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Should Sylhet join the province ofEast Bengal inPakistan? | ||||
| Outcome | Karimganj subdivision remains in theIndia, the rest of Sylhet District joins thePakistan. | |||
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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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The1947 Sylhet referendum was held inSylhet District of theAssam Province ofBritish India to decide whether the district would remain inundivided Assam and therefore within the post-independenceDominion of India, or leave Assam forEast Bengal and consequently join the newly createdDominion of Pakistan. The referendum's turnout was in favour of joining the Pakistani union; however, the district'sKarimganj subdivision remained within theIndian state of Assam.[1]
Prior to theBritish arrival in the region in late eighteenth century, theSylhet Sarkar was a part of theBengal Subah of theMughal Empire. Initially, theCompany Raj incorporated Sylhet into itsBengal Presidency; however, 109 years later on 16 February 1874, Sylhet was made a part of thenon-regulationChief 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'sSylheti-majority population which consisted of bothHindus andMuslims.[2] These protests subsided when Northbrook visited Sylhet to reassure the people that education and justice would be administered from the city ofCalcutta in Bengal,[3] as well as when the Hinduzamindars of Sylhet realized the opportunity of employment in Assam's tea estates and a market for their produce.[4]
After thefirst partition of Bengal in 1905, Sylhet was briefly reincorporated withEastern Bengal and Assam, as a part of the new province'sSurma Valley and Hill Districts division. However, this reorganization was short-lived as Sylhet once again became separated from Bengal in 1912, whenAssam Province was reconstituted into aChief Commissioner's Province.[citation needed] By the 1920s, organisations such as theSylhet Peoples' Association andSylhet–Bengal Reunion League mobilized public opinion, demanding Sylhet's reincorporation into Bengal.[5] However, the leaders of the Reunion League, includingMuhammad Bakht Mauzumdar andSyed Abdul Majid, who were also involved in Assam's tea trade, later opposed the transfer of Sylhet andCachar to Bengal in September 1928 during theSurma Valley Muslim Conference; supported by Abdul Majid'sAnjuman-e-Islamia andMuslim Students Association.[6]
Thepartition of India was to happen along religious lines in August 1947.Muslim-majority areas would be combined to form the newPakistan while non-Muslim andHindu-majority areas would remain inIndia.[7]Sylhet was a Muslim-majoritySylheti-speaking district in Assam, which was a Hindu-majorityAssamese-speaking province. TheGovernment 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 toEast Bengal".[8] TheBritish 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]BrigadierMohinder 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.[9]
The majority of the population voted in favour of joiningPakistan. This was implemented via Article 3 of theIndian Independence Act of 18 July 1947. TheRadcliffe Line published on 17 August 1947 gave some areas of Sylhet – mainlyKarimganj – toIndia, while the rest of Sylhet joinedEast Bengal, even though Karimganj had a Muslim-majority population which had opted for Pakistan, unlike some other areas in Sylhet likeMoulvibazar.[10] The putative cause of this was the plea of a group led byAbdul Matlib Mazumdar.[citation needed]
India received three and a halfthanas of Sylhet.[11][12] Along with Karimganj,Zakiganj was also to be a part of independent India, but this was prevented by a delegation led bySheikh Mujibur Rahman.[13] Thus, most of the Sylhet District joinedEast Pakistan, which later emerged as the new country ofBangladesh in 1971 following theBangladesh War of Independence.[14]
The result of the referendum was largely welcomed by thelocal Assamese population.[15]
| Subdivision | Total Voters | Votes cast | Turnout % | Votes[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 4,23,660 | 77.48 | 1,84,041 | 43.44 | 2,39,619 | 56.56 |
It was also decided that education and justice would be administered from Calcutta University and the Calcutta High Court respectively.
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.
