MUrshidabad, along with Chittagong, Midnapore and Nadia, was one of the first districts established by the East India Company in the late 18th century.th century. All four claim to be first, but likely to be from Murshidabad primus inter pares It is more because it was here that the foundation of the British Raj was laid. During the Viceroyalty of Warren Hastings, it was the capital of the EIC, except in 1772–1775, when the supreme civil and criminal courts were transferred to Calcutta. but In 1790, his successor Lord Charles Cornwallis moved the headquarters to Calcutta, and the house built for the Governor General became the DM’s Bungalow and Circuit House. This was the house I lived in for two years when I was appointed as the Collector and Magistrate of Murshidabad in 1994. Two hundred and twelve years ago, the occupant was a certain John Barrington Mart Jr., whom I am trying to research as he is the first name on the list of district collectors of Murshidabad.
This is the district that the Mamata Banerjee government has now decided to bifurcate into Murshidabad, Jangipur and Kandi. This was perhaps inevitable because with a population of over 7 million, five subdivisions, 29 development blocks and an equal number of police stations and a 95-km border with Bangladesh, it was becoming increasingly difficult to administer. Even three decades ago the population had crossed 60 lakhs, and I remember when Governor K.V. Raghunath Reddy saw the outline of the district, he praised me for handling a district with a population three times the size of his former state, Tripura!
Read also: ‘Erasing History’ – Why is there opposition in Bengal to Mamata’s plan to create new districts?
The rise of Murshid Quli Khan and then the fall of Murshidabad
The history of Murshidabad begins with Murshid Quli Khan, who moved the revenue headquarters of the Bengal diocese from Dhaka to this riverside town.
according to historian Jadunath SarkarHe was born in Surya Narayan Mishra in a poor Brahmin family. Deccan in 1670. He became an apprentice under Haji Shafi, a Persian officer in the Mughal court, which gave him his new name, identity and expertise in revenue matters. He was noticed for his administrative skills by Aurangzeb, In 1700, Khan was appointed as the Diwan of Bengal and sent to Dhaka, the then provincial capital of the diocese. However, he sought permission to move Mad The office of Mukshudabad, a city on the banks of the Ganges and well connected to every part of the state. European trading companies also set up their factories in the city. He asked the bankers to shift there including Jagat Seth’s house.
The city became prosperous and revenue collection increased. This pleased the emperor who granted him the title of ‘Murshid Quli’ in 1704 and allowed the city to be renamed. Murshidabad (City of Murshid Quli Khan).
By the time of Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, Khan had been appointed Subedar of Bengal, but as the Mughal Empire weakened, he assumed the title of Nawab of Bengal in 1717. Although he continued to pay an annual revenue of one crore to the Mughals. The court, for all intents and purposes, had been set free. really, Bengal was now the most prosperous province, and Murshidabad was its most famous city. The Bengal Diocese included present-day Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. With the establishment of Dutch, French and English factories, the city became a center for the trade of silk, cotton and muslin.
In 1757, at Plassey on the outskirts of the district, the EIC recorded its decisive victory against the French army and Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, which changed the course of India’s history forever.
In the following decades, Murshidabad was largely lost to Calcutta because, unlike the Mughals, the EIC did not depend on banking families to manage its finances. This was the beginning of the decline of a city that had been a center of political upheaval and succession. As the weaving industry declined due to cheap imports, the district became even more impoverished, and the cultivation of jute and indigo as ordered by the EIC put food security at risk.
Read also: Financial tips to Jagat Seth, a Bengal banker who gave loan to East India Company, Aurangzeb
four flags
The district contributed many volunteers to the Indian independence movement, first to the Indian National Congress, and later to the Forward Bloc founded by Subhas Chandra Bose, as he was the leader with whom most of the Congressmen in the district were associated. Many also joined the Anushilan Samiti, which transformed into the Revolutionary Socialist Party under the leadership of Tridib Chowdhury. Tridib Choudhary was elected to the Lok Sabha six times from the district. In the 1974 presidential election as a joint opposition candidate for the presidency, he lost to Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. Pranab Mukherjee was eventually elected President in 2012, but his Jangipur constituency would now be a new district.
Before closing, I should mention that Murshidabad, with its overwhelmingly Muslim population, was assigned to Pakistan in the Schedule of Provisional Allocation of Districts between East and West Bengal, in the Annex to the Indian Independence Act published in July 1947. No wonder, the then ICS District Magistrate Ikram Ahmed Khan hoisted the Pakistan flag at the DM’s bungalow on August 14. However, when the Radcliffe Prize was announced on 17 August, Murshidabad was given to India for ensuring the flow of water through the Bhagirathi to the port of Calcutta. After this, the Indian tricolor flew over this bungalow for the first time on 18 August.
The bungalow has four flags on its flag – that of the East India Company from 1758 to 1858, the Union Jack from the Queen’s Proclamation from 1 November 1858 to 14 August 1947, the Parchama-e Sitara of Pakistan for four days, and 18 August 1947. From Tricolor!
PS: In 1997, the golden jubilee year of India’s independence, LBSNAA invited all the surviving members of the ICS for a reunion, and to my surprise, I had an opportunity to meet Murshidabad DM Ikram Ahmed Khan in 1947. He was allotted Sindh cadre after the partition of Pakistan in 1971.
Sanjeev Chopra is a former IAS officer and Festival Director of Valley of Words. Until recently he was the Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. He tweeted @ChopraSanjeev. Thoughts are personal.
This article is part ofstate of state‘ series that analyzes policy, civil services and governance in India.