Remembering Dulal Sarma who wrote ‘Tez Dim Tel Nidio’ with his blood

MANGALDAI: Are the leaders of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) or the State government who came to the power with the slogan of “Jati, Mati and Bheti” aware of the historic day of April 23 of 1980? Are they also aware of the sacrifice of Dulal Sarma of Kalaigaon, now in Udalguri district? Are they interested to know the poor plight of the family members of this ‘unsung hero’ of six year long Assam Agitation spearheaded by AASU and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad? Perhaps like other sufferers of the Assam agitation, the former leaders of AASU who at the cost of the sacrifice of these sufferers later came to the power for two terms in the name of AGP of which several others later who joined the BJP have forgotten these sufferers.

Our esteemed readers may recall a particular day during the peak hour of Assam agitation in 1980 when a youth with high emotions and active involvement in Assam agitation gave a new dimension by writing “Tez Dim, Tel Nidio” (I shall give blood, but not oil) with his own blood. After perpetrating several atrocities against the peaceful picketers at Narengi who were protesting the transfer of crude oil from Assam, the State government imposed a curfew on Guwahati city on April 18. On the next morning of April 19, lakhs of people coming from different corners of the city and outskirts spontaneously came out to the street to defy the curfew thereby creating a record in the history of Assam agitation. The agitated sea of protesters including women marched forward to Narengi to continue the picketing with more strength and enthusiasm. Thousands of supporters from different places of the state started to make a beeline to Guwahati to join the picketing and road blockade.

A twenty year old Dulal Sarma, son of marginal farmer Chandra Kanta Sarma and Hema Prabha Devi of Dabutola village near Kabirali under Kalaigaon Police station (presently in Udalguri district) could not resist his temptation to join the unprecedented oil blockade picketing in Guwahati as his elder brother Bimal Sarma was the Commander of the voluntary force of AASU unit at Kalaigaon.

On April 23 while being a member of the large sea of agitators to take part in the road blockade at Chandmari in Guwahati, Dulal Sarma all of a sudden cut his chest with a blade and wrote “Tez Dim, Tel Nidio’ in bold letters with his blood on Gopi Nath Bordoloi Road at Chandmari in Guwahati. Though Dulal Sarma was immediately taken to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital at Pan Bazar in a critical stage, this incident gave a new dimension to the agitation as the spot in Chandmari immediately was transformed into a holy place and the agitators started lighting earthen lamps, incense sticks and started indefinite devotional prayers. All the leading national dailies covered this unique sacrifice in their front pages with the photo of Dulal Sarma.

After his discharge from the hospital Dulal Sarma returned to his native village but due to their poor financial condition he started to search for some employment and in 1982 one Executive Engineer Ganesh Changkakoty of the Water Resources Department offered him a post of Khalasi and he worked there till his death on April 16 of 2001. In 1987 Dulal Sarma married Krishna Sarma and got settled in a very small plot of land donated by his father-in-law at Choudhury Chuba at Mandakata Bazar in North Guwahati under Jalukbari LAC.

It is very hard to believe that though his widely talked sacrifice added a new enthusiasm and emotion to the Assam agitation, till date not a single leader of the Assam agitation, the leaders of the AGP or the present BJP have visited the family members. The schemes declared for the sufferers of Assam agitation too failed to reach the family members of Dulal Sarma. However, the All Guwahati Students’ Union few years has constructed a memorial at Chandmari inscribing “Tez Dim, Tel Nidio’ mentioning his name but without his address which often creates confusion on the proper identity of this ‘unsung hero’.

 “I approached the then Minister Bharat Chandra Narah who was the Assistant General secretary of AASU in 1980 seeking help and cooperation to maintain my family after the death of my husband but he denied to know any person namely Dulal Sarma,” said Krishna Devi with a deep sigh while talking to ‘The Sentinel’ at her thatched residence at Mandakata. “The AASU too has not offered any felicitation to Dulal Sarma,” she added with a feeling of despair. They are also not entitled for drinking water or dwelling house under government schemes though they are living under below poverty line. However, the wife of Dulal Sarma recalled the generosity of Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during his tenure in Congress who had sanctioned an amount of Rs. 2500 for the treatment of Dulal Sarma who was suffering from cancer in 2001.

A kind-hearted businessman of repute of Guwahati Gopal Deka on hearing the poor plight of the family members of this unsung hero of Assam agitation on February 18 of 2021 came to their house at Choudhury Chuba, Mandakata in North Guwahati along with former prominent AASU activists Hiren Kumar Saharia and Bhargab Kumar Das and gifted a still camera at the cost of Rs 1.73 lakhs to Mikumoni Sarma-son of late Dulalm Sarma. Mikumoni has already completed a course in photography and is hopeful to maintain his family with the income to be earned with this camera.

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