Sylhet referendum, 1947

Sylhet Referendum
Should Sylthet join East Bengal?
Location	Sylhet, Assam, British Raj
Date	6 July 1947
Results Votes % Yes 239,619 56.56% No 184,041 43.44% Valid votes 423,660 77.48% Invalid or blank votes 123,155 22.52% Total votes 546,815 100.00%

Sylhet Referendum was a referendum held in Sylhet to decide whether Sylthet would remain in Assam and join the new country of India or would join East Bengal and the new country of Pakistan. The referendum was decided in favor of joining Pakistan.^[1]

Background

The partition of India was to happen along religions lines. The Muslim Majority areas would form Pakistan while the Hindu Majority areas would form India.^[2] Sylhet was a Muslim majority district in Assam which was a Hindu Majority province. People in Sylhet spoke Sylheti or Bengali while those in rest of the province spoke Assamese. The Government of Assam believed removing Sylhet would make it more homogeneous and stronger as a result. Assam’s Prime Minister Gopinath Bordoloi said in 1946 that his wish was to “hand over Sylhet to East Bengal”.^[3]

History

The Government of British Raj declared on 3 July 1947 that a referendum would be held to decide the future of Sylhet on 7th July 1947. H. C. Stock was appointed the commissioner of the referendum.^[1]

Result

The majority of the population voted to join East Bengal. It was implemented in the Article 3 of the India Independence Act of 18 July 1947. The Radcliffe line published on 12 August 1947 gave some areas of Sylhet mainly in Karimganj to India, while the rest of Sylthet joined East Pakistan.^[1] India received three thana and half of one thana from Sylthet.^[4] The Areas India received has a majority Bengali Muslim population.^[5] The Result was welcomed in Assam.^[6]

References

1. Chowdhury, Dewan Nurul Anwar Husain. "Sylhet Referendum, 1947". en.banglapedia.org. Banglapedia. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
2. "History - British History in depth: The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
3. Daniyal, Shoaib. "With Brexit a reality, a look back at six Indian referendums (and one that never happened)". Scroll.in. Scroll. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
4. "Recovering Sylhet - Himal Southasian". himalmag.com. Himal Southasian. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
5. "Assam Election Results - What does it mean for Bangladesh?". thedailystar.net. The Daily Star. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
6. Fazal, Tanweer. Minority Nationalisms in South Asia. Routledge. p. 56. ISBN 9781317966470. Retrieved 20 November 2016.