[Assam] Subhas Chandra Bose and Assam

[Pradip Kumar Datta]

Subhas Chandra Bose and Assam
  
— Dr Dipankar Banerjee
   
  Assam was passing through an unprecedented political turmoil in the second half of 1938. Sadullah was then heading the Muslim League coalition ministry in Assam. On 12 September 1938 no confidence motions were tabled against him and next day Sadullah had to submit his resignation.

The Congress, till then in opposition in the Provincial Assembly, put forward its claim to form the government with the support of the Tribal League under the leadership of Gopinath Bardoloi. However, Bardoloi was still in need of two votes required for the formation of the ministry. The central Congress leadership deputed Maulana Abul Kalam Azad to supervise the ministry formation. After assessing the ground reality, Azad raised objections to formation of the ministry as Bardoloi did not have the requisite number. After meeting the Congressmen at Shillong, Azad made a public statement that ‘Khali vitti mein imarat nehi hota hain’. (no building could be erected without a foundation). Bardoloi and Bishnu Ram Medhi, then APCC president, were not happy with Azad’s assessment and they desperately sought the intervention of Subhash Chandra Bose, then president of Indian National Congress and appealed to him to visit Assam immediately. Bose understood the urgency of the situation
 and postponing all other official engagements for a week, he rushed to Assam to save the situation.

Immediately after his arrival at Shillong and in contravention of Azad’s decision, Bose strongly advocated the formation of the ministry under Bardoloi, as that would strengthen the Congress base not only in Assam but in India as a whole in the prevailing political back drop. However, the Assam Congress itself was a divided house at that point of time with Surma Valley members alienating themselves over the composition of the ministry. Bose set to the task, talked to the dissident members, started a wild goose chase for those two votes and succeeded in his mission. Bose played an important role in this respect with his “wise counsel and excellent whip which was badly needed... it was because of him that Bardoloi could form the ministry” wrote noted freedom fighter Md. Tayebullah in Karagaror Chithi.

Gopinath Bardoloi took the oath of office as the Premier of Assam on 20 September 1938. However, controversy over the issue started brewing at the Congress High Command. Azad and some others accused Bardoloi of breaking the party discipline by staking claim to form the government without the required majority in the House. Azad even alleged that Bardoloi indulged in corrupt practices to claim majority. But Subhas Chandra Bose stood like a pillar by Bardoloi’s side and said that formation of the Congress ministry in Assam was the need of the hour. Bose refuted Azad’s allegation of corruption against Bardoloi by saying that as Congress president he had “absolutely no knowledge about it.” Azad wanted to resign from the Congress Parliamentary Committee on the issue. However, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the chairman of the Committee stood by Bose and endorsed Bose’s decision of forming a Congress Ministry in Assam on consideration of the then prevailing international situation.
 Patel also said that he has never heard any allegation of “corruption” against Bardoloi. It is interesting to note that even Gandhiji, despite of his serious differences of opinion on different issues with Bose at that time, endorsed the decision of formation of Bardoloi Ministry.

Bose was very clear to his conscience that as Congress President he was absolutely right to allow Bardoloi to form the ministry, depsite the opposition from Azad and his group. In a letter dated 21 Dec 1938 to Mahatma Gandhi, Bose wrote:” ....There is a fundamental difference between Maulana Sahib and myself... This became manifest when we were confronted with the ministerial crisis in Assam. I can perhaps now claim that I was right and Maulana Sahib was wrong. But if Sandar Patel had not providentially come to my rescue, Maulana Sahib would never have given in at Shillong and perhaps you would not have supported my view... In that case there would not have been a Congress ministry in Assam.” Bose expressed similar feelings in his later statements and correspondences also.

Freedom fighter Lakshimdhar Bora in his memoirs wrote,” Bose told the Congress members about the importance of a Congress Ministry in Assam in the light of political developments and suggested that in near future this North East India would attract immense international importance.” Bose was prophetic– only within four years the grouping plan came and it was Bordoloi’s determination that saved Assam. Bose’s role at that time had other implications too. Historian HK Barpujari observed, “Bose arrived in Shillong and played an important role by assigning the party with his wise counsel... Bose not only helped Bardoloi in forming the ministry but also helped him in ironing out the differences with the Congressmen of the Surma Valley over the composition of the ministry.”

Subhas Bose was the most respected Congress leader and made a lasting impression among the common masses and the younger generation in Assam. It was he who was advocating an uncompromising struggle against imperialism. To the youth, he was a legendary figure who was once rusticated from the Presidency College for having challenged the English professor, who beat up Bose’s classmates. This was the same National Congress leader who resigned from the party president’s chair a few months later, refusing to be the rubber-stamp Congress president. There was no surprise, therefore, that a booklet admiring the great works of Subhas Bose was published by some enthusiastic students of Cotton College in 1939. And the newly formed All Assam Progressive Youth Association (AAPYA) decided to invite Bose to inaugurate the association, which Bose gladly accepted, despite his very busy schedule.

When Subhas Chandra Bose arrived at Pandughat on October 6, 1939 during his second visit to Guwahati, the town wore a festive look. Town dwellers welcomed him with festoons, banners and welcome arches made of banana plants. Volunteers lined up along the six– mile stretch from Pandu to Panbazar, to welcome a national hero.

On the same afternoon, the meeting of AAPYA was held at Guwahati, over which Subhas Chandra Bose presided. Representatives of Left nationalists from different parts of Assam assembled and the AAPYA was formally inaugurated with Debendra Nath Sarma as president and Upendra Nath Sarma as general secretary.

At the meeting, Bose was welcomed with gamocha, a pair of endi, a sarai and Japi that had ‘Subhas Babu Zindabad” written in Assamese. Debendra Nath Sarma, chairman of the reception committee, welcomed the gathering and said class differences should be removed from Assam and all efforts be made to spread socialist ideas in the country. In his speech, Bose sought the support of students– especially the youth, along with the leftists, to thwart the Congress policy of ‘appeasement” towards the British government in connection with the War. At the meeting, Bos called Jai Prakash Narayan, “a puppet of Nehru” and criticised MN Roy for his opportunism. Bose also spoke about the fate of Assam oil company workers, where the Defence of India proclamation led to the end of a six-month-long strike in Digboi. The condition of the plantation workers was also discussed.

Did Bose have a special soft corner for Assam in his mind all through? Possibly yes. This can be ascertained from a lesser known fact that i his ICS joining form, Bose opted to serve in five provinces of India which included Bombay, Madras, Bihar-Orissa along with Bengal and Assam.
(Published on the occasion of Netaji’s birth anniversary).
Assam Tribune Editorial 23.01.08

       
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