United Independent Bengal Schem/Bose-Suhrawardy Accord

[Banglapedia]
United Independent Bengal Movement a proposal to solve the communal
question on the eve of the termination of British rule in India. This proposal also
known as Bose-Suhrawardy Accord. In April-May 1947 it became clear that the
Partition of India was a real possibility. HUSEYN SHAHEED SUHRAWARDY, the
Premier of the province of Bengal, formally launched his idea of a sovereign state
for undivided Bengal. Almost simultaneously SARAT CHANDRA BOSE came
forward with his proposal for a Sovereign Socialist Republic of Bengal. There
had been differences of opinion between Suhrawardy and Sarat Bose regarding
the sovereign status of Bengal, but the primary motive of both of them was to
prevent the partition of the province. While the former wanted a completely
independent state for united Bengal outside the union of India, the latter
visualised Bengal to be a socialist republic within the Indian union.
Both, however, vehemently protested the move for the partition of Bengal,
initiated by most Congress and HINDU MAHASABHA leaders of the province. Some
Hindu and Muslim leaders of Bengal supported Suhrawardy and Sarat Bose in
their move. In fact, the concept of a sovereign independent Bengal had its origins
in the past. The adoption of the LAHORE RESOLUTION in March 1940 was a
significant step towards highlighting the demand for separate homelands for the
Muslims of the two Muslim majority zones of India. But the Lahore Resolution
remained undefined until April 1946. To the Bengal League leaders, the Pakistan
scheme was mainly a proposal for the establishment of two sovereign and
independent states in the two Muslim majority zones of India. The majority
opinion, represented by Suhrawardy and Abul Hashim, favoured some kind of
Greater Bengal consisting of the whole of Bengal and Assam plus an adjacent
part of the district of Purnea in Bihar which had a Muslim majority.
MOHAMMED ALI JINNAH came out officially with his views on the issue in the
Muslim Legislators' Convention at Delhi held on 7-9 April 1946. His definition
of Pakistan led his followers in Bengal to reconsider their earlier stand on
Pakistan. They now began to support Jinnah stand for Akhand Pakistan
comprising the whole of Bengal and Assam in the North-East and the Punjab,
Sind, Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Province in the North-West of
India. But it seems probable that the Hashim-Suhrawardy group of the Bengal
League conceived the idea of East Pakistan in terms of an independent and
sovereign Greater Bengal since it was fully consistent with the scheme of
Pakistan as envisaged in the Lahore Resolution. Sometime later both Suhrawardy
and Hashim, being influenced by this ideal, initiated the move for a united
independent Bengal through negotiations with provincial Congress leaders like
Sarat Bose and Kiran Shankar Roy. Indeed, Suhrawardy was imbued with such
an idea long before some Hindus organised a movement for partition and even
before the CALCUTTA RIOT (1946).
After Attlee's February Declaration (1947) and the arguments advanced by the
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS for the partition of the Punjab and Bengal following
the declaration, a few politicians of Bengal, including Suhrawardy, thought of
maintaining the integrity of the province as a sovereign state. They felt the
necessity of making Bengal a self-sufficient state with its own constitution. The
Premier of Bengal emphasised the formation of a coalition ministry in the
province. He further emphasised that Bengal belonged to the Bengalis and was
indivisible. One portion of the province depended on the other and all were
entitled to participate in its administration. He hoped that all sections of the people
of the province would want to live and work for making Bengal a glorious land.
Suhrawardy maintained that independence would usher in a new era of peace and
prosperity in Bengal. Hashim urged upon the Congress and the Muslim leaders
of Bengal to make joint efforts for the settlement of their affairs peacefully and
happily outside the aegis of the British administration. Among the Congress
leaders of the province, Sarat Bose shared the Premier's view on an undivided
Bengal.
During the days of April-May 1947, the Hindu press and politicians began an
intense movement for partitioning Bengal. The British Declaration of February
1947 clearly foreshadowed the partition of India. As it became clear to the
Congress and Hindu Mahasabha leaders that the partition of the country was
inevitable, they insisted on retaining the Hindu-majority areas of Bengal and
Hindu and Sikh majority areas of Punjab within the union of India. In a press
conference held in Delhi on 27 April 1947, Suhrawardy put forward his plan for
a united independent Bengal.
In spite of the opposition from most Congress and League leaders, Suhrawardy
and Hashim continued their efforts to reach an agreement with Hindu leaders of
the province on the basis of their schemes. Suhrawardy met Frederick Burrows,
Jinnah and Lord MOUNTBATTEN, at different times and had satisfactory talks with
them. They also tried to persuade the Congress and the League High Commands
to accept their views. Finally, a tentative agreement was reached at a meeting,
held on 20 May 1947, in Calcutta among Bengali leaders who were favourable to
the move for a united and independent Bengal. The following were the terms of
the agreement:
1. Bengal would be a Free State. The Free State of Bengal would decide its
relations with the rest of India.
2. The Constitution of the Free State of Bengal would provide for election to the
Bengal Legislature on the basis of a joint electorate and adult franchise, with
reservation of seats proportionate to the population among Hindus and Muslims.
The seats set aside for Hindus and Scheduled Caste Hindus would be distributed
amongst them in proportion to their respective population, or in such manner as
may be agreed among them. The constituencies would be multiple constituencies
and the votes would be distributive and not cumulative. A candidate who got the
majority of the votes of his own community cast during the elections and 25
percent of the votes of the other communities so cast, would be declared elected.
If no candidate satisfied these conditions, that candidate who got the largest
number of votes of his own community would be elected.
3. On the announcement by His Majesty's Government that the proposal of the
Free State of Bengal had been accepted and that Bengal would not be partitioned,
the present Bengal Ministry would be dissolved. A new interim Ministry
consisting of an equal number of Muslims and Hindus (including Scheduled
Caste Hindus) but excluding the Chief Minister would be formed. In this
Ministry, Chief Minister would be a Muslim and the Home Minister a Hindu.
4. Pending the final emergence of a Legislature and a Ministry under the new
constitutions, Hindus (including Scheduled Caste Hindus) and Muslims would
have an equal share in the Services, including military and police. The Services
would be manned by Bengalis.
5. A Constituent Assembly composed of 30 persons, 16 Muslims and 14 non-
Muslims, would be elected by Muslim and non-Muslim members of the
Legislature respectively, excluding Europeans.
After arriving at an agreement among them, Suhrawardy, KIRAN SHANKAR ROY
and Sarat Chandra Bose tried to secure the approval of the Congress and the
League High Commands for the terms of the tentative agreement. But the
prevailing misunderstanding between the Congress and the League leaders and
the changing political situation completely unnerved the authors of the
agreement. The approach of the Muslim League High Command to the terms of
the tentative agreements was also not favourable. True, Jinnah, was not totally
opposed to the proposition. It is evident that he had once offered some
encouragement to the scheme. Considering the arguments of Mountbatten that in
case of a division of India there should be a partition of the Punjab and Bengal,
Jinnah initially was ready to agree to the proposal of a united independent Bengal.
His primary consideration was to avert the partition of Bengal; the possibility of
a potential alliance between an independent Bengal and Pakistan in the future was
of secondary importance to him. But he could not finally settle his mind in favour
of the issue. Although apparently, he had given his blessings to the move, several
factors seemed to have been responsible for making Jinnah reconsider his stand.
He rejected the idea in the end, perhaps he felt that it was after all a deviation
from the creed of Pakistan. He was not interested in offering any concessions
such as joint electorate etc, as incorporated within the terms of the tentative
agreement.
The British were never totally allergic to the idea of a sovereign independent
Bengal. Burrows, the Governor of the province, were not at all in favour of the
partition of the province. In fact, he was inclined to the Suhrawardy- Bose
Formula and had tried his best for its implementation to the last. The Viceroy was
also not unwilling to offer united Bengal the status of a Dominion along with
India and Pakistan. He had assured Suhrawardy that the British would accept any
settlement about Bengal approved by the League and the Congress High
Commands. But the British had to look at the question from an all-India point of
view. They were not eager to compromise the safety of the whole of India for the
interest of one province. Hence in the long run the failure of the scheme was
inevitable. The final blow to the concept was given when the Congress and the
League High Commands accepted Mountbatten Plan (the 3rd June Plan of 1947)
for partition of India and for transfer of power to the two Dominions of India and
Pakistan.
[Source: It is exactly copied from Banglapedia]

Etc.
[Source: Mahabubur Rahman, Bangladesher Itihash 1947-71]