1. Evolution of Bangali

Beginning

In 1500 B.C., Bengal was mainly inhabited by Australoid people. Around this time, some Mongoloid tribes started settling down in the North –East of the Deltas while few Proto-Dravidian tribes started making South-West as their abode. Aryans initially shunned water logged Bengal deltas but by 1500 B.C. they also started immigrating to Bengal. Bhadrabahu, a Jain saint from a Brahmin family of Northern Bengal served Chandra Gupta Mauryan in 300 B.C. Aryan migration to Bengal did start long before advent of Buddha and Mahavira. Aryan migration to Bengal was a win-win situation. Aryans brought with them wet rice cultivation technique which transformed the water logged land into a surplus rice producing area. At that time Bengal as we understand today did not exist. Bengal did not have a large population. Eastern Bengal was a dense forest. Only south-western and northern part had settled population. However, small groups of indigenous people were scattered all around Bengal plains. Many groups of various tribes practiced rotating rice cultivation (jhoom ) in the periphery of forests. Fishing, sericulture, weaving and hunting were other occupations. Aryans were accepted with open arms. There was plenty for everybody. Slowly Aryans, Australoids, Proto-Dravidians and Mongoloid tribes started mixing in a great melting pot of yester-years in self-sufficient villages. There was great churning of people and language. Bangali jati and Bangla Bhasha evolved from this shake up. Rice and fish eating Bangali people are descendant of Aryan, Australoid, Dravidian, and Mongoloid mixed stock. These people are soft, emotional and romantic. They lack fierceness of character. But they are still very independent minded. They are easily subdued physically but their thoughts are not. They love music and language. From time immemorial these people sang songs of love, friendship & humanity. In the process, these people developed a wonderful language and a literature, called Bangla Bhasha. Bangla is a Sanskrit based language that draws immensely from now extinct tribal languages and also from Arabic, Persian and Chinese. Finally Bangla has acquired more English words than we generally believe. Bangla is a wonderful language for its sweetness and rhythmic beauty. Bangali people are not so fortunate. They are divided in two mentally, culturally and politically. Bangladesh with a majority Muslim population actually carried out and still attempting elimination of all indigenous Bangali people including Hindus ever since second partition of Bengal. In the process, Bangladesh became international bread basket due to loss of educated and enterprising Hindus and subsequent population explosion of Muslim peasants. On the other hand, West Bengal, a small state in the union of India lost its pre-eminence in the sub-continent due to inept handling of assimilation of uprooted Bengali refugees from Bangladesh resulting in spread of socialist idealism killing the flourishing industrial base of pre-partition  Bengal. Over last seventy years Bangali has lost its way in mediocrity. Renaissance of Bangali people of 19^th century is long past.

Early Developments (Pals and Sens)

Not much is known about Bengal before Buddha. Bengal was not a single entity in the beginning. Neither it was important militarily nor economically in the vast Indian peninsula. Bengal was a fringe part of Mauryan Empire and subsequently of Gupta Empire. However Bengal, at that time, did not require firm control as the area did not pose any threat to Aryan India. The area was practically autonomous and loosely connected to the empire. Numerous tribes and groups were living in the area. Small chieftains/ Jaminders controlled the land. Slowly the area grew politically and gravitated to five main states. Broadly, today’s Bengal is sum total of five main kingdoms of the early centuries: - Gaud, Rarh, Barendra(Pundra), Banga and Samatata. There were also many smaller principalities and Jaminderies, forming and disappearing in centuries past. All were engaged in extending their influences. Bengal was definitely not a stable region. Life was uncertain but it helped mixing. People from different local tribes and Aryans were living together. Brahmins and Buddhist monks were instrumental in spreading knowledge. Jhoom was giving way to wet rice cultivation. New villages were getting settled. Religious concepts were mixing and changing. Influence of Hinduism and Buddhism were apparent. But new thoughts did not replace old animistic views of life. Rather old views, beliefs, practices and Gods were absorbed as part of new religion. Caste system of Hindu tradition took root. Professions became castes. Tribes were also assigned a caste. Social position of a caste depended upon its economical and professional status. Aryans were treated as upper caste and leaders. But influential persons of different tribes also joined new system as upper caste.

Actually there was no Hindu religion as we understand today. Some were Shaivite, some followed Vishnu, some followed Jainism and still others followed Buddhism. Caste was more important than following of sects. People could easily change from Buddhism to Jainism or to a Hindu sect. But changing caste was not easy. Though changing caste was not impossible either. A full community could change their social position on the basis of their economic development. The community could be accepted in an existing upper caste or may be ascribed higher position without changing caste. Descendants of barbaric tribes like Shak and Hun became ruling class, Rajput in the North of India. Similar things happened in Bengal. The same is in vogue now. Over and above, an individual could change caste by migration, by marriage or by acquiring or losing wealth. Bengal was following the same pattern as that of India. Bangali people of that time followed different sects of Hinduism as well as Buddhism and various animistic religions and possibly Jainism.

Pali, language of the Aryan had spread as language of communication in parallel to spread of Aryans. Slowly Pali became the language of people. Then Pali started metamorphosed into Bangla by the indigenous people of Bengal. Bangla and Bangali evolved together.

In the sixth century, Shoshanko, king of Gaud reigned. For the first time, a king of Bengal played a vital part in national politics. For the first time Bengal surfaced as a land of Bangali people. In his brief rule, Shoshanko allied with King of Malab, defeated king of Ujjain and King of Thaneshwar in present day Haryana, establishing a well-developed state and secured boundaries. However Shoshanko died early and Gaud was destroyed by Hasrshvardhan, new ruler of Thaneshwar. Anarchy followed till Gopal was elected to lead Bengal by land holders and jaminders in 750 A.D. It was a unique incident of history, where all rulers of that time came together to select a leader and volunteered to work under him. It resulted in golden period of Bengal. Gopal started Pal dynasty which ruled Bengal and much of North India for over four hundred years from 8th century. During Pal reign Bengal had a golden period. Law and order was maintained. Food was surplus. Nalanda and Vikramsheela like educational institutes were established. Bengal was involved in maritime trade. Muslin and various artifacts were Bengal’s specialty.  Products from Bengal were in demand all over the world.

Buddhism was the state religion during Pal period. The Pal kings, although Buddhists, accepted the cultural hegemony of the Hindu Brahmanism. Sanskrit was the official language. Bangla was a language of commoner. Still, under the Pal dynasty, people used to compose fairy tales, ballad and religious songs in Bangla and read out to the kings. During this period Bangla developed from a language of communication to a language of ballad. Bangla was still in formative stage but it was understood through the length and breadth of present day Bengal and beyond. Brahmins conducted their business in Sanskrit but conversed in Bangla. Brahmins were respected for their knowledge of cultivation, medicine and day to day issues. This knowledge was shared through Bangla language only.

After decline of Pal dynasty, Hindu Sen dynasty of Karnataka origin, took over in 11th century. Sens ruled Bengal for a mere hundred years until it was pushed out by Bakhtier Khilji in 1201 AD. But influence of Sen Dynasty was deep. It established Brahminical rule. They wanted to purge out impurities in Brahminical religion of Bengal. Ballal Sen procured the services of pure Brahmins from Ujjain as local Brahmins were considered impure as they lived a Bangali life speaking Bangla and eating fish and rice. New Brahmins will soon merge in the old, adopting the Bangali way of life including love for rice and fish. But Sen rule had a profound effect on life of common people. Most people started following a Bangali Hinduism which drew largely from beliefs and practices of indigenous people of Bengal. Upper caste Buddhists rejoined Hindu caste system. Buddhism not only lost state support but it also lost its leaders who found place among new order. Only lower caste Buddhists remained Buddhists. These Buddhists were now considered outcastes. Caste system became rigid. Brahmins and other caste people started living in separate groupings whereas lower caste Hindus and Buddhists lived in separate clusters. Buddhists were considered as outcaste people from another religion for the first time. Buddhists were called “Nere” for their practice of shaving of head. A physical barrier separated Hindu quarters from Buddhist quarters. It could be a pond or a field. But still there was no animosity between any groups. Still all spoke same language, ate same food and observed same festivals, differing only in practicing of some identifiable rituals, like shaving of head by Buddhists. However, all were economically and socially bound together and there was harmony and peace.

Muslim rule in Bangla

Ikhtiaruddin Muhammad Bakhtiar Khilji removed Sen dynasty from Nadia of Bengal in 1201. But it would take another hundred and fifty years for Muslim rule to take root in Bengal.

Arrival of Bengali Muslim

Islamization in Bengal had started much before arrival of Muslim invaders in Nadia though very marginally. Bengal was a trade centre and Bangali sailors were in contact with Arabian traders from early years of the millennium. Islam was known to Bengal ports as soon as Arabs converted to Islam. But it did not result in any large scale conversion. A small Muslim population grew, mostly descendants of Arab traders, in some of the ports and they did their business without any difficulties along with Hindu & Buddhists traders. Bengal remained Animist, Buddhist and Hindu.

Muslim rule in Bengal started in 1201 A.D. but full grip of Muslim rule could be established only in middle of fourteenth century, 150 years after. Ilyas Shahi and Hussain Shahi ruled Bengal next two hundred years. Large number of immigrant Muslim from far and wide had settled down in the capital and other important cities. But Immigrant Muslim population was limited to the big cities and to a lesser extent to smaller cities. These immigrants did not adopt Bangla language as their own but most did understand and some could speak. Conversions, if any were limited to city dwellers. Converted Muslims of court picked up Master’s language but continued to speak Bangla at home. Clearly ruling class Muslims were Persian speaking while general population was Bangla speaking including newly converted Muslims. By the end of Shahi era, Islamization was limited to cities, towns and ports. Islamization of Bangali peasants had not taken place though it had started by numerous Sufi preachers who visited Bengal in this period.

Till the end of fourteenth century, there was no difference in general pattern of conversion to Islam in Bengal and northern and western parts of India. Muslims were the rulers and stayed in power centres and Hindus, Buddhists and other groups of indigenous people stayed in villages, forests and hills and supplied provisions to the cities. Village aristocracy was Hindu. Muslims did not penetrate to villages. Hindu aristocracy also continued to function in small centres all around Bengal under hegemony of Muslim state. Muslims controlled state army, administration and accounts. Capital and main cities had large Muslim population. Muslims spoke Persian. At this time Urdu, a mixed language (Hindi, Persian and Arabic) developed in North India. Ruling Muslim class of Bengal also became conversant with Urdu even though they continued to learn and admire Arabic and Persian remained state language.There was a sprinkle of caste Hindus and large working Hindu population in these cities. Most were artisans and service providers. These people spoke Bangla. With time Muslims and Hindus came closer. Now they were conversant with each other’s ways. Caste Hindus started participating in state affairs. Caste Hindus learned Persian which was state language. In Shahi period of Bengal, many Hindus took important positions in administration. Briefly a Hindu Nawab took over the power of Bengal. King Ganesh reigned for ten years. But his son, Yadu converted to Islam. Throughout India, Islamization of artisans and service providers were taking place.Continuous pressure of discrimination, persecution and deprivation was slowly taking its toll. Some upper caste Hindus were also converting to access power. The people who stayed around the power centres, had to convert. But villages stayed Hindu all over India. Even in Bengal, at least till Nawabi period villages were not Islamized though a beginning was made. This small beginning could be possible due to a difference in social structure between Bengal and rest of India. Islamization  of Bengal villages got initiated in Nawabi period but without Nawabi support.

Bengal village society continued in its old ways. Caste was most dominant factor of life. Brahmins used to stay together. Similarly Kayasthos, Baidyos, Baniks etc were staying in groups nearby. All caste people would reside in main village in small ghettos according to status. lower caste Hindus would stay outside main village. Buddhists would stay further away. There would be clear demarcation between Hindus and Buddhists. These out-caste Buddhists were a different element in Bangla society. There was no such group elsewhere in other parts of India. However, there was no animosity between groups. Buddhists were accepted as such. Village economy bound all of them. Brahmin and other caste Hindus were leaders of the society. All had identified occupation. There was plenty for all and village life was peaceful.

There was difference between lower caste Hindu and outcaste Buddhists even though their basic beliefs and practices were same. Buddhists used to shave their heads and possibly buried their dead while Hindus used to burn or put their partly burned dead to rivers. Even today, there are castes in Bangali Hindu society who bury their dead after half burning (Jugi). Every group used to practice according to their beliefs and that did not affect their community life. Till today, Hindus of different region, different castes and different sects practice different rituals. Everybody accepts others’ ways. Differences do not interfere with common social life. It was same then. It was manifestation of innate Hindu secularism. People lived happily and without malice with different beliefs and practices. Otherwise these people spoke same language, ate same food and lived identical life except for their profession.

The Buddhists had higher social status in Pal period. During Sen rule, Buddhists lost that social status. Naturally, Buddhists were not very happy in the new scenario. The leaders and well-to-do Buddhists either rejoined Hindu caste system or left for South-East where still Buddhism dominated. Thereafter, a large group of leaderless Buddhists group remained in the village side whose main occupation was farming, fishing, sericulture and manual labour. Leaderless & unlettered Buddhists of Bengal indulged in cult Buddhism. Sorceries & magic played a big role in their life. During this time, several Sufi preachers spread out in rural Bengal (in early fifteenth century to late sixteenth century). Sufi preachers used magic to impress and spread rumours of their power to convert these Buddhists. They preached Islam as a religion of one God and equality of all men. One God and equality of all men were very near to Buddhist belief. Unlike Brahmins these Sufi preachers started mixing and guiding Buddhists peasants in their day to day affair. Sufis took the role of Brahmins of centuries back. Buddhists started following some or other Sufi Guru. Few converted to Islam. But most Buddhists associated themselves with one or other Sufi guru and took the last name of the Guru to identify themselves with the Guru. This is still a common practice in India. Followers of a Swami or Guru identify themselves by his name. At the same time, Arakan Buddhists started using Muslim names along with their name. Even Arakan Kings adopted this policy. They did not convert to Islam. They simply added a Muslim name to their name to identify with ruling class. Bangali Buddhists also adopted Muslim surname without converting. They did not change the way they dress. They did not change their food habit of rice and fish and their ceremonies of birth, marriage and death. Buddhists in different places started accepting Islamic surnames along with Bangali names and identity themselves as Sheikhs or Mian without leaving any of their beliefs, practices and lifestyle. They continued to shave their heads, others continued to call them “Nere”. These people in villages came to be known as Sheikhs or Mian. There was no concept of conversion. There was no concept of irreversibility of conversion. Change was a common religious practice of India. People freely converted from one sect to another. They took Islam as another sect only.

Brahmins did not oppose or tried to counter convert Buddhists. Hindus of Bengal considered Buddhists as out-castes then and even after their change of name, status continued to be of out-caste. Buddhists with new ideology did not improve their social status. In fact nothing changed. They continued with Bangla name. Even today many Muslims in Bengal flaunt Bangla name. They continued shaving of head. They continued to work the way they did. These people were at most namesake Muslim. But a beginning was made. It will spell disaster for the Hindus who refused to even notice this social change about five hundred years back. At this time Bangali Muslims (or Buddhists) were unimportant factor in social life of rural Bengal. Till the arrival of Mughals, Bangali-Muslims namesakes were neither numerous nor significant in any sense in Bengal villages.

At the end of Shahi period, there were two Muslim groups in Bengal; the first group consisted of Bangali Muslim namesakes in villages and Muslim artisans and service providers in cities, who spoke Bangla. The second group was of Muslim aristocracy whose language was Persian and later Urdu. At this time Bangali Muslims including namesakes constituted barely 15-20 percentage of population. But Turko-Afgan group was numerically insignificant.

Consolidation

Slowly Islamization of Buddhists started. In couple of generations Buddhists started practicing some of the basic tenets of Islam under guidance of Muslim preachers. Offering namaz was one such beginning and then slowly birth including circumcision, marriage and death rituals started. Old practices discontinued. Head shaving stopped but still “Nere” tag did not disappear. Slowly Bangali-Muslims in rural Bengal started standing out as a different community. Even though they were still following their old ways of life, they started claiming Islamic identity and identifying with ruling class. After all Bengal was ruled by Muslims, so what if the rulers belonged to Turkey or Afghanistan.

On the other hand, ruling Muslim class continued a policy of persecution and exerted a subtle pressure for conversion on upper class Hindus. In response Hindu society became further rigid and started avoiding the Muslim community as much as possible. This did not work. Historian Ramesh Chandra Sen said that Hindu and Muslim community were like two independent ghettoes living side by side. Each was having one door only. The door of Hindu community used to remain open only for going out and that of Muslim community door allowed only to come in. Once a Hindu is removed from community, he had no way to return. And excommunication could happen for an offence like food sharing with a Muslim. Slowly excommunicated caste Hindus joined the ranks of Muslim peasants and took up their leadership. There was continuous increase in Muslim population in rural Bengal due to this one way traffic. Hindus, especially caste Hindus maintained distance with Muslims by strict adherence of separation of living quarters. But despite ghettoization there was no physical violence between Hindu and Muslim communities. Both Hindus and Muslims lived peacefully side by side. In fact lower caste Hindus always lived by the side of the Muslims, both carrying out the same profession. It would have been difficult to distinguish between lower caste Hindu and Muslim peasants at that juncture of time. At the end of Nawabi period Muslims constituted a mere 15- 20 % population of Bengal.

Further consolidation.

In Mughal period large scale forest reclamation started. Both Hindu and Muslim peasants were encouraged to move out to new land and clear forest for cultivation. Bangali farmers proved most adept for this venture. It enriched Mughal coffer so much so that India is stated to be producing 25% of world’s goods at that time, largely on the strength of Bengal. Land reclamation activity is still carried out by present day Bangladeshi peasants in Assam, creating demographic problem in Assam. Apparently, land reclamation activity was secular. Hindu and Muslim farmers always moved together and Mughal period was not different. Mughal administration did not interfere with the religion of the subject either. In fact there are recorded instances of punishment of officers for carrying out forcible conversion by Mughal officers. But still Muslim officers did carry out conversion –if not by force then by inducement. And land reclamation also resulted in population explosion. In the end, growth of Muslim population was much higher than growth of Hindu population due to four main reasons.

1) Hindu upper castes were not directly involved in land reclamation.

2) Even though Mughals followed a policy of non-interference with religion of subjects, individual Mughal officers promoted conversion in lieu of land allotment. Nowhere in India, had administration interacted so closely with the cultivators. Since administration was largely Muslim, it is but natural to assume that inducement and subtle force application for conversion of illiterate peasants took place.

3) Change blurred the social barriers. But as settlements re-established, Hindu rigidity refused acceptance of deviants, filling Muslim ranks.

4) Tribals and fringe elements of society who were already staying in the forest also joined and were converted to Islam.

5) Buddhist outcastes who were still Muslim namesake were guided to become fully Muslim.

By the time Mughal period ended, Muslims became majority in parts of North and East Bengal. These were areas of new settlement. Muslim presence in South-West and North-West of Bengal, in the old and established habitats, was still negligible. In 1757 when East India Company took over the reign of power from Nawab, Bengal was still a Hindu majority state though large Muslim population existed in North and East while South and West had vast Hindu majority. This significant Muslim population of Bengal was Bangla speaking and stayed in villages though village economy was largely controlled by Hindu upper caste people. A small Urdu speaking Muslim population that controlled government and economy of state till then lived in cities. These numerically insignificant Urdu speaking Muslim aristocrats, claimed themselves as Ashraf.  Till then Ashrafs had practically no contact with common Bangali Muslim, Afraf or Nere. Even today some Ashrafs in Bengal considers “Nere” as socially untouchable. But soon, British occupation dislodged Ashrafs from position of power.

Before British rule could establish, a severe drought in 1768 killed almost one third population of  Bengal where West Bengal and Bihar was completely devastated even though East Bengal was also marginally affected. This resulted in reduction of Hindu population and for the first time Muslims constituted almost half the population of the Bengali state.

Further Islamization and coming together

East India Company defeated last Nawab of Bengal, Siraj- ud- dullah in 1757 AD and established British rule in Bengal. Muslim gentry initially co-operated but soon opposed. Ruling Muslim aristocracy was then dispossessed. These people partly left for North India and partly shifted to villages. Under permanent settlement both Hindu upper caste and Muslim gentry took possession of land in the form of Jaminderi. Muslim aristocrats for the first time went to villages of Bengal.

New Muslim leadership of Bengal found that Bangali Muslims are not Muslim enough. They needed to be Islamized. The new leaders considered Bangla is a Hindu language and Muslims should ideally speak Arabic and if not, at least speak Urdu. But it was not possible to make uneducated rural Bangalis to learn Urdu (Even Jinnah will fail in 1947). But Ashrafs were more devious. They diluted Bangla and Bangaliana. It is this time when Muslims in rural Bengal started opting for Urdu words in place of Bangla words at the instance of new leaders who were largely Urdu speakers. Pani for Jol, Gosol for Snan or Chan and many such words crept into the vocabulary of Bangali Muslims. All terms of relation gradually changed to Urdu. Dress code was similarly changed. Pajama replaced Dhuti. The process still goes on. Saree is being replaced by salwar suit. But main change was Islamization. Hatred against Hindu community was spread according to the beliefs of fundamental Islam. Riots started occurring frequently. There had never been any communal riot in village Bengal till nineteenth century. Communal riots started in early twentieth century and by the end of British rule these riots were common place.

Ashrafs, Turko-Afgan Muslims did not become Bangali till Bangladesh was liberated in 1971. During British period, they looked at Bangaliana with contempt and took pride in their purity of blood and language. Even though they guided common Bangali Muslims or Afrafs to Islamization, they did not consider Afrafs as equal. Ashrafs maintained their North Indian culture. But Afrafs of Bengal suffered dilemma. They could not discard their Bangali identity. At the same time they wanted to flaunt their Islamic identity. Bangali Muslims suffers this identity crisis till this day. They fought for Bangali identity and liberated Bangladesh from Pakistan and then declared Bangladesh a Muslim country. They Urduized Bangla language and yet denied citizenship to Urdu speaking Bihari Muslims.

While Bangali Muslim was getting Islamized, Bangali caste Hindus was getting globalized. Suddenly free from Muslim subjugation Caste Hindus joined British administration wholeheartedly during Raj. They followed British to every corner of India, literally from Peshawar to Mumbai to Chennai. They also started business under British tutelage. Permanent settlement of land made them affluent. They took advantage of English education and came in contact with world at large. Suddenly there was light of awareness, broadness and knowledge. Old superstitions swept away. It was a renaissance. It was a Bangali Renaissance.

Renaissance

British rule resulted into a wonderful social and Cultural Revolution in Bengal. Suddenly Muslim oppression vanished. A rule of law was established. And Bengal was opened to the world. A group of Bangali bhadrolok took the initiative to acquire knowledge and work further which slowly converted into Bangali renaissance. There was great leap in every field of knowledge. Bangla bhasha reached its zenith. Bangali bhadrolok was respected everywhere. The awareness and enlightenment started trickling down. The poor, the lower caste, the outcaste Bangali population along with Bangali Muslims also started reaping benefit of this new explosion of knowledge. All Bangalis were getting acquainted with modernity and getting integrated through the bond of mother tongue. Unfortunately the process of integration was opposed by Urdu speaking Muslims. They tried to drive Bangali Muslims towards further Islamization. Bangali Muslims were torn between their dual identities of Muslim and Bangali. At the same time Bangali Bhadrolok failed to understand importance of large Muslim population in Bengal. A group of Bangali Bhadrolok started opposing British rule and demanded self-rule without first integrating common man to Bangali nationality.  If history of India’s independence struggle is truly documented then it will appear largely an independence struggle by Bangali Bhadrolok. At that time, most of Indian population and majority of Bangali had no idea about independence and self-rule.  Bangali Bhadralok created difficulties for British rule through their struggle. This naturally irritated then British rulers. Lord Curzon divided Bengal on communal line. When division failed due to strong protests of Bangali Bhadralok then British separated Bihar, Assam and Orissa from Bengal presidency with large chunks of Bangali speaking areas to the new provinces.  Thereafter, British shifted capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi. These were the first blows to Bangali Bhadrolok. Then British started promoting Bangali Muslims who were yet to integrate with Bangali mainstream. Finally, British acceded to the request of self-rule of Bangali Bhadrolok, giving Muslims overwhelming majority seats in Bengal assembly in a religion based self rule. The renaissance was over.

Fall

First attempt of self-rule under British resulted in rule of Muslim league under Saheed Suhrawardy who presided over great Calcutta killing and the Noakhali riot. These two riots clearly spelt out future of Bengal. Hindus and Muslim cannot live together in one country where Muslims are in majority. Any attempt to make united Bengal would be catastrophic to the Hindus. In 1947, Hindus and Muslims were roughly 47% and 53% in Bengal. Bengal was divided on the basis of population. East Pakistan got 70% of Bengal and Sylhet district of Assam. West Bengal with Calcutta was 30% of Bengal Province. East Pakistan had 28% Hindu population and West Bengal had 19% of Muslim population. History of East Pakistan is of continuous persecution of Hindus. Over sixty years 5 million Hindus had been killed. 30 million Hindu were forced to migrate to India, rendering a mere 9% Hindu population in Bangladesh (East Pakistan) today. On the contrary no persecution of Muslim population has taken place in West Bengal. Its Muslim population has grown to 28%, albeit aided by economical migration of Bangladeshi Muslims.

Bangali Muslim utilized the vacuum in East Bengal due to departure of more affluent Hindus by breeding. In sixty years Muslims of Bangladesh grew from 35 million to 150 million in Bangladesh while Hindu population of West Bengal grew from about 32 million to only 70 million not considering refugee population influx Bangladesh. In one generation Muslims grew from 53% to 70 % of total Bangali population. Alas number cannot result in greatness. The uprooting and loss of significance of Bangali Bhadrolok abruptly ended Bangali renaissance.

Consequence

Bangali renaissance was a result of British occupation of Bengal. Bangali people progressed intellectually to become the leader in every field of nation building. Bal Gangadhar Tilak once said, “What Bengal thinks today, India will think to-morrow.” In 1935 Sir Crafford Cliffs came for negotiation of self-rule with Indians. He commented that self-rule to Indians mean handing over India to Bangalis in a platter.

But in just sixty years Bengal and Bangali lost all importance. West Bengal is marginalized in Indian context. Calcutta, jewel of British Empire is just a city of slums. East Pakistan had to wage a war for independence from Pakistan in 1971, resulting in birth of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is considered bread basket of the world. Together 30 Crore people speak Bangla, making it a fifth largest population group in the world. Bangla is a wonderful language with a remarkable literature. Its people created a vibrant society just sixty years back. Now mediocrity has set in. There are only small personalities eking out a livelihood in both sides of Bengal. What have really gone wrong?

Partition of Bengal is definitely the main cause of mediocrity of Bangali people. But Bangali renaissance itself was untenable in absence of British protection. Following reasons is put forward for the fall of renaissance.

1)      Partition of Bengal is one of the prime reasons. Partition separated Bhadralok from their root without empowering Bangali Muslims. Leaderless Bangladeshi Muslim society embraced Punjabi Muslims as their leader who in turn tried to exploit them. The result was Bangladesh. But Bangladesh still suffers leadership crisis. In addition they have the identity crisis. Bangladeshis are neither fully Bangali nor fully Muslim. Confused people cannot excel. On the other hand West Bengal suffers from nostalgia. They have yet to come to terms with present situation that West Bengal is a small state of India, having only 44 MPs in a house of 541. That West Bengal cannot lead but can only follow. Calcutta is not capital of India. It may lose even its position of one of four most important metropolitan cities of India to Bangalore or Ahmadabad in near future. 

2)      Bangali failed to understand trade. A trader is not a respectable person in Bangali society. Commercial activities are discouraged by intellectual Bangali. It can be seen in most residential colonies in Calcutta. Renting a house, teaching for a consideration or small scale trade is not considered respectable. During British period, British or other Europeans were encouraged to establish trade and industry in Bengal. Naturally Bangali benefitted from European traders. After independence Europeans left and Bangali could not take over. Bangali believed trade and industry exploit labour and poor. Bangali destroyed trade & industry in West Bengal slowly. Now West Bengal has practically no industry and no people to re-establish industry. Therefore there is no job. Educated Bangali is working outside. Bengal

3)      Bangali is averse to army, military or police service. Therefore Bangali do not represent India adequately in armed forces. The same philosophy had caused less representation of Bangali Muslim in Pakistan army prior to 1971 and a handicap in liberation war of Bangladesh. Joining army and other forces create human wealth as well as monetary prosperity. Haryana and Punjab are two states which not only supply food to India but also soldiers and economically benefit from this.

4)      Last but not the least. Bangali people are increasingly becoming illiterate and superstitious. This is happening due to faulty family planning practice. Most educated and well-to-do couples have only one child. This has devastating effect on the society. Single child has less chance to have good EQ. They are not likely to be successful in an organization. But more importantly, percentage of qualified & intellectual person is reducing in the society as an illiterate farmer in the village will be having five kids. Muslim population of West Bengal is also rising alarmingly. The illiterate, the ignorant and the Islamist population in West Bengal will destroy whatever was achieved in the past two centuries. Soon Islamists will drive away Bangali from West Bengal. Bangali will still be 5^th largest population of the world but it will be only number.

                                                                                                                                                             

Bangali and Bangla have evolved over three and half thousand years in the deltas of Ganga and Brahmaputra confluence. The people are a product of mixture of Aryan, Australoid, Dravidian and Mongoloid races. The people are divided on the basis of religion. But they belong to same race. Anthropologically Hindus and Muslims of Bengal are from same stock. One day religious differences will disappear on the strength of education. One day Hindus and Muslims of Bengal will speak identical Bangla. One day all Bangali will call Ma for Ma and not Amma. One day Bangali will fall back to Baru Chandidas—"Sobaruparemanushsatyo, taharuparenai" ("সবার উপরে মানুষ সত্য, তাহার উপরে নাই।")—"The supreme truth is man; there is nothing more important than he is."

********************************************************************************