Into the nuances of history: The Battle of Plassey

Shamsuddoza Sajen

Sudeep Chakravarti is an eminent commentator and author whose narrative non-fiction and fiction have been translated into Bangla, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, German and more. In January 2020, his book—Plassey: The Battle That Changed the Course of Indian History (Aleph Book Company, India)—sought to parse through the history and the myths surrounding the topic. This week we brought together the author and our Commercial Supplements Editor Shamsuddoza Sajen to discuss the book and the battle, fought 263 years ago on June 23.

Shamsuddoza Sajen (TDS): Why did the British want to capture the throne of Bengal? Was the Battle of Plassey inevitable?

Sudeep Chakravarti: Bengal was a major Asian trade hub. Here cottons and silks were legendary, there was jute, lac, saltpetre for making gunpowder and preserving foods. Finance was relatively easy. The rivers and waterways ensured excellent transportation and communication networks. And Bengal was rich: its revenues helped to sustain Mughal coffers and armies. Even with the disintegration of the Mughal Empire, both French and British Company sources verify as to how Bengal sustained their Indian trade. The

British East India Company couldn't afford to lose Bengal, and they couldn't afford French

ascendancy in Bengal and India either. Siraj and the French were both perceived as great threats. The British wanted both to be removed from the chessboard.

A make-or-break conflict with Siraj-ud-daulah became a priority for John Company in early 1757. Robert Clive and Charles Watson had already helped recover Calcutta from Siraj's forces in January. Meanwhile, the Seven Years' War was breaking out in Europe, in which Britain and France were the main combatants. That hostility carried over to Bengal, and weakened the so-called 'Neutrality of the Ganges', a tenuous understanding by which Europeans attempted to insulate the Bengal trade. When Siraj's outreach to the French began to increase from February, the die was cast.

First the French settlement of Chandannagar north of Calcutta was attacked and destroyed by the British in March 1757. The elites of Murshidabad who had meanwhile been conspiring against Siraj now formally conspired with John Company against the nawab. The stage was set for what came to be called the Battle of Plassey, fought on June 23, 1757. But the outcome of the battle was far from certain. Indeed, despite his bravado Clive was a nervous wreck, and Company officials in Calcutta were fully prepared to dump Clive if the gambit went wrong—and Clive knew it! It's all in my book.

Click here to read the original story from The Daily Star of 25th June 2020 published from Dhaka, Bangladesh.