[Assam] Junk talk about Nehru

Tue Oct 24 13:08:14 PDT 2006

Dear Umesh,
These are junk talk. Assam has a strong case against Nehru which is very relevant for Assam's well-being today. The junk talk by you and your mentors in the net will weaken Assam's case. 
Himendra
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: bg ; Himendra Thakur 
  Cc: Assam at assamnet.org 
  Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 5:34 PM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] [asom] Nehru's letter

  I recall reading a couple of years ago that Nehru was against sending army in Kashmir when the Kabailees from Pakistan were capturing parts of Kashmir ---he was advised otherwise by the Governor General Mountbatten whose wife Edwina was Nehur's lover?

  Umesh

  bg <bgogoi at gmail.com> wrote:
    http://www.assamtribune.com/oct0806/at02.html
    http://www.assamtribune.com/oct0906/main.html

    Guwahati, Sunday, October 8, 2006

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Nehru favoured flow of migrants to NE
    By Prabal Kr Das
     GUWAHATI, Oct 7 â?" "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 â?"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 â?" "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

    Guwahati, Monday, October 9, 2006

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Lokapriya letter mentioned Pak agents in State
    By Prabal Kr Das
     GUWAHATI, Oct 8 â?" 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 themâ?¦"

    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.

    http://www.assamtribune.com/oct0906/main.html _______________________________________________
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