[Assam] [asom] Nehru's letter

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http://www.assamtribune.com/oct0806/at02.html
http://www.assamtribune.com/oct0906/main.html


[image: The Assam Tribune online]
*Guwahati, Sunday, October 8, 2006*
------------------------------
*Nehru favoured flow of migrants to NE
* By Prabal Kr Das
 GUWAHATI, Oct 7 – "The refugee problem is one of the two or three problems
to which we give first priority in India at present. This applies to the
utilisation of our financial resources also. Our development schemes are
thought of in terms, to some extent, of refugees. If Assam adopts an
attitude of incapacity to help in solving the refugee problem, then the
claims of Assam for financial help obviously suffer."

The peculiar pro quid pro finds mention in a letter written to former State
Chief Minister, the late Gopinath Bardoloi by the then Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru. The communication to Bordoloi dated New Delhi, May 18,
1949 and bearing number 413 –P.M. was in response to a letter the Assam
Chief Minister had written on May 7 that year.

The letter was found among the dossiers belonging to the eminent politician
late Gauri Shankar Bhattacharya, who shared close ties with Bardoloi.
Handing it over to *The Assam Tribune* today, his son Siddhartha
Bhattacharya, senior lawyer at the Guwahati High Court, attested its
authenticity.

Apart from linking financial flow to the issue of refugees, Nehru in his
two-page correspondence expresses his surprise that Bardoloi was finding it
difficult to deal "with influx of Muslims into Assam." He then becomes
somewhat tentative and says, "I do not think there is a permit system in
regard to Eastern Bengal and Western Bengal and possibly no such system
exists in regard to Assam either." Later, Nehru hints at devising ways and
means to deal with it.

In his letter Nehru takes note of Bardoloi's belief that dearth of land in
his state was an issue, and contends that if availability of land was a
problem in Assam, "it is still less available in the rest of India which is
very heavily populated, barring the deserts and mountains."

Nehru's posture is in stark contrast to Bardoloi's concern in protecting the
interest of his State when the Chief Minister is asked, "Where are these
[refugees] to go if each Province adopts the attitude that Assam apparently
has done?"

Subsequently, the Prime Minister makes his position clearer on the issue and
states what appears like words of finality – "Therefore, we have to absorb
them and make provision for them so that they might be good citizens. In
doing this all provinces have to help and cooperate and it will do no good
to a province to refuse cooperation in the national work."

Nehru took exception to the stance of one minister of Bardoloi's Cabinet, "I
understand that Medhi, your Finance minister, is a strong opponent of any
further refugees coming to Assam. I think he is wrong in this."

From the letter it becomes patently obvious that Nehru favoured Assam to act
as host to refugees flowing in from erstwhile East Pakistan. Some other
parts of the letter highlight corresponding views approving an easy
acceptance of migrants flowing into the region.

On the other hand, Gopinath Bardoloi's concerns revealed a deeper
understanding of contemporary reality. In retrospect, no less manifest is
the fact that what once was perceived as "national work" by a statesmanlike
figure has now become the root cause of a grave problem afflicting the
State.

http://www.assamtribune.com/oct0806/at02.html



[image: The Assam Tribune online]
*Guwahati, Monday, October 9, 2006*
------------------------------
*Lokapriya letter mentioned Pak agents in State
* By Prabal Kr Das
 GUWAHATI, Oct 8 — Is the issue of Pakistani agents operating in India a
bogey created by vested interests? Quite the contrary, the threat was
recognized as early as 1949 by the then Chief Minister of Assam Lokapriya
Gopinath Bardoloi. Bardoloi had in fact written to then Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru on May 7 that year raising alarm about Pakistan carrying
out espionage activities in the State. The response from Nehru in a letter,
dated May 18 that year, showed his awareness of the problem, but at the same
time was low in specifics.

"To some extent, I suppose, this is being done by Pakistan all over India
and it is inevitable. But of course, so far as we are concerned, we must try
to stop it or find out what they are doing," Nehru said, but refrained from
spelling out any definite plan.

The letter from the Prime Minister highlights another issue about some
ministers in Bardoloi's Government having a communal tilt. "I am told that
your Government or some of your Ministers have openly stated that they
prefer Muslims of East Bengal to Hindus from East Bengal."

He goes on to say, "While I, for one, always like any indication of a lack
of communal feeling in dealing with public matters, I must confess that this
strong objection to Hindu refugees coming from East Bengal is a little
difficult for me to understand." "Nehru surmises that the State was getting,
"a bad name for its narrow-minded policy."

The Prime Minister's utterance in support of Hindu refugees occurs in
another part of the letter where, taking a more strident posture, he
reprimands the Assam Government for not doing enough for the Hindu refugees
from East Bengal. He is not quite ready to accept the number of refugees,
provided by Bardoloi, who had entered Assam.

Nehru writes, "You say that you have already received two and half lakh
Hindu refugees from East Bengal. That may be so, although there are no
precise records. But evidently the Assam Government had done nothing for
them…"

In the subsequent paragraph the Prime Minister states what would be
difficult to accept by any political dispensation in present day Asom. In
clear and unambiguous terms he writes, "Of all the Provinces of India Assam
is the least heavily populated and there is going to be continuous pressure
upon it from all sides including China." In what appears like a fatalistic
perception, he adds, "No laws will be able to prevent this pressure and
occasional influxes."

On this last issue none could have been more correct.


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