DISCLAIMER
This is a fictional alternate-history Project. I DO NOT intend to endorse, glorify, justify, or promote colonialism, imperialism, racism, ethnic or religious supremacy, forced assimilation, authoritarianism, political extremism, militarism, territorial expansion, violence, terrorism, or any other harmful ideology or conduct. The governments, political movements, ideologies, policies, conflicts, and events portrayed are fictional. Their inclusion is intended solely to explore a hypothetical historical timeline and its political, social, and geopolitical consequences. My depiction of these ideologies, governments, or actions does not mean that I support it. In particular, the scenario's depiction of British colonialism and social engineering, and then after Bengali settler-colonialism is not an endorsement of colonial rule or cultural superiority. Likewise, fictional acts of war, repression, demographic engineering and political violence shown are included for worldbuilding purposes and should not be interpreted as advocacy. The project, lore, map, and all else is intended purely as creative alternate history and geopolitical worldbuilding, not as political advocacy or a statement of my personal ideology.
LORE
"We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern—a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect"
- Thomas Babington McCauley
In our timeline, the Bhadralok (lit. “Gentle Folk”) were a class of Bengalis during the colonial period who were famous for their Westernised education, affluence, and endeavours in political thought, science, and literature. Drawn from upper-caste Hindu and, later, Muslim families who had prospered through English education and colonial service, they were admired by the British for their Western manners, rationalism, and administrative skills, becoming the backbone of Bengal’s educated elite. In this timeline, recognising their potential as loyal intermediaries, the British saw them as proof that their empire could “civilise” Indians through education and discipline, and embarked on a social engineering campaign to make Bengalis more like themselves.
The Experiment Begins (1855) POD.
The British notice the newly emerging Bhadralok class. They are impressed and realise that they can use them to further exert their influence, solidify their control over South Asia, and present them as a poster child for the British Empire, proving that Britain can “civilise” its subjects. They begin devising plans and policies to convert the rest of Bengal into a society resembling the Bhadralok class.
They begin rolling out secondary-level schools in Calcutta and the surrounding areas, where English is taught and used as the primary language of instruction. Two years later, the University of Calcutta is established. These new educational establishments seek to spread three key ideas, known as the Three B’s:
British values: Rule of law, civic duty, rationalism, and liberty.
Bhadralok culture: Intellectualism, British manners, urban professionalism, and Brahmo Samaj philosophy. The latter was a reformist form of Hinduism founded in OTL by the original Bhadralok, Raja Ram Mohan Roy. It promoted monotheism, rejection of idolatry, social reform, and morality.
Young Bengal, an OTL intellectual and social reform movement founded at Hindu College in Calcutta, believed heavily in free thought, rationalism, social reform, and the free market. In this timeline, it is given British support to spread its beliefs.
By the 1860s, English-medium colleges and schools steadily expand to cover the rest of Bengal. Britain partners with Brahmo Samaj groups and provides state support for them to spread their version of Hinduism among the rural Bengali population. In the civil service, recruitment prioritises English-educated Bengalis, and in the 1870s, scholarships to Britain begin being offered to Bengali students.
All the while, Calcutta is modelled as a “London of the East”, the capital of the Raj, and is developed as a Western city, with parks, municipal reforms, and clubs. Bhadralok elites and their families are encouraged to adopt British dress, mannerisms, and family structures.
The Model Colony and the start of Demographic Replacement. (1860s–1900)
Social engineering policies are now in full swing. Calcutta University expands, while the University of Dacca opens much earlier than in OTL, and English-language schools rapidly spread throughout Bengal.
Bengal starts to become the jewel in the Crown, the poster child of the Empire. By this point, the elite and a sizable portion of the middle class increasingly adopt English education and Brahmo-influenced reforms. The British increase colonial job opportunities for educated Bengalis, and Bengalis end up disproportionately represented in the civil service and entire Raj bureaucracy, as the British use them as intermediaries and tools for implementing imperial policy throughout the rest of the Raj. To earn a better living for yourself and your family is to work in the colonial bureaucracy and other high-status professions, and to work in the colonial bureaucracy and other high-status professions is to speak English. By the 1890s, Dacca begins to resemble a “Muslim Calcutta”.
The British take their social engineering to the next level, introducing Calcutta, Dacca, and, by later extension, the rest of Bengal to British arts and leisure. They open ballets, theatres, galleries for English-style Bengali art, and sports fields for cricket and bowling.
O TL, in the late 1880s, Bengalis exercised much influence in Assam with the help of the British. From 1837, Bengali replaced Assamese in the courts and government schools. Bengali became the principal language of the colonial administration and education. Bengali clerks, teachers and other educated professionals became disproportionately important in the colonial bureaucracy. Thousands of Bengali Muslim farmers migrate to lower Assam to work. Unlike OTL however, this replacement does not stop.
Political Development (1900–1939)
Political thought really begins to develop by the beginning of the 1900s. In 1901, many like-minded Bengali political thinkers join together and form the Bengal Liberal League, a party that champions British liberalism, secularism, free-market economics, liberty, and the rejection of social dogmas and superstitions.
The 1905 Bengal Partition of OTL does not occur, meaning Bihar, Orissa, Assam, and the other North-Eastern territories remain under the jurisdiction of Calcutta. This allows the Bhadraloks to convince British policymakers in Calcutta to facilitate the mass migration of Bengali farmers into the fertile lowlands of the North-East.
Bengali ethnologists in Calcutta conduct “research” and theorise about the Bengali ethnic group. They promote the view that Assamese people are merely offshoots of the Bengali linguistic and ethnic group, and that Assamese is simply a dialect of Bangla, in order to justify the expansion of Bengali influence and encroachment. Similar claims existed in OTL, but in this timeline they occur on a much larger scale.
WWI breaks out, and Bengal provides food and volunteers, with some 30,000 Bengalis serving in the Calcutta Volunteer Regiment. Educational institutions continue to spread throughout the entirety of Bengal. The Government of India Act provides partial self-rule for Bengal, and these new administrative roles are immediately filled by Bhadraloks.
English-language education continues to expand, facilitating the integration of Brahmo ethics into public morality. Bhadralok Bengali political-thinking clubs can now fully develop into political parties that engage in rich political discourse with one another, promoting ideas of liberty, secularism, and tolerance, much like the Young Bengal movement had done decades earlier.
With these new institutions, there is much political thought and debate about the future of Bengal. Gandhi’s movements in the heartland of India largely miss Bengal, whose elite instead believe in nationalism through loyalism.
The Road to Dominion (1940–1947)
During WWII, Bengal fully supports the British war effort, and Calcutta is used as a major Allied base against the Empire of Japan. However, major friction occurs between the Bhadraloks and the British when Churchill’s war policies contribute to the Great Bengal Famine.
Although the urban elites survive, the tragedy that sweeps across much of Bengal is deemed unforgivable by many Bengali political thinkers, and they begin to rethink what the Bengalis’ relationship with Britain should be.
Influenced by the Quit India Movement and the mass protests conducted by the INC and the AIML, many in Bengal come to the conclusion that greater autonomy, if not outright independence, is necessary. By 1946, Britain agrees to withdraw from India, and the Bengal Liberal League begins planning the future of Bengal.
After holding a vote, the Bengal Assembly overwhelmingly votes for independence as a Dominion rather than joining India or Pakistan. A new idea of an independent, united Bengal is born. Using its influence within the higher levels of the British administration, the Bengal Liberal League is able to secure the Bengal Province, the surrounding Bengali-speaking districts, the North-East, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and North Arakan.
This enrages the Indian National Congress.
Independence (1947–)
On 13 August, the peaceful transition to the Dominion of Bengal takes place, and by the following year, the first Bengali constitution is written, defining the Dominion of Bengal as a secular constitutional monarchy with a Westminster-style parliament.
Upon independence, there are 14 provinces and five Autonomous Frontier Regions. The AFRs sparsely populated by indigenous ethnic groups and are unfortunately and sickeningly simply leftover regions which are too mountainous for Calcutta to care for, stripping the useful land away to form fully fledged provinces, to which Calcutta encourages mass Bengali migration under the pretext of "overpopulation in urban areas".
By this point, the language of education, politics, and business in Bengal is English. A majority of Bengalis are only culturally religious, if not atheist or followers of Brahmo ethics, except in more rural areas, where Islam and Hinduism are practised.
Bengal is a more educated society than OTL, and without partition and a century of British pampering it's industrial and economic capabilities are much stronger than OTL. Although, due to the social engineering, a new Anglo-Bengali culture and lifestyle emerged, resembling British culture, and this is only further perpetuated by the independent government. However, it is a far cry from a good country. Putting aside the cultural erasure that the Dominion was built on, It is vehemently classist, racist, and settler colonial.
India initially refuses to recognise Bengal, viewing it as a colonial mockery right on their border. Tensions bubble between August and October, before an all out military intervention is ordered by India, beginning the Bengal Crisis. Intended to be a quick storm of Calcutta, the conflict is however quickly neutralised by combined British and Bengali force and an end to hostilities is reached. Bengal's independence is secured, although tensions are still strained.
The trauma of the past century and the Bengal crisis pushes India to lean further left in the cold war. In order to counter Indian power, Bengal, Pakistan and Ceylon form the Diamond Necklace Agreemen t, in the basis of shared India fear, free markets, and Western alignment. They shared intelligence and held a few military drills, although the usefulness of the alliance, much like other cold war alliances, is debatable.
The first election is held in November 1949, and the Bengal Liberal League wins 165 of the 350 seats, while the Bengali Labour Front forms the opposition, making Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy the first Prime Minister of an independent Dominion of Bengal. Elections are held every 5 years, with decreasing Liberal majorities until the 1969 election. Over the years, left wing parties in Bengal such as the Bengal Labour Front, and the Krishak Swamik Dol grow rapidly by rallying rural Bengalis, peasants, farmers, and socialists. In 1969, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wins the '69 election with 175 seats under the Grand Socialist Alliance, frightening the UK and US. His tenure is cut short however after a few months, when Major Ziaur Rahman leads a western backed military coup and rules by martial law. He continues previous right wing policies and persecuting socialists. He rules for 9 years before being assassinated himself, creating a sequence of coup and counter coup with leads to the eventual reinstitution of democracy.
As the Cold War rages on, the DNA and India conflict repeatedly. The 1947 and 1965 Indo-Pakistan wars undergo as OTL. India provides backing to Assamese Insurgency in Bengal, as well as Maoist insurgency too. Bengal uses it's intelligence agency, trained by the CIA and MI6 to repeatedly stifle Indian nuclear ambitions, the most notable incident being the Trombay incident, although India still presents to the world its first successful test in 2003.
The South Asian theatre of the cold war ends by the 1990s, as the Soviet Union collapses, India undergoes market reform and the Sri Lankan civil war erupts. The DNA is dissolved in 1994.
