When Independent India nearly lost Assam

Ritika Das

(ritikadas108@gmail.com)

The Constitution of India came into force on 26th January, 1950. While the members of the constituent assembly were busy drafting a future for the whole of India, a parallel reality was unfolding in the form of Partition. The division of British India into two distinct parts, Pakistan and India, was imminent. The question arose as to which region would join Pakistan and which would remain in India. The Congress Party, especially Sardar Vallabhai Patel, was an instrumental figure in merging a maximum number of provinces into an independent India.

Now, we are often told stories about regions like Junagarh, Hyderabad and even Jammu and Kashmir and how they were integrated with the rest of the country. But only very few of us would know the story behind how Assam was almost on the verge of becoming a part of Pakistan, but eventually it did not.

The history goes like this: In May 1946, the British government sent a three-member Cabinet Mission to India, consisting of Lord Pethick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander. They were expected to help the nationalist leaders in organising a structure that would facilitate a smoother transfer of power from the British to the Indians. They proposed a three-tier constitutional structure for India: a federal unit at the top, autonomous provinces at the base and an intermediate level of provincial groupings. The provinces were further divided into three groupings. In group C, Assam was merged together with Bengal. This grouping did not satisfy the Assamese people. In fact, it brought apprehension and fear among the Assamese population.

The reasons were manifold. Firstly, Bengal had a huge Muslim population, and since it was expected to be under Pakistan’s wing during that time, many people in Assam feared that even Assam would result in becoming a part of Pakistan. Along with this issue, Assamese leaders like Gopinath Bordoloi had the opinion that Assam had its own identity and distinguished culture, and grouping it with Bengal was a way of undermining Assam’s individuality and also forcibly writing its fate. This was further fuelled by leaders like Syed Saadullah, who argued that Assam and Bengal were inseparable, indicating that the fate of Assam was tied with the fate of Bengal. Moreover, earlier, in February 1946, one of the members of the Cabinet Mission, Pethick Lawrence, issued a note on the viability of Pakistan. In his note, he argued that the economy, defence, and financial considerations justified Assam’s inclusion in East Pakistan.

As a result, the Assam Provincial Congress Committee outrightly rejected the proposal. Mahatma Gandhi further supported the cause. When senior Assamese leaders like Bijaychandra Bhagawati and Mahendra Mohan Choudhury sought to take advice from Gandhi on this matter, the latter advised them to completely resist the grouping made by the Cabinet Mission, and in fact, he even suggested they withdraw from the Constituent Assembly if their apprehensions were not adequately addressed. Even Jawaharlal Nehru made public statements in 1946 wherein he stated that Assam could not be forced into any groupings that they were not satisfied with.

However, eventually the Cabinet Mission failed, and the final responsibility to draw the boundary lines between India and Pakistan fell into the hands of Sir Cyril John Radcliffe. But even after the Cabinet Mission plan failed, the problems for Assam or the whole Northeast did not end. During the demarcation of the boundaries between the two countries, the question of Sylhet District emerged. In the Independence Bill of 1947, it was declared that the Sylhet district would be a part of East Pakistan. But the problem was which areas would constitute the part of Pakistan. There was a demand from Assam to constitute a separate boundary commission to demarcate the Sylhet boundary in question. But Lord Mountbatten rejected it and entrusted the Bengal Boundary Commission to determine which part of Sylhet would go to Pakistan and which would remain with India. Moreover, Sylhet held a referendum on whether to remain in India or join Pakistan. The cumulative results were that most of the Sylhet region chose to join East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and Assam could retain only a small part of Sylhet, mostly the Karimganj sub-divisions.

These events resulted in the entire Northeast, popularly known as the Seven Sisters, being connected with the rest of India only through a narrow 20-km-wide and 27-km-long corridor called the Siliguri Corridor or the Chicken’s Neck. That is why the Siliguri Corridor has pivotal and strategic importance for the central government. It is the only way the rest of India can access the Northeast. Additionally, the corridor is situated between international borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, as well as the looming presence of China, which makes the entire Northeast vulnerable to conflicts and aggression from these countries.

Today, Assam is a vital part of India. And on top of that, the central government is introducing various policies and initiatives to bring Assam, along with the rest of the northeast, closer to mainstream India. Recently, when our Prime Minister visited Guwahati to inaugurate the statue of Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi at the new airport terminal, he spoke highly of the contribution of Shri Gopinath Bordoloi as being a resolute force behind Assam’s inclusion in Independent India.

Overall, it is a pride for every Assamese individual to know how determined the Assamese leaders were to make sure that Assam remains a part of India. Whenever anyone in India questions Assam’s identity as an Indian state, whether due to its geographical distance or unique cultural traits, they should be reminded of this story and the fact that, just like any other state in India, Assam too had put in their blood, sweat and determination to be a part of independent India, and they still continue to do so.