1947 Sylhet referendum

Referendum in British India July 2011 July 2020 Sylhet referendum British Raj Red Ensign.svg Should Sylhet join the province of East Bengal in Pakistan? District of Sylhet, Assam Province, British India Karimganj subdivision remains in the India, the rest of Sylhet District joins the Pakistan. 1947 07 06 yes Sylhet referendum & pre-partition Sylhet district borders.png Map of Sylhet district at the time of the 1947 Sylhet referendum. 1947 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in the Sylhet district of the Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in undivided Assam and therefore within the post-independence Dominion of India, or leave Assam for East Bengal and consequently join the newly created Dominion of Pakistan. The referendum's turnout was in favour of joining the Pakistani union; however, the district's Karimganj subdivision remained within the Indian state of Assam.Chowdhury, Dewan Nurul Anwar Husain Sylhet Referendum, 1947 History thumb|left|250x500px|Undivided Sylhet district under British rule. Prior to the British arrival in the region in late eighteenth century, the Sylhet Sarkar was a part of the Bengal Subah of the Mughal Empire. Initially, the Company Raj incorporated Sylhet into its Bengal Presidency; however, 109 years later on 16 February 1874, Sylhet was made a part of the non-regulation Chief Commissioner's Province of Assam (North-East Frontier) in order to facilitate Assam's commercial development. This transfer was implemented despite a memorandum of protests being submitted to the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, on 10 August from the district's Sylheti-majority population which consisted of both Hindus and Muslims.Fazal Tanweer 2013 Minority Nationalisms in South Asia https://books.google.com/books?id=6bGMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 Routledge 53–54 978-1-317-96647-0 These protests subsided when Northbrook visited Sylhet to reassure the people that education and justice would be administered from the city of Calcutta in Bengal,Hossain Ashfaque 2013 The Making and Unmaking of Assam-Bengal Borders and the Sylhet Referendum Modern Asian Studies 47 1 262 23359785 10.1017/S0026749X1200056X 145546471 It was also decided that education and justice would be administered from Calcutta University and the Calcutta High Court respectively. as well as when the Hindu zamindars of Sylhet realized the opportunity of employment in Assam's tea estates and a market for their produce.Hossain Ashfaque 2013 The Making and Unmaking of Assam-Bengal Borders and the Sylhet Referendum Modern Asian Studies 47 1 262 23359785 10.1017/S0026749X1200056X 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. thumb|left|250px|Surma Valley and Hill Districts under the Assam Province. 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.June 2024 By the 1920s, organisations such as the Sylhet Peoples' Association and Sylhet–Bengal Reunion League mobilized public opinion, demanding Sylhet's reincorporation into Bengal.Fazal Tanweer 2013 Minority Nationalisms in South Asia https://books.google.com/books?id=6bGMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 Routledge 54–55 978-1-317-96647-0 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.Bhuyan Arun Chandra Nationalist Upsurge in Assam 2000 Government of Assam 47256838 Background thumb|left|200px thumb|right|200px|On the left is a map of Sylhet Division in present-day Bangladesh and on the right is a map of Karimganj district in present-day Assam, India 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.History - British History in depth: The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/partition1947_01.shtml BBC 20 November 2016 Sylhet was a Muslim-majority Sylheti-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".Daniyal Shoaib With Brexit a reality, a look back at six Indian referendums (and one that never happened) http://scroll.in/article/810564/with-brexit-a-reality-a-look-back-at-six-indian-referendums-and-one-that-never-happened Scroll.in 20 November 2016 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. Brigadier Mohinder Singh Chopra was in command of the "SYL Force" (Sylhet Force) made to keep the referendum peaceful, which is why there were no cases of riot or murder during the time.13 August 2023 Independence Day: The man who set up the joint check post at Attari-Wagah border in 1947 https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/independence-day-joint-check-post-attari-wagah-border-mohinder-singh-chopra-8890450/ 5 May 2024 The Indian Express en Result thumb|left|250x300px|Map of Sylhet district at the time of the 1947 Sylhet referendum 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.Qureshi Murad Murad Qureshi 14 August 2017 Sylhet's own Brexit – Partition referendum of 1947 https://muradqureshi.com/sylhets-own-brexit-partition-referendum-of-1947/ Murad Qureshi 1 June 2021 The putative cause of this was the plea of a group led by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar.May 2021 India received three and a half thanas of Sylhet.Recovering Sylhet http://himalmag.com/recovering-sylhet/ Himal Southasian 22 November 2012 20 November 2016Assam Election Results – What does it mean for Bangladesh? http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/politics/assam-election-results-what-does-it-mean-bangladesh-1227193 The Daily Star 21 May 2016 20 November 2016 Along with Karimganj, Zakiganj was also to be a part of independent India, but this was prevented by a delegation led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/08/15/d40815090170.htm Bangabandhu's death anniversary special: As I look back Ali, AMM Shawkat The Daily Star 15 August 2004 26 May 2021 26 May 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210526141434/http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/08/15/d40815090170.htm dead Thus, most of the Sylhet District joined East Pakistan, which later emerged as the new country of Bangladesh in 1971 following the Bangladesh War of Independence.LaPorte R 1972 Pakistan in 1971: The Disintegration of a Nation Asian Survey 12 2 97–108 10.2307/2643071 2643071 The result of the referendum was largely welcomed by the local Assamese population.Fazal Tanweer Minority Nationalisms in South Asia https://books.google.com/books?id=6bGMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 2013 Routledge 56 978-1-317-96647-0 thumb|left|446x446px|Letter on Results of Sylhet Referendum addressing M. A. Jinnahthumb|left|210x210px|Letter on Results of Sylhet Referendum addressing Gopinath Bordoloi SubdivisionTotal Voters Votes castTurnout % Votes Assam(India)% East Bengal(Pakistan)%Sylhet North1,41,131 1,07,25276.00 38,87136.24 68,38163.76Sylhet South (Moulvibazar)79,024 65,18982.49 33,47151.34 31,71848.66Habiganj1,35,526 91,49567.51 36,95240.39 54,54359.61Sunamganj90,891 77,92685.74 34,21143.9043,71556.10Karimganj1,00,243 81,79881.60 40,53649.56 41,26250.44 Total5,46,8154,23,66077.481,84,04143.442,39,61956.56 See also 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum, a similar referendum held in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan 1948 Junagadh referendum, a similar referendum held in present-day Junagadh, India Undivided Sylhet district History of Sylhet Sylhet Division Sylhetis Sylheti language References Category:1947 in British India Category:1947 referendums Category:July 1947 in Asia Category:1940s in Assam Category:Bangladesh and the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Partition of India Category:Sylhet District Category:Referendums in India Category:History of Sylhet Category:Territorial evolution of Bangladesh