RAS question
The Partition of Bengal was opposed through which famous day?
Correct answer: (D) Raksha Bandhan Day.
The Partition of Bengal was opposed through Raksha Bandhan Day, observed on 16 October 1905 as a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity in Bengal.
Explanation
Rabindranath Tagore suggested observing Raksha Bandhan Day on 16 October 1905, the day the Partition of Bengal came into effect, to symbolise unity between Hindus and Muslims of Bengal. The NIOS History lesson confirms that 16 October 1905 was marked by a hartal in Calcutta and declared a day of mourning. People fasted, no fire was lit in the cooking hearth, processions moved through the streets singing Bande Mataram, and people in Bengal tied rakhis on one another's wrists as a sign of solidarity. That is why the protest is associated with Raksha Bandhan Day, not with a later national day.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Republic Day is unrelated to the 1905 anti-partition protest described in the source, which centred on 16 October 1905 and the tying of rakhis.
- (B) May Day is an international workers' day, whereas the Bengal protest in question used rakhis as a symbol of solidarity.
- (C) Independence Day was not being observed in 1905, and the cited account identifies the protest day with the implementation of the Bengal Partition on 16 October 1905.
Concept
This tests the Swadeshi and Boycott phase of the national movement, especially the symbolic mass protests against the Partition of Bengal. RAS often asks such questions because dates, protest forms and nationalist symbols help distinguish early twentieth-century movements.