Cosmopolitanism, Politics and Regionalism: Calcutta and India’s Struggle for Independence

Abstract

This article has been written to offer an account of the history of Calcutta’s urban politics and society. By revolving around the evolution of Calcutta Corporation and BPCC, the article intends to show that Calcutta, once the pioneer of anti-colonialist movements, concentrated so much on its urban politics in later colonial period that it not only caused a division within the national political field, but also betrayed India during its struggle for independence. The regionalism that developed in this period, along with the narrow interests of its leaders, undermined Gandhian ‘countervailing hegemony’, opposed to colonialism.