The Partition of Bengal was implemented by Viceroy Lord Curzon on this day. The official reason given for the partition was administrative efficiency. British officials had for long claimed that the size of the Bengal Presidency made it difficult to govern. Bengal, Bihar, parts of present-day Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Assam constituted the presidency, British India’s largest. The partition was largely seen by Indians as a move to split Bengalis, as Bengal was one of the centres of the nationalist movement. Curzon had wanted to divide Hindus and Muslims with the partition. The reaction to the decision was mixed. But the opposition to the idea was so intense that it inspired the Swadesi movement. The partition was annulled in 1911 by Viceroy Lord Hardinge. The same year the capital of British India was shifted from Kolkata to Delhi.
