Government and Politics in Colonial Bihar

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This book examines the working of the government introduced in Bihar under the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms and the nature and dynamics of nationalist and communal politics during this period. It begins with exploring the political initiatives undertaken by the nationalist forces for representative government, and goes on to offer a reappraisal of the Congress politics of mass mobilization in the struggle against the colonial rule. The book also analyzes the Swarajists' experiment of continuing resistance by entering the Council. The Congress strategies of spreading the, nationalist message deep into the remote areas of Bihar, the emergence of the Kisan Sabha as the champion of peasants' cause and the rise of socialist trends in Bihar Congress are examined in detail.

The polarization of provincial politics on communal lines became much more pronounced with the implementation of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. Political actions of the Hindus and the Muslims began to be determined by community-oriented consciousness. In this work, Dr. Jawaid Alam discusses at some length, the growth of separatist and communal trends, and the strategies of identity building and religious mobilization causing the breakdown of longstanding Hindu-Muslim camaraderie leading to outbreaks of communal violence.

Based on a wide range of original sources and painstaking research, the study is an attempt to understand the British package, of concessions given to the Indians in Bihar which had become more crucial in the national political arena since the Champaran Satyagraha, and the main trends in the evolution and consolidation of political formations there. Meticulously researched and carefully argued, this book will be of great interest to all those studying or involved in Modem Indian history and politics.

Dr. JAWAID ALAM (b. 1964) worked in the Towards Freedom Project of the ICHR as Resarch Associate and in the Department of Culture, Government of India as Research Officer for publishing Selected Works of Govind Ballabh Pant in a series of volumes. He is currently working on Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru at the JNMF, Teen Murti House, New Delhi. He has contributed research articles to various journals and edited books.

This study seeks to examine the working of the government introduced in Bihar under the provisions of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms and the nature of nationalist and communal politics in the province during the period of this experiment in delegating power to elected Indian representatives. This study of government and politics in colonial Bihar is important not only because it marks a departure in the studies of constitutional experiment and nationalist politics from an all India perspective to a provincial one, but it was also the first deliberate move towards democratization of governing institutions in the provinces. Bihar seems to be a good choice as it had been one of the main centres of anti-colonial agitations. With its creation as a separate province in 1912, Bihar became more crucial in the calculation of the leaders for promoting nationalist programmes and by the second decade of the twentieth century it was catapulted into prominence on the political map of India because there had been considerable increase in popular participation in the nationalist politics of the province.

Although quite a few scholarly works have offered new insights on the theme, they are mainly concerned with strategies and experiment at the all India level. I have undertaken the task of exploring the political initiative taken by nationalist forces for representative government, the way it was introduced and worked and to examining the nature of nationalist politics and communalism during this period in one of the more important provinces of India. I, however, acknowledge the profound impact of the works of all India level on this work.

This is the first serious work on the political evolution of Bihar covering the period 1921 to 1937, decidedly an important period in the political evolution of India. The author. Dr Jawaid Alam, has discussed at length the working of the Government in Bihar under the scheme of Dyarchy. He has examined the powers and position of the Governor. Councillors, and the Ministers and also their relationship in realistic and objective terms. The fact clearly comes out that the division of the departments or provincial administration into two sets of subjects, one reserved and the other transferred did not prove satisfactory in practice. It severely affected the prestige as well as power of the Ministers, who were really not free from the supervision and control of the Governor From the British point of view this scheme had inaugurated the experiment in parliamentary democracy in India. But in real sense it marked no significant constitutional advance and fell far short of the nationalist expectations. The book also demonstrates how the British used the constitutional device of 'responsible government' to influence the course of Indian politics. Dr Jawaid has also gone beyond the working of Dyarchy and thoroughly dealt with the evolution of politics outside the realms of ministries and councils. He has incisively described the evolution of nationalist, socialist and communal politics in Bihar He has also discussed at some length the articulation of peasant movement and the dynamics of relationship between the Kisan Sabha and the Congress. In preparing the work Dr. Jawaid has consulted all relevant source materials and presented his findings in a readable language. His analysis and interpretation of facts is scholarly and the argument is interesting.

**Contents and Sample Pages**