Dr. Jekyll, Mr Hyde or Bengali Hamlet? Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy as the last Prime Minister of undivided Bengal

Up to the present day Suhrawardy remains a controversial figure in both parts of Bengal, with Hindus often seeing him as their fierce persecutor and Bangladeshi Muslims hailing him as their country’s forefather and preacher of communal unity. This article analyses his actions during the period of his Prime Ministership (1946–1947) looking for the sources of the above dichotomy. It argues that although Suhrawardy displayed a mild communal bias at times, circumstances made him inconsistent, being as he was trapped between right wing of Muslim League, the Hindu masses unwilling to trust him and (until the end of 1946) Congress ambitions to inherit the whole Raj. The need to act quickly due to Viceroy Mountbatten’s haste, as well as the PM’s lack of social skills were other factors contributing to failure of his last initiative – United Bengal Scheme – despite his genuine efforts towards Hindu-Muslim settlement and agrarian reforms.