bengal. His rationale was that the province had become an
administrative liability. The Bengali intelligentsia, self-conscious
about its nationalism, interpreted the act as an attempt to
divide the province along religious lines, separating eastern
Bengal , which was predominantly Muslim, from the Hindu-dominated
areas. The intelligentsia reacted by organizing protest meetings
and demonstrations. Calcutta was at the vortex of this movement,
the main thrust of which was the boycott of foreign goods
in favour of those produced in India. This gave the movement
its name : “Swadeshi” (home made). One of the
leaders was Rabindranath Tagore, whose lyrics of beauty and
spirituality evoked the sense of Bengali identity that was
singing the nation into unity.
The Swadeshi movement brought Calcutta into the center of
politics, but in an ironic aftermath the agitation crystallised
the government’s decision to transfer the capital from
Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. This is seen as the date marking
the beginning of Calcutta’s political decline, with
the shifting of the focus of political power to virtually
the other side of the country. The absence of a viceroy inflicted
quite a blow to the city’s status. Though Calcutta continued
to remain important, it was clear to perceptive observers
that things were not going to be as they had been. The diminution
in political importance was compounded by the rising economic
importance of Bombay. This notwithstanding, through the first
of the 20th century Calcutta retained its cultural pre-eminence.
A reflection of this is to be found in the memorable pronouncement
of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, nationalist leader par excellence,
that what Bengal thinks today India thinks tomorrow.
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