1947 Sylhet referendum
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Should Sylhet join the province of East Bengal in Pakistan? | ||
Outcome | Karimganj subdivision remains in the India, the rest of Sylhet District joins the Pakistan. | |
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Map of Sylhet District showing subdivisions and majority voting. Green represents area in favor of joining East Bengal (Pakistan) and Orange represents area in favor of remaining part of Assam and joining India. |
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The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in the
History
Prior to the
After the first partition of Bengal in 1905, Sylhet was briefly reincorporated with Eastern Bengal and Assam, as a part of the new province's Surma Valley and Hill Districts division. However, this reorganization was short-lived as Sylhet once again became separated from Bengal in 1912, when Assam Province was reconstituted into a Chief Commissioner's Province.[5] By the 1920s, organisations such as the Sylhet Peoples' Association and Sylhet–Bengal Reunion League mobilized public opinion, demanding Sylhet's reincorporation into Bengal.[6] However, the leaders of the Reunion League, including Muhammad Bakht Mauzumdar and Syed Abdul Majid, who were also involved in Assam's tea trade, later opposed the transfer of Sylhet and Cachar to Bengal in September 1928 during the Surma Valley Muslim Conference; supported by Abdul Majid's Anjuman-e-Islamia and Muslim Students Association.[7]
Background
The partition of India was to happen along religious lines in August 1947. Muslim-majority areas would be combined to form the new Pakistan while non-Muslim and Hindu-majority areas would remain in India.[8] Sylhet was a Muslim-majority Bengali-speaking district in Assam, which was a Hindu-majority Assamese-speaking province. The Government of Assam believed that removing Sylhet would make the state more homogeneous and strongly unified as a result. Assam's Chief Minister, Gopinath Bordoloi, stated in 1946 that his wish was to "hand over Sylhet to East Bengal".[9] The British Raj declared on 3 July 1947 that a referendum would be held on 6 July 1947 to decide the future of Sylhet. H. C. Stock was appointed as the commissioner of the referendum.[1]
Result
The majority of the population voted in favour of joining Pakistan. This was implemented via Article 3 of the Indian Independence Act of 18 July 1947. The Radcliffe Line published on 17 August 1947 gave some areas of Sylhet – mainly Karimganj – to India, while the rest of Sylhet joined East Bengal, even though Karimganj had a Muslim-majority population which had opted for Pakistan, unlike some other areas in Sylhet like Moulvibazar.[10] The putative cause of this was the plea of a group led by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar.[citation needed]
India received three and a half
The result of the referendum was largely welcomed by the Assamese population.[15]
Subdivision | Total Voters | Electorate | Voter Turnout | Votes[16] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assam
(India) |
% | East Bengal(Pakistan) | % | ||||
Sylhet North | 1,41,131 | 1,07,252 | 76.00 | 38,871 | 36.24 | 68,381 | 63.76 |
Sylhet South(Maulvi Bazar) | 79,024 | 65,189 | 82.49 | 33,471 | 51.34 | 31,718 | 48.66 |
Habiganj | 1,35,526 | 91,495 | 67.51 | 36,952 | 40.39 | 54,543 | 59.61 |
Sunamganj | 90,891 | 77,926 | 85.74 | 34,211 | 43.90 | 43,715 | 56.10 |
Karimganj | 1,00,243 | 81,798 | 81.60 | 40,536 | 49.56 | 41,262 | 50.44 |
Total | 5,46,815 | 423,660 | 77.48 | 1,84,041 | 43.44 | 2,39,619 | 56.56 |
See also
- 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum, a similar referendum held in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
References
- ^ OL 30677644M. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ISBN 978-1-317-96647-0.
- S2CID 145546471.
It was also decided that education and justice would be administered from Calcutta University and the Calcutta High Court respectively.
- S2CID 145546471.
They could also see that the benefits conferred by the tea industry on the province would also prove profitable for them. For example, those who were literate were able to obtain numerous clerical and medical appointments in tea estates, and the demand for rice to feed the tea labourers noticeably augmented its price in Sylhet and Assam enabling the Zaminders (mostly Hindu) to dispose of their produce at a better price than would have been possible had they been obliged to export it to Bengal.
- ^ William Cooke Taylor, A Popular History of British India. p. 505
- ISBN 978-1-317-96647-0.
- ^ Bhuyan, Arun Chandra (2000). Nationalist Upsurge in Assam. Government of Assam.
- ^ "History - British History in depth: The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Daniyal, Shoaib. "With Brexit a reality, a look back at six Indian referendums (and one that never happened)". Scroll.in. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Qureshi, Murad (14 August 2017). "Sylhet's own Brexit – Partition referendum of 1947". Murad Qureshi. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ "Recovering Sylhet". Himal Southasian. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ "Assam Election Results – What does it mean for Bangladesh?". The Daily Star. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Ali, AMM Shawkat (15 August 2004). "Bangabandhu's death anniversary special: As I look back".
- JSTOR 2643071.
- ISBN 978-1-317-96647-0.
- ^ "Sylhet Referendum, 1947 – Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 26 July 2022.