Impact of British Administrative Policy on the Society of Bengal

Bengal was the first province in India to fall into the hands of English, which
was ruled by the British people for about 190 years. So, Bengal had the longest
experience of British rule and much more affected than any other part of the
sub-continent. The Muslims were the ruling people of Bengal and the loss of
political power affected them most adversely. For them it was a fall from the
highest of political supremacy and economic prosperity to poverty and
backwardness.

After the battle of Palashy of 1757, the East-India company assumed the
military responsibility and it disbanded 80,000 soldier of Nawab's army of Mir
Jafar. During the Nawabi of Najmuddaula, the number of Bengal's Nawab's
army further reduced. When Warren Hastings terminated the Dual-
Administration system of Robert Clive in 1772 and officially captured the
political power of Bengal, he completely disbanded all the soldiers of Bengal's
Nawab. Thus, more than one lac Bengal soldiers in Nawab's military together
with hundreds of supporting staff lost their employment and they gradually
reduced to extreme poverty.

The scenario was almost same in the land revenue administration system. Land
revenue was the principal source of income of the then government and till then
Muslims were in the higher posts of the revenue administration. Some Hindus
also occupied good positions, but most of them left with minor jobs. Chief
Diwan of the province was always Muslim. Hundreds of Muslims were
employed in the office of Chief Diwan. After the acquisition of Diwani by the
company in 1765, they kept the Muslim employees for some time till the
English officer could gather experience in the field. In 1772, with the removal
of Reza Khan from the office of Chief Diwan and appointing tax collectors in
every district, Warren Hastings dispossessed hundreds of Muslims from their
jobs in the revenue administration not only in the capital city of Murshidabad
but also in the provincial offices like Jahangirnagar (Dhaka), Azimabad,
Cuttack etc. Only Bengal was devided inti 13 Chaklas and 1660 Mahals or
Parganas, each Pargana containing Amin, Khazanchi, Qanungu, and
Chowdhury, Thus, thousands of Muslims were severely affected by the revenue
policy of the company. Bengal had been traditionally an exporting country.
Within half a century of company rule Bengal lost its predominance in the
export market. Gradually it was turned into a captive market for British
industrial products and an agricultural hinterland for the supply of agricultural
raw materials to the metropolitan manufactories. In the process, the former
entrepreneurs became landowners by and large and artisans joined cultivation
and rural labours.

The Nizamat or civil administration as well as judicial administration also were

not different. The Nizamat (civil administration) of Murshidabad had a large
office consisting of ministerial staff, ceremonial and household staff of Nawab.
The offices of Naib-i-Nizam of Jahangirnagar, Azimabad and Cuttack used to
give employment to a large number of Muslims. Every town had Kotwal
(police) administration with many subordinates. Hundreds of Muslims were
employed in the judicial administration as Qadi, Mufti, Mir Adls and other
subordinates. There were offices of Qadi in every town and many Parganas as
well. The British administration kept Muslim judicial personnel for a period of
time then started eliminating them and manned by the English.

From the time of battle of Palashy, the British did not trust the Muslims as they
fought against them. M. Raymond (Haji Mustafa) wrote in the translation of
Siyarul Mutakherin that the English people regarded the people of the country
as no better than a dead stock and treated them with contempt. Unlike the
Muslims, for the Hindus of Bengal there was no remarkable material loss, but
just it was a change of masters from the Muslims to the Hindus. Rather they
allied themselves with the English in terminating the Muslim rule and
establishing company rule. They served the British ruler with loyalty and
obtained many government jobs and favor. Now British rulers based their power
on the support of Hindu community. Sir John Malcom said "The attachment of
Hindu population of India is the chief source of our security in India.
For the Muslims of Bengal, it was a great loss of their empire. The British felt
that the Muslims would never miss an opportunity to recover their political
power. On this belief, they consider the Muslims as their natural enemies and
followed a policy of distrust towards them. Robert Clive wrote to warren
Hastings in 1767 "You may lay it down as a maxim that Musulmans will never
be influenced by kind treatment to do us justice. Their own apprehensions only
can and will induce them to fulfill their agreement. "18 The British regime was
like a nightmare for the Muslims. Lord Ellen borough wrote to the Duke of
Wellington in 1843 "I can not close my eyes to the belief that the race
Muhammedans is fundamentally hostile to us and our true policy is to
reconciliation the Hindus. Because of strong alliance between the British and
the Hindus, they did even not care to the Muslim sentiment. They engaged the
Hindus whenever they needed any service and patronized them.

The Muslims of Bengal remained their discontent against this alien domination
was expressed by as such incidents as Faqir rebellion, Titumir and HAji
Shariatullah's movement. This directly or indirectly affected company's
administration. W.W. Hunter writes "The Musalmans of India are and have
been for many years a source of chronic danger to the British power in India. 20
He says that the exclusion of the Muslims from the army and higher offices was
for the safety of the British Empire. This policy of the government brought ruin
to the Muslims.21

For administrative experience and to run the state, the British needed the
services of the Muslims primarily. The British continued the administration of
Muslim law. Persian was the state language and Muslims were well known of
Persian, so they were kept in some positions until 1837, when Persian language
was replaced by English language. In 1837, William Bentinck issued decree that
business be conducted either in English or in vernacular languages instead of
Persia. This measure completely damaged the position of the Muslims and
closed the door of administration at any level for the Muslims of Bengal. The
Hindus, who learnt English from the beginning, reaped the benefit of this
change. In 1868, out of 240 Indian pleaders who entered into government job,
239 were the Hindus and only one was Muslim. In government offices, there
was hardly a Muslim to be seen. English was made alone the language of all
examinations of recruitments. According to Syed Ameer Ali, 'the English
educated Hindu youths trained for the most of the times in the Christian
missionary institutions, from which the Muslims naturally held aloof.' The
British administration followed the policy of discrimination for the Muslims
even in minor jobs. Sometimes advertisement was made mentioning only
Hindus could apply. Thus, all sorts of employment big or small were being
stanched away from the Muslims and bestowed on Hindus. W.W. Hunter
observed that 'in the government offices of Calcutta, the Muslims could not
expect a better job than above the rank of porter or messenger, filler of ink-pot
or mender of pens. 22 Hunter remarked "A hundred year ago, the Musalmans
monopolized all the important offices of the

state.... But now they were represented by a few clerks." Ripon, Syeed Ameer
Ali illustrated the Muslim positions in the government services in 1882. Here is
few that statistics (Calcutta)
Degignation Christian Hundu Muslim Total
of the officers
Foreign 39 14 01 54
department
Home, 39 23 01 63
Revenue,
Agriculture
Finance and 17 58 00 75
Commerce
Comptroller 18 45 00 63
General's
Office
Bengal 15 75 00 90
Secretariat
Judicial 16 64 02 82
Accountant 12 169 00 181
General's
office
Board of 24 88 01 113
Revenue
Director 11 29 00 40
General's
Offoce
(Postal)
Eastern 03 151 09 163
Bengal Postal
Department
Inspector 05 06 01 12
General's
office
Custom 00 130 11 130
Department
High Court 25 91 00 116
(Original
jurisdiction)
High Court 01 11 01 13
(Appelate)
Gazetted Officer (Total)
1080 850 77 2007

The above statistics showed the deplorable position of the Muslims in

government services under the British administration. The main causes were:
firstly, the British administration followed the policy of distrust and
discrimination towards the Muslims. Secondly, the sudden displacement of
Persian language by English in 1837 seriously affected the Muslims. Thirdly,
the Muslims were slow to accept English education, which the Hindus accepted
from the beginning. Fourthly, the Hindus occupying higher positions in the
government offices completed the policy of exclusion of the Muslims from
government appointments. Thus, the the Muslim society of Bengal lost their
aristocracy and prosperity in every aspect of the society so adversely that
Hunter writes, "A hundred and seventy years ago it was almost impossible for a
wellborn Musalman in Bengal to become poor, at present it is almost impossible
for him to continue rich. "25