West Bengal Day: 3 votes that shaped the Indian state

On June 20, 1947, the Bengal Legislative Assembly held three pivotal votes that would decide the fate of Bengal as British India prepared to partition. In a joint session of the Assembly, 126 members voted against partition (favouring an undivided Bengal), while 90 voted for partition (to join India).

Next, the legislators from Muslim-majority areas voted 106–35 against partition (opting to join Pakistan), and finally, the legislators from Hindu-majority areas voted 58–21 for partition (to remain in India). Under Lord Mountbatten’s plan, any of these majority votes would trigger partition, and the 58–21 vote in the Hindu-majority (future West Bengal) was enough to carve Bengal into East and West.

This outcome “set the stage for the creation of West Bengal as a province of India and East Bengal as a province of the Dominion of Pakistan”.

The assembly votes were the climax of intense negotiations. Bengal’s last Premier, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (who would later become Prime Minister of Pakistan), had proposed a free state of Bengal – a united, independent Bengal outside both India and Pakistan. Suhrawardy, a Muslim League leader, argued that partitioning Bengal would be “economically disastrous” (Calcutta’s industry and Calcutta itself would go to the west, he warned). Remarkably, Muhammad Ali Jinnah of the Muslim League backed an independent, undivided Bengal, hoping it could join Pakistan later. Suhrawardy campaigned on this plan at a May 1947 press conference in Delhi and even met Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Sarat Chandra Bose, a senior Congress leader and elder brother of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, enthusiastically joined Suhrawardy.

Together, Bose and Suhrawardy sought a United Bengal – Bose envisaged a socialist yet sovereign Bengal within a wider Indian union. Mahatma Gandhi and even Jinnah expressed sympathy for keeping Bengal united.

However, powerful Hindu leaders opposed this compromise. Syama Prasad Mukherjee of the Hindu Mahasabha led the demand for partition to protect Bengal’s Hindus. Mukherjee had long campaigned for a “Bengali Hindu homeland” and in 1946 insisted on dividing Bengal so that Hindu-majority areas (especially Calcutta and the industrial west) would remain in India. He broke with Congress over the Cabinet Mission proposals and was instrumental in mustering enough votes against a united Bengal.

The Congress leadership in Delhi (Nehru, Patel) rejected the united Bengal plan too, fearing it would weaken India. In the Assembly, Mukherjee and his allies ensured the final vote in the Hindu-majority zone was overwhelmingly for partition (58–21), effectively ratifying the division of Bengal.

Once the assembly votes were counted, Bengal’s borders had to be drawn. A Bengal Boundary Commission (headed by Britain’s Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the same judge dividing Punjab) was set up to demarcate the line. Radcliffe’s commission took into account district majorities, religious composition, and economic links.

On August 17, 1947 – two days after Indian and Pakistani independence – the Radcliffe Award announced the line. West Bengal (the Hindu-majority west) and East Bengal (Muslim-majority east) were born. (The adjacent Sylhet district had voted in a referendum to join East Bengal, and later became part of Pakistan.) Most of Calcutta stayed in West Bengal, while large Muslim areas of North and East Bengal became East Pakistan.

Sarat Chandra Bose, a Congress leader and proponent of the United Bengal scheme. Bose (c. 1940) resigned from Congress over Bengal’s partition and worked with Suhrawardy on an independent Bengal plan.

Aftermath and building West Bengal

With partition, West Bengal inherited a deep humanitarian crisis. An estimated 10 to 15 million people fled across the new borders – Bengali and Marwari Hindus from East Bengal into West Bengal, and Muslims moving east. Calcutta was overwhelmed by refugees. In the years after 1947, West Bengal’s landscape and politics were “transformed” by this influx. Temporary camps, new towns, and land-reform laws (like Operation Barga, which gave sharecroppers land rights) were among the early steps to absorb refugees and rebuild.

Politically, the refugee issue gave rise to urgent debates and government programs throughout the 1950s. In 1950, West Bengal became a full state of the Indian Union under the new Constitution (now as Paschim Banga), with Calcutta as its capital.

West Bengal since 1947: Politics, culture, economy

West Bengal has since traversed a rich and turbulent trajectory. In culture and education, it remained a powerhouse: it had been a centre of the 19th-century Bengali Renaissance, producing intellectuals and reformers. After independence, its cultural heritage “ranges from stalwarts in literature, including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore, to scores of musicians, filmmakers and artists”.

Bengali cinema and literature flourished post-1947 – Satyajit Ray’s films (like Pather Panchali, 1955) won international acclaim, and writers like Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay and later Mahasweta Devi enriched its literary canon. Annual festivals like Durga Puja became exuberant civic celebrations, reflecting the city’s cosmopolitan spirit. (By the 21st century, Durga Puja had evolved into a “glamorous carnival” drawing diverse crowds.)

Politically, West Bengal saw a dramatic change. The 1967 Naxalbari uprising – a peasant revolt inspired by Maoist ideas – began in northern West Bengal. Although the early rebellion was quickly suppressed, it foreshadowed decades of communist influence and underground insurgencies. In 1977, West Bengal elected the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front, starting a 34-year Left Front government.

The Left instituted land reforms and expanded rural education, but its later years saw increasing political violence (including clashes with Maoist insurgents) and economic stagnation. “For several decades, the state underwent political violence and economic stagnation after the beginning of communist rule in 1977 before it rebounded”.

In 2011, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress ended Left rule, ushering in new politics. Since then, West Bengal’s economy has been diversifying. It remains India’s sixth-largest state economy (around US$200 billion GDP in 2023–24). Traditional industries – jute, tea plantations, leather, and heavy engineering – still exist, but newer sectors like information technology, pharmaceuticals, and services have grown in Kolkata and the suburbs. Tourism has boomed as well, with three UNESCO World Heritage sites (the Sundarbans delta, Calcutta’s Colonial architecture and Victoria Memorial) and vibrant cultural attractions. However, challenges remain: the state’s GDP per capita and human development index lag behind India’s best-performing states, and issues like land acquisition and infrastructure persist.

A big blot on Banerjee's rule has been an almost annual fare of communal riots, especially since 2017.

Throughout its 75 years, West Bengal has also retained its rich cultural fabric. The Bengali language and literature remained a core identity (rooted in heritage figures like Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee), while Bengali cuisine (rosogolla sweets, fish curry, etc.) and folk arts continued to define everyday life. Figures like poet Jibanananda Das, filmmaker Satyajit Ray, dancer Mamata Shankar, and countless musicians carried on Bengal’s traditions internationally.

The state’s universities and intellectual institutions (Visva-Bharati, Presidency College, Jadavpur University) educated generations. In recent years, West Bengal has worked to modernise its industries and infrastructure while celebrating milestones like 100 years of Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel-winning achievement.

As West Bengal reflects on June 20, 1947 – its legislative birthdate – citizens remember both the tragedy of Partition and the resilience of rebuilding. The “Foundation Day” honours the democratic choice that kept Bengal united in India. Today, West Bengal stands as a state shaped by those historic votes, with a distinct culture and economy that continues to evolve from its complex origins.