Dr Swapna Manindranath Deka
&
Dr Indrani Medhi
(imedhi10@gmail.com)
The Independence Act, 1947, declared India as a sovereign and independent nation. But this came with an expensive price, the price of being partitioned into two separate Dominions – India and Pakistan – on religious lines. Beneath the ceremonial partition lies a convoluted politics of partition. The partition saw tears, separation, bloodshed, loss of life and loss of property. Sadly, the executors of the Mountbatten plan remained unmoved by the sufferings of the Indians. The partition of 1947 was one of the largest mass migrations, displacing an estimated10 to 20 million people across borders. Sweet as well as bitter memories remained among those Indians who had the privilege to experience it.
This 15th August India will celebrate its 78th anniversary of independence. As India celebrates its 78th Independence Day, it is essential to remember the heroes whose contributions guaranteed that the nation remained united. Among these figures may be mentioned Gopinath Bordoloi, a leader whose unwavering resolve played a critical role in keeping Assam within India, upsetting its potential merger with East Pakistan during the tumultuous partition era. During the partition, Assam’s cultural and linguistic distinctiveness was at peril. Unlike Bengal, Assam was a region where the Assamese language was predominantly spoken, with a rich cultural heritage that set it apart. Despite this, Assam faced the threat of being grouped with East Bengal, which was to become East Pakistan. This grouping was a part of the British administrative divisions and was further pushed by the Cabinet Mission’s recommendations in 1946.
After the death of Chandra Nath Sarma (1922), Nabin Ch. Bordoloi (1936) and Torun Ram Phukan (1939), only Gopinath Bordoloi, Faiznur Ali and Ambikagiri Roychoudhary remained constantly associated with the Assamese peculiar situations, without losing sight of the national interest. However, among the above-mentioned six Assamese Congressmen, Gopinath Bordoloi was unique in his insightful understanding of Gandhism. When Gandhi came to Assam in 1921, Gopinath Bordoloi took him as his spiritual and political mentor. He began his political life as one of the first batch of Congress leaders in Assam in 1920, i.e., before the Provincial Congress organizations established in in1921.
Assamese peasantry had emphatically opposed the East Bengali peasant’s presence in the province. Faced with increasing pressure to limit migration of different interest groups, the Assam administration was forced to redefine its land settlement policy. The British administrators devised a means and put it into practice in the Nagoan District and the Barpeta subdivision of the then Kamrup District as early as 1920. According to this device, a line was drawn on the village map, taking into consideration the people inhabiting the village, and no occupation of land by the immigrants beyond that line in the land was allowed. This later came to be known as the Line system.
Though the Line System was introduced to restrict the movement of East Bengali peasants into the Assamese village and their field, such restrictions could hardly be put into practice. Gradually, the East Bengali peasants took the policy of mass raid in the government reserve and even some places of Xatra. In the meanwhile, the period after the outbreak of the Second World War witnessed terrible political turmoil. Japan, as a member of the Axis group, was advancing against the Allied forces in SoutheastAsia. The Governor of Assam during that time was Sir Andrew Cole. He approached different political parties for help in the war efforts. This gave an opportunity to Md Sadulla to get benefit from the situation to regain power. He personally contributed a sum of Rs 1 lakh towards the war efforts. Accordingly, Sadulla was invited to form a ministry in August 1942.But the return of Sadulla again to power in August 1942 took a new turn. It was a Muslim League majority ministry. He revoked section 93 of the Government of India Act, 1935, and revived the “Development Scheme”. In the name of the “grow more food” campaign, he encouraged more fresh settlements of the immigrants even in sub-montane places, especially in those places inhabited by the tribes. Even Lord Wavel, the Viceroy, taunted, “Whether it is ‘Grow More Food’ or ‘Grow More Muslims’?”
When Attlee came to power in 1945 in England, he ordered the holding of an election in India. He also sent the famous Cabinet Mission to India in March 1946. The Cabinet Mission, sent by the British government to India in 1946, proposed a grouping plan as a solution to India’s political issues. The plan aimed to accommodate the interests of different regions and communities within a united India. It suggested the creation of three groups of provinces, each with its own constitution and government, while the central government would handle defence, foreign affairs, and communications.
The grouping plan proposed the following three groups:
Group A: Hindu-majority provinces of Madras, Bombay, the United Provinces, Bihar, Central Provinces, and Orissa.
Group B: Muslim-majority provinces of Punjab, Sind, North-West Frontier Province, and Baluchistan.
Group C: Bengal and Assam
The grouping plan created apprehension among the people of Assam, with the fear that it would negate the prospects of provincial status for Assam. It also became clear that the grouping would be according to the Hindu- and Muslim-dominated provinces that induced the people of Assam to believe that the province would be tagged with a Muslim-dominated Bengal. Gopinath Bordoloi strongly protested and also initiated public agitation throughout the state. It should be mentioned here that Mahatma Gandhi also directly opposed the Grouping plan. Finally, with the issue of the grouping plan being the main hurdle, the Cabinet mission plan collapsed. It was Gopinath Bordoloi who was the person behind the collapse of the whole grouping arrangement. He felt that once the province had committed itself to grouping, it would hardly be possible to disentangle itself from it afterwards.
One cannot forget the endeavours of Sri Gopinath Bordoloi, who played a crucial role in saving Assam from the politics of partition. It was because of his tenacious opposition and sincere efforts that Assam remained a part of the Indian Union. Otherwise Assam today would have become a part of the erstwhile East Pakistan, i.e., Bangladesh. It was because of him that Assam later entered into the category of Group A. In 1956 under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Assam was conferred the status of a linguistic state, finding its mention in the First Schedule of the Constitution. The Assamese language also finds mention as one of the official languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.