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In
1934, Gopinath Bordoloi was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi to
offer individual Satyagrah. He was elected to the Assam Assembly
in 1937 and was elected as the leader of the Assam Congress
Legislature Party. After the resignation of the Sir Saadullah
Ministry, he formed the Congress coalition government in the
State. In 1938, Bordoloi became the Chief Minister of Assam.
His concern for the welfare of the tribal people of the state
was the hallmark of his leadership.
Gopinath
was the first Chief Minister of undivided Assam in independent
India. As a leader of the people, Gopinath could instill a
sense of unity and integrity by bringing the people belonging
to different ethnic origins and communities closer to each
other. His earnest efforts for the all round growth of the
State of Assam rightly earned him the epithet of “architect
of modern Assam.” Gopinath was not only the first to foresee
the problems caused by the infiltration of Bangladeshis into
Assam but he also took active steps to check it. The Bordoloi
Government imposed agricultural tax on the wealthy farmers,
becoming the first one to do so among the contemporary provincial
governments.
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Fondly
referred to as Lokapriya or the “beloved of the people”, Gopinath
Bordoloi was honoured posthumously with the Bharat Ratna –
the highest civilian award of the country – in the year 1999.
The award came his way forty nine years after his death. Soon
afterwards, the
Lokapriya
Gopinath Bordoloi Memorial National Award was instituted in
his memory to inspire the people of the country to follow
the ideals of the visionary leader and to work together for
building a strong and prosperous nation.
Bordoloi
was an avid supporter of Mahatma Gandhi and his principles
of non-violence. When coupled with his absolute dedication
to the cause of India’s struggle for Indpendence, it did not
take Bordoloi long to rise up through the ranks of the Indian
National Congress.
The
biggest challenge to Gopinath Bordoloi as a leader came about
during 1946-47. It was during this that the then undivided
majority Muslim political leaders from Bengal, with most of
them affiliated to the Muslim League, desired the inclusion
of a significantly Hindu-dominated Assam into East Pakistan.
This was a very crucial point in the life of Gopinath Bordoloi.
However, the matter was sorted out by holding a number of
protest rallies and deliberating on this issue with high-ranking
officials in the colonial government. There were apprehensions
about the breaking out of mass communal riots in the Assam
region because of this reason, but Bordoloi and other leaders
used a lot of tact and political influence in order to finally
preserve this territorial integrity within the Union of India.
In
the Post independence period, Gopinath Bordoloi worked in
alliance with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to secure the sovereignty
of Assam against Communist China on the one hand and East
Pakistan on the other. He was also instrumental in rehabilitating
thousands of Hindus refugees who fled from East Pakistan fearing
the possibility of break out of riots. Gopinath worked day
and night to ensure communal peace and harmony here. These
moves kept Assam safe and progressive till the 1971 war which
saw the liberation of East Pakistan.
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The
deteriorating law and order situation in the State of Assam
and the role of political leaders in dividing the society
for their personal or party’s interest has compelled the citizens
today to remember a leader like Gopinath Bordoloi, who saved
Assam from becoming a part of Pakistan on the eve of India’s
Independence in 1947. That was a time when the British government
hd conspired to divide the country on religious basis by creating
Hindu and Muslim majority States.
The
present turmoil in the State calls for the emergence of a
leader like Gopinath Bordoloi, who had played vital role in
saving Assam more than six decades ago. Had the British Cabinet
Mission succeeded in its plan, the history of Assam would
have been different today
In
1946, the Labour Party government in Britain sent a mission
to India in order to explore the possibilities of drafting
a future Constitution for India in consultation with the Viceroy
and the Indian political leaders. The mission reached India
on March 23, 1946, and began discussions with Indian leaders.
In
his interview with the Mission on April 1, 1946, Gopinath
Bardoloi strongly protested the inclusion of Assam in Group
C. He argued that Assam was already a province, formed on
linguistic and cultural basis, enjoying provincial autonomy.
Assam should be allowed to continue in the future set-up also
as a full-fledged unit, he had pleaded. He had even favoured
the separation of Sylhet district from Assam and rejected
Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s demand for Pakistan as being absolutely
preposterous. The Cabinet Mission, however, stuck to its plan
of forming groups.
The
Mission’s proposal to group Assam with Bengal for creating
a predominantly Muslim zone in eastern India, like the one
proposed to be set up in western India, was strongly resented
by the people of Assam. According to this plan, the representatives
of Assam to the Constituent Assembly would have to sit in
a section with the Bengal representatives to determine the
provincial constitution and also a constitution for group
C by a simple majority of votes. Except for the Muslim League,
all quarters in Assam protested this grouping scheme.
The
Assam Provincial Congress Committee (APCC) in its session
in Guwahati lodged an emphatic protest with the Congress Working
Committee (CWC) against the proposal. There began a feverish
agitation in Assam to quash the group scheme. On July 16,
1946, the Assam Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution
moved by Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi himself expressing
strong disapproval of the plan. The resolution further directed
the ten representatives of Assam to the Constituent Assembly,
elected by the Provincial Assembly, not to sit in section
with any other Province for devising the Constitution of Assam
or for the settlement of any question relating to Assam.
xxx
The
discontentment in Assam was based on genuine fears. It was
clear that once Assam was grouped with Muslim majority Bengal,
its fate would be sealed because of the policies that would
be formed to serve the interest of the Muslim community. Assam
would lose her identity and individuality in the political
whirlpool of Muslim India, although the State was not and
had never been a Muslim majority province.
Gopinath
Bordoloi, who became the Chief Minister of Assam for the second
time in February 1946, continued to lead his ministry through
Independence until his death on August 5, 1950. He had also
expressed his views and suggestions on the future Constitution
of India vis-a-vis the State of Assam within it when the Cabinet
Mission had invited him for this purpose in April 1946.
The
CWC took time in giving a clear and bold lead over Assam on
this vital issue. On behalf of Gopinath Bordoloi, Bijoy Chandra
Bhagawati and Mahendra Mohan Choudhury called upon Gandhiji
at Srirampur and placed Assam’s case before him seeking his
advice and guidance at the critical juncture. Strengthened
with the blessings of Gandhiji, Gopinath Bordoloi succeeded
in convincing the Indian leaders about Assam’s just case and
getting this part of the Cabinet Mission’s plan scrapped.
Had not Assam opposed the grouping scheme, the formal establishment
of Pakistan might have been delayed for a time, but there
would have been no Assam left. Gopinath Bordoloi with his
farsightedness, sagacity, revolutionary zeal and heroic leadership
rescued Assam and the people from the mischievous conspiracy
of foreign rulers.
(This article has been published on the occasion of Gopinath
Bordoloi’s 120th Birth anniversary on June 6, 2010
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