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Partition of Bengal, Swadeshi Movement and the Role of Rabindranath Tagore

In the history of colonial India an event of crucial importance was the Partition of Bengal in 1905 by the British government. Against this injustice and oppression a furious sedition upsurged among the national people but the government remained impervious to every appeal, plead and protest. The unamenable decision of government escalated the open hostility which culminated into Boycott resolution and the formal proclamation of Swadeshi Movement. The great poet-philosopher,Rabindranath Tagore initially joined the movement, delivering lectures and composing patriotic songs. But being an ardent worshipper of humanism and Ahimsa or non-violence, he found it difficult to accept the atrocities perpetrated by the nationalists which gradually turned the blazing fire of protest against partition into embers. So Tagore dissociated himself from the movement which was viewed by many of his critics as an act of betrayal. But his response to such criticism was fictionally articulated in his political novels where he firmly asserted that patriotism should always be centred around humanity.

Author(s): 
Priyanka Mitra
Language: 
English
URL: 
www.questjournals.org/jrhss/papers/vol7-issue1/J0701013742.pdf
Publisher/Sponsor: 
Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science