The Bengali Language Movement of

Manbhum Manbhum District was one of the districts of the East India during the British Raj. After India's independence, the district became a part of Bihar State. Upon the reorganization of the Indian states in the mid-1950s, the Manbhum district was ...

was a cultural and political movement that took place in the then

Bihar Province Bihar Province was a province of British India, created in 1936 by the partition of the Bihar and Orissa Province. History In 1756, Bihar was part of Bengal. On 14 October 1803, Orissa was occupied by the British Raj. On 22 March 1912, both Bih ...

from 1912 to 1956. Post independence, between 1948 and 1956, the language movement spread intensely among the

Bengalis Bengalis ( ), also rendered as endonym and exonym, endonym Bangalee, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia. The current population is divi ...

of Manbhum. Through this movement created around the

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

, the public demand for the establishment of Bengali as one of the

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

s of the Bihar, mainly

, was expressed. This language movement was first ever linguistic movement for Bengali language and the longest language movement in the world. People took an oath in Pakbirra for Mannheim language movement

People took an oath in Pakbirra for Mannheim language movement

The

Bihar and Orissa Province Bihar and Orissa was a province of British India, which included the present-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and parts of Odisha. The territories were conquered by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were governed by the then ...

was formed in 1912 by dividing the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

. At that time Bengali speaking Manbhum was included in the newly formed province. In 1936, the Bihar and Orissa Province was divided to form the

, but Bengali-speaking Manbhum was kept with

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-dominant Bihar Province. In 1948, the then

Government of Bihar Bihar Government is the State governments of India, state government of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Bihar and its nine Divisions of Bihar, divisions which consist of Districts of Bihar, districts. It consists of an execut ...

declared

as the only official language in the whole of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

including Manbhum. In the context of these incidents, deep anger was born among the Bengali-speaking common people of Manbhum and created adverse reactions. Practically the Bengali speaking people of Manbhum could not accept this unfair decision and were not mentally prepared at all. As a result, the movement in Manbhum to demand the equal status of

quickly spread. To suppress the movement, the Government of Bihar declared protest marches, meetings etc. illegal and prohibited. The growing mass movement finally forced the Government of Bihar to capitulate. In 1956, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

split Manbhum district to form

Purulia Purulia, officially Purulia Sadar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purulia district. It is located on the north of the Kangsabati River. Geography Location Purulia is locate ...

district and merged it with

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

as a new district.

Background

In 1765, the nominal Mughal Emperor

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power w ...

was defeated to the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in the

Battle of Buxar The Battle of Buxar was fought between 22 and 23 October 1764, between the forces of the British East India Company, under the command of Major Hector Munro, against the combined armies of Balwant Singh, Maharaja of the Benaras State; Mir Qa ...

. He granted "Diwani" (right to collect revenue) of Bengal (which included

) to the East India Company. The East India Company started Tax-Collection process in the Jungal Mahal area. To have a greater Control over the area, East India Company split the area into smaller districts like

Panchet Panchet is a census town in Nirsa CD block in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History During construction of dam several ruin of Tilakampa kingdom were submerged in the dam. Telkupi was capital ...

(1773), Jungle-Mahal (1805) and

(1833). The Manbhum District was formed with an area of 20,450.5 square kilometres (7,896 square miles). The district of Manbhum was again split in 1845, 1846, 1871 and finally in 1879, and as a result the area of Manbhum was reduced to 10,650 square kilometres (4,112 square miles). The Partition of Bengal was started in 1905, and, as an effect of that, a new state, Bihar-Odisha, was formed. The Manbhum District was included to the Bihar-Odisha. The whole district started protesting against the inclusion. The language movement or Bhasa Andolon had started as a demand to include Manbhum District as a part of Bengal. At the time of

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

in 1947, Manbhum district was a part of Bihar. From 1948 Bengali speaking peoples of Manbhum district started suffering as restrictions on Bengali language as well as forcible

imposition of Hindi Hindi imposition is a form of linguistic imperialism in which the use of Modern Standard Hindi is preferred in Indian states that do not use or desire to use Hindi as a regional language. The term is rooted in the anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil ...

language over Bengali speaking people had started. Bengali officers of Manbhum district were transferred to the others districts of Bihar, D.I. of school issued notice to teach Hindi from Primary classes, Bengali department was closed in zilla school. Installation of notice board in Hindi language become Compulsory for the schools and business establishment. Presenting the Domicile Certificate became mandatory for the

of Manbhum District.

was declared as official language of Manbhum District.

The Movement

After seeing the plight of Bengali speaking people, a proposal to make the Bengali as the language of Manbhum district has given. But it was defeated in 43–55 at the Congress Party on 30 May 1948. On 14 June 1948 the Lok Sevak Sangha was established to protect Bengali Language as well as to fight for forcible

Language over the Bengali Language as the state policy of the then Bihar government. The government restricted the use of Bengali language in education to the Bengali speaking people of Manbhum District. The government banned rallies also. All these incident sparked the protest to the fullest in Manbhum District. The Lok Sewak Sangh conducted a total of three movements to demand the establishment of Bengali language and merger of Manbhum with West Bengal, namely a) Satyagraha Movement from 1949 to 1951, b) Hal Joal Satyagraha and c) Tusu Satyagraha Movement from 9 January to 8 February 1954.

Satyagraha Andolan: 1949–1951

Protest meetings and processions of Bengali speakers were banned in

district. As a result, the

non-violent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

Satyagraha movement began. At this time the

tried its best to suppress the movement. Atul Chandra Ghosh, the main face of the movement, was arrested, and sent to

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is also the administrative headquarters of Hazaribagh district and divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is known ...

Jail, 135 miles away from Manbhum. Thousands of Bengali-speaking agitators who took part in the movement were thrown into jail. Activist Raghav Charmkar died while under trial.

Hal Joal Andolan

The Government of Bihar became more desperate to suppress the agitation. Stop selling agricultural implements such as

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in dif ...

s and ladders in markets and all public places. As a protest, the Lok Sewak Sangh took up a program to start selling agricultural implements in public for the sake of the farmers, which became known as the Hal Joal Satyagraha.

Tusu Satyagraha Andolan: 9 Jan – 8 Feb 1954

When Satyagraha started under the leadership of Lok Sewak Sangh for the demand of Bengali language, the satyagrahis were attacked. The police resorted to lathi-charge and torture on women leaders at public meetings in Jhalda,

and Santoori. As a result, public anger is created. They started Tusu Satyagraha on 9 January centered on Manbhum's local song, ''Tusu''. This Satyagraha was organized in three phases: the first phase from 9 January to 19 January, the second phase from 20 January to 26 January and the third phase from 27 January to 8 February. Members of the Lok Sewak Sangh started ''Parikrama'' (circumambulation) in Raghunathpur city on January 9 under the leadership of Hemchandra Mahato as a form of protest. The Government of Bihar arrested 8 protesters on the pretext of Security Act. 11 protesters were arrested by the police while singing the Tusu song on January 10. On January 12, Atul Chandra Ghosh ordered the agitators to ignore government restrictions and sing the Tusu song across Manbhum. After that Tusu Satyagraha spread in different parts of Manbhum. The Bar association, Purulia Municipality and Communist party also joined this agitation. The Government of Bihar then started filing cases against the activists. Labanya Prabha Ghosh and Bhajahari Mahato on January 22, Samarendranath Ojha, Kaliram Mahato and Bhabini Mahato were voluntarily imprisoned on January 25 as a protest against this incident. At this time, protesting Tusu folk songs became very popular. From farmers-laborers to people of all professions, the tone of protest is expressed in Tusu songs. Meanwhile, the Bihar Police arrested 40 Satyagrahis of the Tusu team in February and March. Atul Chandra Ghosh, Labanya Prabha Ghosh, Bhajahari Mahato and many others were arrested. Police vandalized the Lok Sewak Sangh office in Madhupur village on March 11, and seized a large number of Tusu song books. Besides, under the leadership of the Sub Deputy Magistrate, Satyagrahis' houses were vandalized and

looted Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

in Pitdari village of

Manbazar Manbazar is a City in Manbazar I block of Manbazar subdivision of Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. The headquarters of Manbazar subdivision are located in Manbazar. Geography Location Manbazar is located at . Area overv ...

on March 21. Purposeful lies and misinformation are perpetrated against the

of Manbhum. Thousands of Bengali people of Manbhum district protested and were imprisoned by singing songs written by Bhajahari Mahato. Two popular Tusu songs are represented in the table below –

The march: 1956

on 23 January 1956,

Chief Minister of West Bengal The chief minister of West Bengal (IAST: Paścim Baṅgēr Mukhya Mantrī) is the '' de facto'' head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal, the subnational authority of the Indian state of West Bengal. The chief minister is ...

Bidhan Chandra Roy Bidhan Chandra Roy (1 July 1882 – 1 July 1962) was an Indian physician and politician who served as Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1950 until his death in 1962. He played a key role in the founding of several institutions and cities like ...

and Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Krishna Singh proposed to merge both

and

to form a new state called "Purba Pradesh". In the proposal, they said,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

will be the central languages of the state. Apart from senior

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

leaders, Left parties also protested against this proposal. On 24 February, the resolution was passed in the

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

amid a satyagraha movement against the resolution. On 20 April 1956, thousands of people, led by Labanya Prabha Ghosh, Atul Chandra Ghosh and Nibaran Chandra Dasgupta started a march in favor of joining

with West Bengal and against the formation of "Purba Pradesh". The march starts at

Pakbirra Pakbirra is a village in the Puncha (community development block), Puncha Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Manbazar subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Pakbirra is l ...

village in Puncha police station, and ends in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. Thousands of people joined the march with the Satyagrahis. Thousands of Satyagrahis and peoples sang Tusu song and '' Banglar Mati Banglar Jol'' (written by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

) in the march. On 6 May, After marching 300 kilometers from Pakbirra village for 17 consecutive days, a procession of thousands of people along with Satyagrahis reached Kolkata Via Bankura, Beliatore, Sonamukhi, Patsair, Khandhghosh, Burdwan, Pandua, Magra, Chunchura, Chandannagar, Srirampur and Howrah. The police arrested the Satyagrahis as soon as they reached Kolkata. On 7 May Mahakaran, official secretariat building of the state

government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution ...

, was besieged by satyagrahis, and 965 satyagrahis were voluntarily imprisoned. After about 12 days in jail, they were released.Tarundev Bhattacharya, Purulia, Pharma KL Pvt Ltd., 257-B, Bipin Bihari Ganguly Street, Kolkata-12, 2009

Post Movement Effect

As an effect of this agitation a commission named "State Reorganization Commission" was set up by the Central government on 23 December 1953. The Commission held hearing in Manbhum district on 5 February 1955 and submitted its report on 10 October 1955. In its report the commission proposed the formation of a new district "

", primarily dominated by Bengali speaking people to West Bengal from erstwhile Manbhum district of Bihar. Subsequently, the proposal to merge West Bengal with Bihar was withdrawn. The "Bengal-Bihar Border Boundary" Bill was passed in the Parliament on 17 August 1956, and in the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

on 28 August 1956. The new Purulia district comprised 19 police stations from the then Manbhum district. But as a special request from TISCO the then chief minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chndra Roy gave consent for accession of three police stations (

Patamda Patamda is a small town in the Patamda block, Patamda Community development block in India, CD block in the Dhalbhum subdivision of the East Singhbhum district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Jharkhand. History In 1956, ...

Ichagarh Ichagarh is a village in the Ichagarh block, Ichagarh Community development block in India, CD block in the Chandil subdivision of the Seraikela Kharsawan district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Jharkhand. Geography ...

and Chandil) to the Bihar. After bifurcation of Bihar, those three region became part of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

state. On 1 November 1956 with 16 police stations covering area and with a population of the new district Purulia was acceded to West Bengal.