Topo Singha
(Milan Nagar, Barbari, Guwahati)
The Rajbabu Smriti Mancha Samity, Mashughat, Silchar, remembered Bishnupriya Manipuri Language Martyr Rajbabu on March 14, 2025.
When I started to attend Bishnupriya Manipuri functions and programmes under the banner of the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Students’ Union (NBMSU) and the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha (NBMM) accompanying poet Champalal da in the early 1970s, I did notice without fail an ‘altar of martyr’ on a makeshift pedestal and wrapped in a spotless white cloth. The white aura that surrounded the garlanded altar is still vivid in my eye. The aura did elicit respect from all. I came to know from Champalal da that the altar was that of Martyr Rajbabu. And the saga of youthful Rajbabu’s martyrdom always makes me recall the heart-breaking few lines of John Maxwell Edmonds (1875-1958) inscribed on the World War II Memorial of the 2nd British Division in the Kohima War Cemetery. The inscription reads:
“When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow, we gave our today.”
The inscription fits Rajbabu like a glove. Like the World War II fallen heroes, Rajbabu gave his youthful ‘present’ when he was just 29 years old for the ‘future’ of the Bishnupriya Manipuris, for generations to come.
Born to penury-driven late Chauba Singh and late Kusumbati Devi at village Chioporsangon in Cachar district on December 8, 1905, Rajbabu had to spend his life at Mashughat on the outskirts of Silchar town in his maternal uncle’s house. A studious boy that he was, he did get scholarships in lower primary, middle vernacular (MV), and matriculation. He cleared his matriculation in first division. Poverty took a toll on Rajbabu. He could not continue higher studies as he had to eke out a living as he had to feed some hungry mouths. He plunged headlong to keep the oven burning.
They say leaders are born, not made. A leader in the true sense of the term latent in Rajbabu came to the fore in his youth when he floated the Mashughat Yuvak Samity and the Mashughat Balak Samaj and devoted himself to the development of education in the community. Poverty prevented him from continuing his higher studies but could not prevent him from going forward with his social works.
The Bishnupriya Manipuri ethnic press dates back to 1925, when the likes of Mahendra Sinha and Arjun Singha started the publication of ‘Jagaran,’ a bilingual Meitei and Bengali magazine. The magazine brought some sort of Renaissance to the community that was hitherto in a deep slumber. Next to Jagaran, ‘Manipuri’ hit the stand in 1933 with Samarjit Singha as the editor. The energetic and dynamic social service rendered by Rajbabu made the who’s who in the community entrust him with the arduous job as manager of the magazine, ‘Manipuri’. With the sweat of his brows, Rajbabu did run the magazine smoothly.
Before that, on March 21, 1932, the Secretary of the Assam Finance Committee included the Manipuris in the list of tribals, an incident that led the Meiteis and the Bishnupriya Manipuris to get into a huddle, leading to the formation of the Surma Valley Manipuri Association on September 25, 1932. Among others, Rajbabu was quite instrumental in making those at the helm of affairs in the Assam Finance Committee agree with the fact that the Bishnupriya Manipuris are Aryans. His struggle for establishing the Bishnupriya Manipuris as varna Hindus made him earn enmity from certain quarters. On Falgun 14, 1340 Bongabdo, Rajbabu went missing on his way back home from Silchar at night. His body was fished out from the Barak after a few days. The Bishnupriya Manipuri community still considers his unnatural death as the fall of a shining star.
References:
(1) ‘Punyashlok Rajbabu’ by Jogendralal Sinha, published in Mengsel, edited by Bidhisha Singha, Pub Sarania, Guwahati.
(2) ‘Rajbabu Singh – Ti Amar Ningsing’ by DILS Lakshmindra Sinha, published in Mengsel, edited by Bidhisha Singha, Pub Sarania, Guwahati.
(3) Bishnupriya Manipuri Samaj Darshan by Dr. Prabhat Kumar Sinha.