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ChiPtr _2

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE. POLITICAL PARTIES

This chapter is designed to serve as a background against

which the analysis o f the succeeding chapters can be e f fe c t iv e ly

b u ilt up. A c la s s ific a t io n o f the p o l i t ic a l parties is being

presented here. The parties are divided in to d iffe ren t categories

and subcategories on the basis o f th e ir nature o f formation,

dosain o f operation and points o f convergence o f ideo log ies .

This is an elaborate survey o f a l l the iaportant p o l i t ic a l parties

which nade th e ir appearance in the p o l i t ic a l scene o f Assaa during

the period o f our survey.

When we have a close look at the origins o f nost o f the

parties at the national le v e l we observe that they sprang up froa

two d is tin c t steas with ch aracter is tica lly d iffe ren t ideo log ies .

The existence o f a nultitude o f parties at the national le v e l has

helped a particu lar party (Indian National Congress) to be able

to control the Covernaent at the Centre since independence

excepting fo r a short break during 1977- 8^. At the State le v e l

the picture is soaewhat d if fe re n t . Soae o f the State Goveraaents

were contro lled , and are s t i l l being contro lled , by p a rties , the

lo c a l or regional p a rties , which are b as ica lly d iffe ren t froa

that con tro lling at the Centre. The lo c a l parties have been

(25)

2 6

g r a d u a l l y g a i n i n g a t r a n g t h i n d i f f e r e n t p a r t s o f t h e c o u n t r y ,

a n d i n s o a a S t a t e s t h e y h a r e e v e n b e a n a b l e t o c a p t u r e p o w e r .

O n e o f t h a m a i n r e a s o n s f o r t h i s p h e n o m e n o n i s t h a t a n a v e r a g e

I n d i a n h a s t w o t y p e s o f a s p i r a t i o n s - l o c a l a n d n a t i o n a l .

W h e n e v e r a n a t i o n a l p a r t y f a i l s t o f u l f i l t h e l o c a l a s p i r a t i o n s

o f t h e p e o p l e o f a r e g i o n , t h e p a r t y i n c r e a s e s i t s p o s s i b i l i t y

o f b e i n g d i s c a r d e d b y t h e p e o p l e . A g l a r i n g e x a m p l e i s f o u n d i n

t h e p o l i t i c s o f s o n e o f t h e h i l l a r e a s o f t h e r e g i o n . I t w a s

l o c a l a s p i r a t i o n s t h a t g a v e b i r t h t o n o s t o f t h e H i l l P a r t i e s

i n u n d i r i d e d A s s a n a n d B a d e n a t i o n a l p o l i t i c s a l m o s t i r r e l e r a s t

i n t h e s e a r e a s d u r i n g t h e f i r s t t w o d e c a d e s o f t h e p e r i o d o f o u r

s u r v e y . A t t h e m o m e n t m e h a v e i n t h e I n d i a n p o l i t i c a l s c e n e

p a r t i e s b e l o n g i n g t o t w o d i s t i n c t c a t e g o r i e s , t h e a l l I n d i a

p a r t i e s a n d t h e l o c a l p a r t i e s w h i c h a r e s o m e t i m e s r e f e r r e d t o a s

t h e n a t i o n a l p a r t i e s a n d t h e r e g i o n a l p a r t i e s r e s p e c t i v e l y .

T h e a l l I n d i a p a r t i e s h a v e s c o p e t o m u s t e r f o l l o w i n g a t t h e

n a t i o n a l l e v e l a s t h e y p r o f e s s t o w o r k m a i n l y f o r s o l u t i o n s t o

p r o b l e m s o f n a t i o n a l i n t e r e s t s o n l y . T h e y a r e o f c o u r s e f r e e t o

o f f e r t h e i r s u g g e s t i o n s f o r t a e k l l n g l o c a l p r o b l e a s a n d f o r

f u l f i l l i n g l o c a l a s p i r a t i o n s o f t h e p e o p l e o f a p a r t i c u l a r

r e g i o n . B u t t h e s c o p e o f s l o c a l p a r t y i s U n i t e d i n t h e s e n s e

t h a t t h e i r i d e o l o g i e s a n d o b j e c t i v e s a r e f r a n e d p r i m a r i l y t o

t a k e c a r e o f t h e p r o b l e m s a m i a s p i r a t i o n s o f t h e p e o p l e o f a

p a r t i c u l a r r e g i o n . B e c a u s e o f t h i s t h e a c t i v i t i e s o f a l o c a l

p a r t y a r e c o n f i n e d t o o n l y e p a r t i c u l a r r e g i o n .

27

The b irth of the lo c a l p arties is a sequel to the growth

o f lo c a l p o lit ic s in differen t regions o f the country. A

carefu l analysis reveals th at lo c a l p o lit ic s in India is guided

and shaped by one or nore o f the four parameters - geographical,

lin g u is t ic , ethnic and r e lig io u s . These parameters have been

responsible in post-independence (even in pre-independence) Ass an

for po larisation of differen t p o li t ic a l groups re su ltin g in the

emergence of differen t p o lit ic a l p a r tie s . These have been

influencing the p o lit ic s and the re organizational developnent

in the S ta te . What we discuss below reveals th at most of these

lo c a l parties originated with the sole objective of preserving

the ethnic id e n titie s o f the respective groups. Hie geography

and the language pattern o f the region did of course play an

important role in the formation o f these p a rtie s. In terestin gly,2.

u n til I 960, the fourth parameter did not d ir e ctly influence the

formation of any lo c a l party in tha ragion for tha pariod of

our 8tu<ty, but aoma of tha partiaa including a l l India partiea

have been su ccessfu lly using th is parameter to achieve th e ir

own p o lit ic a l goals, Tha a c t iv it ie s of some o f these lo ca l

p arties are responsible for the creation of Nagaland, Meghalaya

and Mizoram as d is tin c t p o li t ic a l units separating them from

Assam. We sh a ll discuss th is in f u l l d e ta ils in a la tte r chapter*

The four parameters mentioned above are acting as cen trifu gal

forces from tha unity cantra o f the region, and these farces

have not bean neutralised even in present day Assam.

Let us now begin tha story of tha origin of the p o lit ic a l

p artiaa th at operated in Assam between 1952-1980,

28

There were very little of political activities In Arunechel Pradesh till her final separation Cron Assam in 1972 In the form of a Union Territory* However, the Congress was the first political party to make its appearance in Arunadhal Pradesh with the formation of an Ad-tioc Committee in the sixties, which of course lay dormant without any activities worth the name for a long time,** Political activities began in Arunachal Pradesh at a much later stage, from the mid-seventlea, a dismuaslon of which is outside the purview of our study* Our study of Arunaofcal Pradesh terminates when she ceases to be a part of Assam in 1972. In this chapter our story of Magaland will end in 1963 while that of Meghalaya and Mizoram in 1972* Hagai and seamed to be a part of Assam in 1963 while Meghalaya and Mizoram emerged as separate political units in 1972. This arrangement will give a more vivid picture of the parties* Tha parties under study are therefore divided into the following five groups :

(1) All Indie parties of Assam

(2) Local parties of Assam(3) Local parties of Magaland,(4) Local parties of Mizoram(5 ) Local parties of Meghalaya

"Assam11 will mean the region which is known by this name from time to time. To be exact, Assam up to 1962 is the region consisting of present day Assam, Magaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Assam between 1963 and 1971 is the region consisting of present day Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and Assam sinoa 1972 is present

29

day Assam only :

1952-1962 1963-1971 1972

Present Assam Present Assam Present Assam

Assam » Nagaland Meghalaya

\Meghalaya

Mizoram Mizoram

A ll India Parties

The a l l India p o lit ic a l parties whose presence was f e l t in

the p o lit ic a l scene of Assam during 1952-1980 may be c la s s i f ie d

into the following four broad groups t

(1 ) The Congress group

(2) The Communist group

(3) The Socialist group

(4) The fourth group consisting of some other parties

having no significant impact on the

and Janata

State p o l i t i c s ,

The Congress group *

The Indian National Congress (INC) was the f i r s t a l l India

party to form a unit in Assam, but i t was not un til 1921, l i l l

1921 Assam was placed under the ju risd iction of the BengaL

I

Provincial Congress, the State unit o f the Indian National Congress in undivided Bengal,

In Septei&er 1920 a special session o f the Indian National Congress was held at Calcutta under the presidentship o f Lala Lajpat Roy, In that session GandhiJi fornallsed his notion ofnon-cooperation in the fans o f a resolution which was carried

5by 1,886 to 884 votes t 'T h is Congress is further o f the oolnlon that there is no course le f t open for the fgop le o f India but to approve o f and adapt the policy o f progressive non-violent • non-cooperation ....until the said wrongs ore righted and awara^ya is established” . Sons o f the opponents o f the above resolution were C.R.Das, B.C.Pal, Annie Besant, Kadan Mohan Malaviya and Muhaaaad All Jinnsif • This session o f the Congress was attended by a delegation o f the Assan Association about which we menhtoerf in Chapter 1. Sons o f the prominent aeahers o f the delegationwere Nabln Chandra Bordoloi, Chandra Nath Saraah, Paiznur All

7and others . The delegation placed before the Congress aproposal for foraatlon o f Assaa Provincial Congress as a unit of

8the Indian National Congress . The proposal was foraally accepted by the Congress at its th irty f i f t h general conference held at Nagpur in Deoeaher o f the sane year under the presidentship o f C.Vljayraghavacharlar. But the idea o f foralng an Assan Provincial Congress did not aaterialise until 5 June 1921. T i l l then the persons who aooted the idea continued to be aeahers o f the Assaa Association, but they actively engaged theaseIves in propagating Gandhlji's progressive nonviolent non-cooperation as envisaged

31

In the resolution at Calcutta Congress. On 3 June 1921, the Assaa Provincial Congress Coanittee was foraed in a nesting held at Nabin Chandra Bordoloi*s residence atfciwahati, with s ix Brahmaputra Valley D istricts under its ju risd iction . The head o ffice o f the Assaa Provincial Congress Coanittee was set up at Guwahatl. The f i r s t President and the General Secretary o f the Coanittee were Kuladhar Qtaliha and Nabin Chandra Bordoloi respectively. The Assaa Association later foraally aerged with the Assaa Provincial Congress,*lmd the province foraally entered into national p o lit ic s .

In the early period after the foraation o f the AssaaProvincial Congress in 1921 Challha, Bordoloi and Phookun gavethe lead in making the organisation strong and e ffe ctiv e in theState. Phookun and Bordoloi were the architects o f the 41stsession o f the Indian Rational Congress held at Pandu in 1926which was attended by alaoet a l l the proaintot leaders of thetlae including Hahataa Gandhi, B orojin i Kaldu, M otllal Nehru,Nahaaasd All and Bsukat A ll. Bordoloi and Phookua took i t asprestige and challenge to aake the session a grand success. They

even exhausted their available personal rasourcas in seating theexpenditure o f the Pandu Commas and they alaoet cmm to thebrink o f bankruptcy, Bordoloi alone incurred a dsbt o f about

qforty thousand rupees .

Unfortunately Phookun*a diract association with the Assaa Congress was severed in 1930, Phookun who already joined the "Swarajya’* group within the Congress led by M otllal Nehru and

32

Chittaranjan Das, resigned from the post of presidentshio of the APCC (Assam Pradash Congress Committee) on 19 April 1930 10

in protest against the "boycott of the council programme* adopted by the Indian National Congress at its Lahore session11. He, however, also resigned from the Central Legislative Council, but expressed his desire to seek re-alection. The councillors were divided on the issue and Phookun's supporters who favoured council-entry formed Assam Swarajya Party which could never have any significant impact on Assam politics. Later, with Rah ini Kumar Choudhury he formed another party "Mi lit a Jana Sangha" prior to the 1936 Assembly elections, and contested in thiselection as a candidate of this party but was defeated. He died/in 1939. On the other hand Bordoloi continued his association with the Congress till his death on 16 February, 1936.

During the World War II and the years following it, the leaders Who guided and shaped the Assam Congress included Gopinath Bordoloi, Bishnuram Medhi, Mahammad Tayebulla, Oneo Kumar Dsa and Debeswar Sarma.

Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's proclamation on 3 September 1939

that India was at war against Nazi Germany and his appeal to the Indian people to asalat Britain in her war efforts accelerated the pace of political activitias in India, and the demand farthe country's independence became the local point of Indian

12politics. At this time Assam had a coalition Government headed by Gopinath Bordoloi. The Working Committee of the APCC met at Gjuwahsti on 17 September 1939 and opposed the Viceroy's

3 3

1*proclamation. Following the resolution taken at War die on22 and 23 October 1939, the Working Committee o f AICC calledupon a ll the Congress Ministries in the various Provinces totender their resignation as a " f ir s t step towards preparation

14for C iv il Resistance" against the British ru le. Accordinglythe Bordoloi Ministry resigned on 13 Noveriaer 1939, and as aresult Muhammad Saadullah o f the Muslim League formed a Ministry

15in Assam.

The Working Committee o f the APCC met at Guwahati on 15

and 16 April 1940 and decided to organise Satyagraha in Assam also and the Assam Congress established training camps for Saty agrahis . ̂

On the other hand the War took a serious turn with thefa l l o f Burma in May 1942. The War arrived at the doorsteps o fAssam, and naturally the peqple got panicky. To face thisemergent situation the Assam Congress established Shanti Senaorganizations at d ifferent places to help maintain peace and

17order. On the other hand, in the wake o f the Quit India Movement which waa formally launched on 8 August 1942 at Bombay, the Government o f India detained in prisons most of the Congress leaders a l l over the country. As a sequel to th is action of the Government many o f the Assam Congress leaders including Gopinafth Bordoloi were put in different J a ils . However, the Assam Government started releasing the imprisoned leaders from 8 June 1943, and Gopinath Bordoloi was released on 26 January 19441®. Immediately after coming out o f the Ja il the Congress leaders of

34

the State took up "constructive programmes lasts ad o f continuing

the C iv i l Disobedience Movement."19

A fter a lapse o f almost three years the six teen Congress

MLA's who were now released froa the j a i l , attended the November201944 session o f the Assam Assenbly. The long absence o f these

Congress MLa ' s in the Assenbly gave Saadullah an opportunity to

go his own way, and th is had a d irect impact on the S ta te 's

in flu x problem which we sh a ll discuss in Chapter 6. However the

Congress was returned to power a fte r the 1944 elections and

Gopinath Bordoloi was the Premier o f Assam when India attained

Independence.

The Congress had no d i f f ic u lt y in reta in ing power in the

State during the f i r s t two decades a fte r independence. But

during th is period, the Congress, as th* ru ling party o f the

S ta te , had to face two serious problems concerning the State -

the Reorganization Problem and the Language Problea. We shall

discuss these two problems in Chapters 4 and 3 respective ly .

The 1969 c r is is at the national le v e l which led the INC

s p l i t in to two, INC(R) and UfC(O), had i t s obvious shadow over

the State Congress a lso . The mesfeera o f the Executive Committee

o f the APCC met afci Guwahati on 13 November 1969 to review the

developments aris ing out o f the s p l i t in the AZCC, The APCC

President BIJay Chandra Bhagawati ca lled upon the members to

unite together behind Indira Gandhi, the leader o f the DJC(R)21.

The meabers were sharply divided on the issue and two d istin ct

35

groups with diverging opinion* emerged. One group, led by the President himself, had the support o f prominent leaders like Dev Kant a Barue and Molraul Haque Choudhury. This group wanted that the APCC should immediately align i t s e l f with Indira Gandhi's INC(R). The other group, led by Debeswar Saras,Jogen Saikia and Mahananda Bora wanted to wait and watch the developments at New Delhi before a fin a l decision was taken.The Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha however remained neutral. The discussion remained inconclusive and a nine-member subcommittee consisting o f meateers o f both the groups was constituted to draft a resolution on the Congress s p l i t , But no resolution could be drafted because o f sharp difference o f opinion among the members on the issue. The President deeided to re fer the matter to the general body o f the APCC.

Bhagamati did not wait far a formal decision o f the APCCand committed the organization to Indira-led IMC(R) by attending,along with 15 other AICC members (out o f a to ta l o f 21) from

22Assam, its Delhi Session • After returning from Delhi Bhagemmticalled a jo in t meeting o f the APCC Executive Committee and theAssam Congress legislature Party and sought approval of his

25action. Mahendra Median Choudhury cr it ic ise d the APCC President in sharp language and asked him to issue instructions to the Assam Congressmen at various levels not to cause a s p lit amongst themselves by associating with either faction o f the Congress.The Chief Minister, on the ot^er hand, fu lly concurred with the APCC President, and being unanimously requested, he drafted the following resolution i

36

The APCC fee ls that In order to t ake an lop art ant decision o f this nature, i t v«i desirable to discuss the Congress Conmittees at the d is tr ic t leve l which should be done and pending such consultation and such decisions, as nay be taken after consultation, the JPCC approves the action o f the President o f the JPCC in associating with AICC o f which Subraaanian is the interim President.2^

But the resolution could not be adopted and another draftingcommittee was constituted which also fa iled to produce anacceptable draft. The nesting continued t i l l next day and theresolution drafted by Chaliha was adapted by majority vote2^.Sixteen members voted against the resolution. Nahendra MohanChoudhury wanted that the decision should be postponed. Thosewho openly opposed the resolution included Renuka Dsbi Borkatakl,

26Monjula Devi, Debeswar Saraa and Jogen Hasarika.

The JPCC net cm 4 April 1970 to decide the natter fina lly

on the basis o f the opinions expressed by the D istrict CongrsssCommittees (DCCS5). Three o f these Conmittees did not submit anyopinion while two were in favour o f remaining neutral. Of therest although few ju stifie d the action o f the JPCC President,they wanted to work fo r a rapprochement before joining eitherfaction o f the Congress, while the majority supported outright

27alignment with the Indira faction . The JPCC in its generaloja

meeting formally adopted a resolution to jo in the IMC(R) . Someo f the prominent leaden were c f course s ittin g on the fence

37

Only a t in y section o f the Congressmen In Assam d efected to

jo in the Congress(0 ) and on the eve o f the mid-term Lok Sabhe

p o l l In 1971 set up a form al organ ization under the stewardship2Q

o f Renuka Debi Barkataki. But the miserable defeat o f a l l the

INC(O) candidates In the 1971 Lek Sabhe and 1972 Assembly

e le c t io n s In the State eocqpletely wiped out even the fa in te s t

hope o f i t s surviva l as a p o l i t i c a l forced® . With the fading

aw«y o f the DiC(O) at the national l e v e l , the INC(R) appeared to

be the "rea l* Congress and the people began t o id e n tify i t with

the o r ig in a l INC. But the darkest days o f the Party were not fa r

away. The emergence o f the Janata Party in 1977 as a byproduct

o f the "emergency* proclaim ed by the l nd ira Government gave the

most severe j o l t t o the P arty . I t was unseated from power at

the Centre and a second s p l i t in th# Party occurred w ithin a

decade. Meanafoile the IBC(O) merged with Janata and Renuka Devi

Borkatakl, the erstw h ile IKC(O) lea d er , was returned t o the

Lok Saibha in the 1977 e le c t io n on Janata t le k e t from the Guwehatl

Parliamentary constitu ency .

In the wake o f the strong Janata wave ju s t before the 1977

e le c t io n sops prominent Congressmen from Ind ira Gandhi's fo ld ,

in clud ing Jagjlvan Ram l e f t the party and jo in ed or made

a llia n ce with Janata at the national l e v e l . The s itu a t io n found

r e p e t it io n at the le v e l o f State p o l i t i c s a lso in many parts

o f the Country*

the hum iliation su ffered at the 1977 e le c t io n s l e f t Indira

Gandhi and her party in a shamble^ as i t were. Indira Gandhi

36

had the roughest tine in her p o lit ic a l career) her own partyawn accused her o f being responsible for a l l that happened during the preceding months and her leadership was rejected openly and she was almost pushed to the ow ner. It was the tine when Indira Sandhi nade a nust decision in her p o lit ica l career. It was to cone out o f the INC and fora a new Party to be named INC(I).Zail Singh who later be cane the President o f India and Pronob Mukherjee who were two o f her most trusted lieutenants during the period o f c r is is , were deputed by Indira Gandhi to persuade Congressmen o f d ifferent States to siqiport her and jo in the new Party. Zail Singh contacted Sarat Sinha, the then Chief Minister o f Assam, but the la tter did not respond favourably. Also Pronab Mukherjee and A.R.Autulay net Harendranath Talukdar and Anowara T&imur towards the last part o f 1977 and their e ffo rts bore fru its . ^ In the last week o f December 1977 a contingent of 39 Congressmen o f the State proceeded by train undar the leadership o f Harendranath Talukdar to taka part in the convention called by Indira Gandhi on 1 January 1978. Another four includingAnowara Taimnr joined them in Delhi. Thus there were altogether. 32k3 participants from Assam in that convention . Among theparticipants were four ladies and nineteen Muslims. After comingback from Delhi they formed title State unit of the INC(I). MrsGandhi appointed Tilok Gogol as APCC(I) President and under hisleadership the party prepared for the forthcoming Assenblyelection in the State. The IMC(I) fie lded 113 candidates forthe 126 seats, but only 8 candidates were returned. On the otherhand INC bagged 26 seats after putting candidates in a ll the 126c onstitue miles.

39

The Communist Group i

At the national level the Communist Party of India was foraed in 1927 after the visit of a group of eoMninists including Philip Spratt belonging to the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1926, and it gradually energed as a f oral dab le political force after the Indian National Congress . The increasing Communist influence on the people was viewed b y the Government with scepticism and it was given out that the activities of the coaaunists perpetuated only tensions anc unrest amongst the labour front. The party was declared illegal in 1934 ^ and the ban continued for about eight years till July, 1942. But in the sane year the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) of the left-wing members of the Indian national Congress emerged and the communist workers found a convenient political platform to operate therefrom. . They now infiltrated into the rank and file of the CSP and through it also into the main body of the IRC.

The leftist lap act though feeble and localised was felt in Assam as early as in 1927. Just after the formation of the CPI some of the students of Cotton College established contact with the Peasants' and Workers * Party, a leftist party of Bengal. They brought from there eommunist and allied literature and through them the communist ideology was gradually disseminated amongst a section of the student community. Far the first few years it was the students who nurtured the seeds of Communism in the State. By 1934, the influence of Marxist

40

philosophy was n otic*ab le amongst the "respectable and reputable"

paraona a lso in sons parts o f tha S ta te . This was observed in a

la t ta r by tibia Deputy Commissioner o f Darrang D is t r ic t t o the

Chlaf S ecretary , Assam, on 24 February 1934* The Deputy Commi-

ssion ar fu rther observed that "the tendency in future w i l l be

towards communism in one form or another", though he admitted

that i t would be d i f f i c u l t fo r him t o give "p roo f o f intention"^®

By 1934 even a s e c t io n o f Congressmen turned r a d ic a l . To quote

the Deputy Commissioner's words * " I t has been obvious fo r ye are

that the Congress has gradually been becoming more and more a

revolu tion ary organ isation , and i t s leaders (o r some o f them) more

and more sympathetic ( t o put i t m ild ly ) t o the communist

propaganda” . From th is one can e a s ily gauge the in fluence o f

M arxist ideas on contemporary p o l i t i c a l thoughts^By 1936

Jagannath B hattacharjee, an Assamese student then studying at

Banaras came in c lo se contact with the communists through a lo c a l

s o c i a l i s t party and he attended the 1936 Lucknow Conference o fi g

the A ll India Peasants O rganisation. In 1937# some students

o f Cotton College esta b lish ed a "Radical Club" under the cover

o f a "Fyam S am iti" t o a s e le c t group o f students . This Radical

Club formed the nucleus o f the future State un it o f the

Revolutionary Communist Party o f India (RCPI), Some o f the

members associated with th is Club were Harldas Deke, Haren

K a lita , Umakanta Sarmah, Phani Talukdar, GOkul Midhl, Bhupen

Msdhl and Khagen Barbaruah. By 1938 there was no dearth o f

l e f t i s t workers in the & ovince t o take up the causa o f the

peasants and the workers. At the same time the l e f t i s t impact

41

was also noticed in the programmes o f Assam Prov in c ia l Congress

Committee. The le f t is t s under the cover o f the Congress

Organization assembled at Qolaghat and successfu lly observed

the anniversary o f the October S o c ia lis t Revolution o f Russia

on 7 Noveober 1939. * * The perforaance i t s e l f was considered

something revolutionary and the r ig h tis ts took i t to be a

matter o f great concern.

In the students* fron tt by 1938 there were at least three

strong students* organizations in the region. These were A ll

Assam Chhatra Sanmilan, Manipur State Chhatra Sanailan and

Sh illong Chhatra Sanailan, These students* organizations were

completely * loca l* in the sense that they had no link with any

a l l India students* body. Aaiya Daagupta, a leader o f the A ll

India Students* Federation founded in 1936 cane to Assam in

connection with the inaugural session o f the Assam S oc ia lis t

Party in September 1939. He stayed back in Assam fo r the purpose

o f organizing the students. I t was at his in it ia t iv e that in

November 1939 the A ll Assam Students* Confederation was farmed

consisting o f the three students' organizations mentioned

above, and Qaurisankar Bhattaaharya was made the General

Secretary o f the organization. In January 1940, the Confedera­

t ion got a f f i l ia t io n from the A l l India Students' Federation

and as per the la t t e r 's d irection i t was named Assam Students*

Federation (ASF). The ASF began to exercise a pervasive

con tro l over the students* organizations o f the Brahmaputra

v a lle y . As the War progressed the leaders o f the Federation

42

got the opportunity t o discharge a considerable degree o f

in fluence over the proceedings o f other lo c a l students

a ssoc ia tion s , and the Federation became a popular platform fo r

adopting a stand on the n ationa l lin e even fo r students whose

p o l i t i c a l sympathies mere with the Congress.

The leadersh ip o f the Assam Students' Federation was

co n tro lle d by the Communists, and a "Communist group" was formed43in side the Federation* And through th is Federation many student

cadres jo in ed the Communist Party when i t was esta b lish ed in

Assam in the subsequent period*

The outbreak o f the War widened the scope o f the Communists

in Assam t o in te n s ify th e ir a c t iv i t ie s . The USSR- was the

guiding fo rce fo r the Communists a l l over the w orld. The stand

o f the USSR in connection with the War had i t s shadow ovar a l l

the Communists o f the world* Because o f S ta l in 's n eu tra lity and

non-agcreaeion pact with H itle r ’'signed on 23 August 1939, the

Communists a l l over the w orld under the obvious d ire c t io n o f USSR

through the Comintern condemned the War from the beginning as an

im p eria lis t war and in India th is co in cid ed with the view o f the

Indian National Congress. But when H itle r invaded USSR on 72 June

1941 v io la t in g the non-aggresalon p a ct , the USSR had reversed i t s

e a r l ie r stand and the Communists began ch aracterisin g the v*r as

a P e o p le 's War and decided t o f ig h t Nazi Germany aide by side

with the B r it is h . The Indian Communists a lso had no other

a ltern ative but t o fRLl in lin e with Comintern's stand a fte r

some I n i t ia l h e s ita t io n . They now promised f u l l cooperation to

43

the British in their war efforts end the Governmentreciprocated by releasing those Communists who were sent tojail earlier along with the Congressaen for apposing the

4ABritish and by lifting the ban on the CPI in July 1942. But the stand of the Indian Communists in utter disregard of the popular opinion of the Indian people was indeed a tactical mistake politically and it totally damaged the party's image almost on all fronts for naxqr years to come.

The 'People's War' view had its thrust on the Communist dominated All India Students' Federation also and in its seventh session held at Patna in December 1941 the Federation resolved that the students should henceforward cooperate unconditionally with the British Government in its war efforts.^ The Assam Students’ Federation being affiliated to the All India Students' Federation was also supposed to accept the Patna resolution and work accordingly* But on the issue of the Patna resolution there was sharp difference amongst the leading members of the Assam Students’ Federation and by June 1942 two opposing groups emergsd within the Federation. The group which supported the Patna resolution was led by Gaurisarikar Bhatta­ch ary a, Hena Dutta and Mansur Habib while the other groun which was against the Patna resolution consisted of JagannethThakur, Sadananda Bsruah, Jogen Goswaml, Profulla Baruafc and

46others. Thus the students of Assam hitherto united under the banner of the Assam Students' Federation were divided into two opposite casps and that too on the eve of the August Revolution of 1942. On the other hand the Congress activities

44

readied the apex in the Rrovinoe in August 1942, but then its activities gradually declined because of the large scale

arrests of its leaders. In fact throughout the year 1943, and for sons souths in 1944, the Congress had no political activity whatsoever. This paved the way for increased Communist activities in the province. After the withdrawal of the Gtovernaent bra on the CPI in July 1942 and sifesequent release of Mist of the Cosaunist leaders fron Jail, the Coamanists in Assra got a new lease of life to carry out their party work openly and independently. But still they could not gain popularity anoag the nasses because of their adherence to the People’s War resolution. &ven sons of their leaders had to faoa rough treatment at the hands of the people. In the aidat of hoatile attitude of the aassea the Communists organised two training oaape in July and August 1942 at Jorhat and Oolaghat respectively and trained their workers for the future. In January - February 1943 they farned the Assra Talley District Coaalttee under the Bengal Provincial Coaalttee of CPI, rad in Nay of the saae year the Assra Provincial Organising Committee of CPI cane into being under the Secretaryship of Bireshchandra Mishre.^ Thus fron the beginning of 1943 with the decline of the Congress activities in the Province the Communists intensified their organizational works, y

45

At the tine when the ikssu Students' Federation was able to bring to i t s fold almost a l l the students' organiza­tions of the Assam Talley, the Radical Clift maintained i ts independence and iden tity . Then in Hoverter, 1940 the Communists organised a pro test demonstration against the War, both the Assam Students* Federation and the Radical Clift participated in i t as separate wings, but they worked as a llied wings and marched shoulder to shoulder carrying posters and placards refusing to support the B ritish in the War.

The ROPI leader Sauaendranath Tagore v is ited the Province twice, f i r s t in Noveafeer 1936 and then in Be carter 1941. Tagore had his followers in Assam since his f i r s t v i s i t . During his second v is i t Tagore net Khagen Barbaruah at his village Mamtiali in Upper Assam (Slbsagar d is tr ic t) and had ta lks with him about organizational work. This was the beginning of the process of formation of a State unit of the RGPX in Assam.Tagore was externad from the Province on 18 Deoerter 1941.During 1940-1941 his followers took a laading part in some of the an ti-im perialist student movements. They succeeded in e lic itin g support from the left-minded students and emerged as a p o litic a l force throughout the Assam Talley. During 1942, but with e different programme, they in tensified the Quit India movement. Finally in 1943 the Assam branch of the RCPI was formed by them and the prominent persons who took the lead were Haren K alita, Haridas Deka, Tarunsan Deka, Una Sarnrt, Oovinda K alita , Xirsndra J-ahiri, Chatra Singh Taron, Ghintrtaran K alita, Syren Bharfctachsrya, Khagen Barbantrt, Sarat Rsva, Hana Oanguli

* -

46

and Bishnu Rava. Biahnu Rerra was a litterateur and a l i f e long re v olut ionary. He intensified the peasant and labour movement and waged a war against exploitation through his works. He

sent on that account. In 1946 he cane in close touch with Saumendranath Tagore and since then he actually associated hiiBself with the RCPI organized movements in the subsequent

and joined the CPI.

At the tine o f independence CPI and RCPI were the only leftwing parties operating in the State. But these two parties could not sake any impact on the h i l l people at any time.There is no record o f the RCPI o f making an attempt to expand ita a ctiv ities in the h i l l areas. The student wing o f the CPI did o f course make an e ffo r t long back in 1946 to spread the a ctiv ities o f the party in some o f the h i l l areas. In 1946. there was an All Assam Students’ Conference in Shillong In which

L qeven some Naga and Mizo students took part. 7 It is interesting to note that one o f these students. Aliba later became the

7

President o f the Naga National Council which played a pivotal role in the creation o f Nagaland as a separate State in 1963. Another

participant t^Vanthuama became the Secretary o f the Mizo Union, a loca l Party o f Mizoram. It appears that in those days, the p o lit ics in the h i l l areas was mare concerned with loca l problems than national ones. This is true even today to a great extent, and the main reason for this is the Intense urge o f the h i l l people

down-trodden and courted imprison­

to preserve their ethnic Identity.

47

In the early years after independence the attitudes of

these two parties towards Parliamentary democracy enshrined

in the Indian Constitution were d iaaetrica lly opposite. The

CPI fa r cured Parliamentary deaooraoy while the RCPI opposed

i t . The RCPI did not hesitate to use eren the harshest possi­

b le means, an arsed revolution, to seise power. Accordingly

a "programme of armed struggle* was adopted by the party in

1948. The party did not believe that Parlianentary democracy

could bring socialism to the country, and i t appealed to the

electorate to boycott the f i r s t general election held in the

State in 1952, but the election boycott programme had very

l i t t le impact on the electorate. ^

B.K.Basumatari, a PTCA'' leader, opined that the armed

struggle conducted by the RCPI in Assam was possible only in

the t r ib a l pockets. He put forward two reasons fo r th is .

F irs t , the acute land problem and the resultant poverty in

these areas dragged the t r ib a l people to the path of arsed

struggle. Secondly, the RCPI craftsmen selected these areas

for the movement because o f the basic sense of honesty of the 51t r ib a l people. But in Upper Assam, the struggle spread to

many nontribal areas also under the leadership of Khagen

Barbaruah and others.

The Government however tried to suppress the movement

ruthlessly and declared i t i l le g a l . The supporters of the

movement, and quite often innocent people a lso , were harassed

and tortured. The path o f struggle was fin a lly abandoned, the

48

leaders cane overground and gradually came to the path o f

Parliamentary democracy. The RCPI took part in the 1957 general

e le c t ion . On the other hand the CPI partic ipa ted in the very

f i r s t e le c t io n in independent India*

■jin 1964 a s p lit occurred in the CPI, The • le ft is t '* members

o f the party broke away accusing i t o f r igh t reformism ana

founded a party known as the Communist Party o f India(M arxist)

abbreviated CPI(M) or siap ly CPM. The s p l it was not a sudden

onej cracks in the party were v is ib le fo r some tine before i t

f in a l ly occurred. The cracks became more prominent a fte r the

Sino-£>oviet dispute and Sino-Indian border co n flic t and these52could not be patched up. The CPM party Constitution was

adopted at the seventh Congress o f the Communist Party o f India,

at Calcutta, October 31 - November 7 1964'P The CPI(M) was7 •

very c r i t ic a l o f the leadership o f S.A.Dange who was branded as 54a •re v is io n is t" . Prominent among the leaders who came to the

CPI(M) fo ld were E.M.S.Waaboodiripad, B.T.Ranadive, Jyoti B8«u

and M.Basavapunniah. On the other hand C,Rajeswar Rao and

Bhupesh Gupta remained with Dange. The oentral s p l it o f the

party had i t s obvious e f fe c t at the State le v e l . The new

State wing o f the party was nurtured by veterans lik e Achintye

Kumar Bhattaoharjae, Nandeswar Telukdar, Biresh Misr. and B irin

Daimari while Phani Bara, Tarun San Deka and Proaode Chandra

Gogol ohose to stay with the CPI, For the f i r s t time a fte r the

s p l it the two factions faced the t r i a l o f strength in the

1967 general e le c t ion . In the Assembly e le c t ion the CPI fie ld ed

twenty candidates o f whoa seven were returned but the fourteen

49

CPX(M) candidates had no luok at all. In the Lok Sabha election the CPI(N) did not field any candidate while the CPI fielded four with one success when Ehireswar Kalita was elected! he earned the distinction of being the only candidate of the party

elected to the Lok Sabha from the State in all the elections held so far* ^

Just after the 1967 general elections in the spring of that year in the village of Naxalbari in the Siliguri District of North Bengal, there took place an araed peasant uprising against the big landowners and usurers of the area. The ultiaate aim of the uprising which was led by mekbers of the District Committee of the CPX(M), at that tine a dominant partner in the West Bengal United Front governs#nt, was the seizure of State power. Attempts were made to overturn the whole power structure in the villages and replaoe it by peasant committees. Unjust debt and mart gaga agreements with landlords and moneylenders

were destroyed and steps were taken for redistributing to poor and landless peasants who formed 70 par oent of the papulation of the area all land that was not owned by those who tilled it The most important consequences of the Naxalbari uprising were the rapid spread of similar peasant struggles to other parts of India, the split in the CP1(H) whose leadership strongly opposed the Naxalbari line of action and the forming, in 1969, of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), abbreviated CPI(ML),

which continued to spearhead the movement under the guidance cf its first Secretary Charu Maxumdar.

50

In the very s u e year of the formation o f the CP I (ML),

Naxalite a c t iv it ie s spread to soae areas o f Assam in Goaloara,

Kamrup, Nagaon, Lakhimpur, Sibs agar, Cachar and Miso H illss £

(now Mizaraa) d is t r ic t s . The then State revenue s in is te r of

Ass an, Mahendra Mohan Choudhury sta ted on 7 April 1970, that

in 1967, the year of Naxalbari uprising, Shah Syed Hussain, a

Naxalite leader, had established seeret contacts with the pro-

Chinise section o f the Maga underground and had en listed a

score of youths who received g u e rr illa train ing frost the Magas

and had carried out acts o f sabotage on the North L ast Frontier57Railway on the Assam Nagaland border. ' The f i r s t act of

sabotage was carried out on 18 February 1967. More than thirteen

fee t o f trac t on the North Last Frontier Railway between Loading

and Mariani (near Nagaland border) were blown up by p la s t ic

charges. Again on the night of 2 March of the same year a tra in

was derailed by an explosion in the sane area and shots were

f ire d at the tra in from the darkness k illin g three meabers ofqo

the Railway Protection Security Force.

The Assam Government announced on 13 March 1968, that

eight left-wing Communists (meaning M axalities), four Nagas

and two "Pakistani agents" had been arrested in the area border­

ing Nagaland an charges of p lo ttin g to sa t up a Communist

Government in Assam in collusion with the Nagm underground and

Pakistan (meaning L ast Pakistan, now Bangladesh) with the

assistance o f "soae foreign governments* and that the arrested

men were suspected to be responsible for the explosions on the

51

North E-aat fron tier Railway,^* The state at nt further said that a foreign Bade p la stic boab had been dug tqp at the hoae o f one o f the arrested comminists and that note books containing instructions on preparation o f p la s tic boafcs and their use in blowing up railway tracks had been found in the possession o f two o f then. The Governs* nfc state a* at was innedlately denied by the Ass an State Connittee o f the CPI(M) saying that the party unit o f which the arrested persons were neabers had already been dissolved and a ll i t s neabers were expelled fro* the party for anti-party activ ities .® 0 A ll these happenings te s t if ie d to th* existence o f sympathisers o f the Maxellte aoveaent even before the emergence o f the CPI(ML) as an inde­pendent p o lit ica l party. The party chose the path o f "guarrilla warfare" to f i£ i t against the "concrete Manifestations o f revisionis**^1, and i t believed in "centralised leadershipbased on inner party democracy* and rejected Indian

62Parliensntary denocracy as a farce . In 1970-1971, the party suffered set-hecks, partly because o f various p o lit ic a l errors, and partly as a result o f the relentless campaign carried out against i t s aeabers by the Indian Gov* ran* nt , and the party** e ffo rts to establish a f i r s organizational foundation were fo ile d . S t i l l the party did succeed in ferning D istrict Organizing Coanittccs immediately a lter its formation in aaay parts o f th* country including Ass an. Hi* Goalpara D istrict Organizing Comaitta* o f Assan is one o f the oldest o f such Comnltteea in the country. As early as 26 March 1970, a report

52

prepared Py th is Committee on the "peasant war in Assam" was& |i

published in the party organ Deshabrati . Zn the early

seven ties a number o f CPI(tlL) leaders from Bengal, prominent

among them being Bhaskar Handy, ex ten sive ly toured the S ta te ,

sometimes in d isg u ise , and t r ie d t o persuade many in te lle c tu a ls

t o come t o th e ir fo ld . Their e f f o r t s continued even during the

Emergency when the party was o f f i c i a l l y banned by the Government.

They had long been accustomed t o clandestine work and could

operate as b e fo re . By the time the party accepted e le c t o r a l

struggle as a means o f capturing power, the Assam unit o f the

party became strong enough t o think in terms o f f ie ld in g

candidates in the e le c t io n s . In the 1978 Assembly e le c t io n ome

o f the four CP I (ML) candidates succeeded in w resting a sea t.

On the other hand the CPI(M) cou ld achieve i t s maiden success

only in i t s th ird attempt in the same e le c t io n .

The S o c ia l is t Groupi

Reference has a ir*sty baen made t o the form ation in 1934

o f the Congress S o c ia l is t Party (CSP) with the le ft-w in g

members o f the Indian N ational Congress a fte r the co lla p se o f

the C iv i l Disobedience movement and the e x t in c t io n o f the

ohara fo r revolution ary te r r o r Is a . In the beginning the CSP

worked lik e a wing o f tha INC with i t s own programmes fo r the

fu lfilm en t o f i t s g o a ls . This paved the way fo r the entry o f

S o c ia l is t s in the Congress Working Committee. Prominent

S o c ia l is t le aders l ik e Jay a Prakash Narayan, Marendra Deo and

53

Achyut Patwardhan were made members o f the Congress Working

Committee by Jawaharlal Nehru* With the form ation o f the CSP

in 1934 the members o f the banned CPI soon found th e ir

sympathisers in the rank and f i l e o f the C3P. The CPI leaders

soon d irected th e ir members t o jo in the C3P dominated by Jaya

Prakash Narayan s o that the CSP p latform cou ld be su itab ly

u t i l is e d t o champion Communist causes * The Communists and the

S o c ia l is t s made system atic e f f o r t s t o propagate the cause o f

the workers and th e ir e f f e c t s were f e l t in th is Province as

w ell*

The S o c ia l is t impact was n oticed in the programme o f the

sPCC. I t adopted a mass contact programme and formed a

committee in 1938 t o in vestiga te labour and agrarian con d ition s .

This brought the S o c ia lis ts and the Communists in the Congress

organ ization in to d ir e c t contact with the working c la s s .

Meanwhile Jawaharlal Nehru’ s v i s i t t o Assam in December 1937

and h is ta lk s in the te a and o i l areas o f the province on the

su b ject o f c a p ita l is t e x p lo ita t io n a lso created a good

background. S o c ia l is t s and Communists in the province under the

cover o f the Congress organ ization became active by 1938 *in

probing grievances both among In d u str ia l labour in the o i l

f i e l d s , c o l l i e r ie s and te a gardens” o f the p r o v i n c e F u r t h e r

the v is i t s o f eminent S o c ia l is t s lik e Stibhas Chandra Bose, M.N.

Roy, and labour organizers l ik e Jalaluddin Hashemy, Chowka

Singha, Dink an Mehta and Sudhindra Parananik gave added

impetus t o the labour movement in the P r o v in c e .^

54

By 1938 S ocia list groups began to function actively in certain places o f Asses, Jadunath Saikia, on his return to Oolaghat in 1938 after completing his studies at Banaras Hindu University feraed a S ocia lis t group with the assistance o f

Eh ire n Dutta, Khagesvar Tamuli, Sriman Prafulla Goswaai and sons others under the direction o f Jaya Prakash Narayan. Theyalso forned a Krishak Sabha in the same year. This be case the

»

f i r s t Socia list platform within the Congress in the Assam Valley6*7to champion peasant causes. However in the Surma Valley a

branch o f the CSP was formed in 1935 under the secretaryshipo f Suresh Chandra Deb. After 1958 S ocia list groups were formedin other parts of Assam also. In Dibrugarh a S ocia list groupwas formed under the leadership o f Nilaoni Barthakur and BinoyBhusan Chakravarty. In Goalpara also a S ocia list group becameactive under the guidance o f Pabitra Roy, an externee fromBengal, They organized a conference o f the Assam kiaan B*bhaunder the presidentship o f the renowned S ocia list leaderSahajananda Saraswati. Though fu lle r details are not availablein the o f f i c ia l records i t appears that in the la tter half o f1939 or in the beginning o f 1940 under the in itia tive o fDhiren Dutta a plan to fora a Provincial S ocia list Party wasmooted at Misamari (Oolaghat). Besides Ehiren Dutta, JadunathSaikia, Binoy Bhusan Chakravarty, Nilaoni Bsrthakur and Sriman

6fiPrafulla Goswami played an important role in this respect.By 1946 Jaya Prakash Narayan, As oka Kalita, Ram Monehsr Lnhia and others shaped the CSP almost as an independent oarty with ideologies d istin ctly d ifferent from those o f the In

55

August 1946, Ran Monohar Labia case to Assam for organisational purposes and to farmed a provincial unit of the CSP with Has Baruah, Saricar Baruah, Hareswar Gaswami, Lokshadhar Chou*vary, Mahendra Hazarika and others, Whan in 1946, the CSP severed all links with INC and emerged as a completely independent;party under the naae Socialist Party of India (SP)? the sbove

70mentioned persons steered the State unit of the party*'

In 1951 Acharya Kripalini with his followers cane out of the INC and formed a new party called Kisan Naxdoor Praja Party (KMPP). The same year a State unit of the party was formed with Haladhar Bhuyan, foraer president of the Magaon district Congress Committee and Ik** Jagadish Chandra Medhi as the chief organizers. A large number of dissident Congressnen including Biswa Goswami joined the party before the 1952 general eleetion. Both these parties fieled quite a large number of candidatesfor Assembly as well as i*ok Sabha seats in the general eleetion

71of 1952, but their success was not at all encouraging. In 1955 the SP and the KMPP merged together to form the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), However the merger did not improve the organizational prospect of the party so far as Assam was concerned. Moreover from the very beginning inner conflicts plagued the new party resulting in its further division into the PSP and the Socialist Party (SP) in 1955-56. The SP accepted Dr .Ram Monohar Lohia as its leader and the PSP As ok a Mehta. In Assam most of the prominent Socialist leaders including Hem Barua, Lakshmi Prasad Goswami and Hareswar Gaswami

56

regained in the PSP under the leadership o f As ok a Mehta. Thar*

did ex is t in Assam a unit o f Ran Monohar Lohia's S o c ia lis t Party,

but organisationally i t remained eery mask compared to the PSP

unit/ 2

In 1962 Asoka Mehta jo ined Congress and gave a c a ll to

the party men to fo llow him. In Assam many prominent PSP leaders

including Hareswar Goswami and Lakshmi Prasad Goewami who was

then the leader o f the Opposition in the Assam Assembly followed 73Mehta's example. But Hem Barua did not jo in Congress and

continued to nurture the party in Assam as i t s president t i l l

1971.

The Sp and the PSP merged again on 7 June 1964 to fo ra the

Sanyukta S o c ia lis t Party (SSP). This time also the merger did

not la s t long. I t s p l it in June 1965 in to the SSP and the PSP.

In Assam the PSP had a s ligh t edge over the SSP in the 1967

e le c t io n . Mem Barua, Lak&fcadhar Choudhury, Blswa Goewami, Purna

Mar ay an Slnha were in the PSP while Mibaran Chandra Bora, Golap

B orb era, S ones war Bora remained in the SSP.

A fter the 1967 general e le c t io n , the leaders o f both the

S o c ia lis t parties rea lised the need fo r u n ifica tion o f the

two parties to form a stronger s o c ia lis t fron t. The process fa r

u n ifica tion formally started at the 10th national Conference

o f the PSP held at Baroda cm 3 - 6 February 1970. Many prominent

PSP leaders expressed themselves in favour o f u n ifica tion o f

the two parties and on 12 June 1971 the "basis fo r the merger

37

o f the PSP and the SSP* was drafted at Bulandshahar and it was la ter endorsed at the 12th and the last National Conference o f the PSP held at Bulandshahar on 7 and 8 August 1971. Thus cane the fin a l union o f the two s o c ia lis t parties and the sew unified party cane to be known as the S ocia list Party. This unified party took part in the 1972 Assembly e lection with 38 candidates in the f ie ld , but only four candidates were returned. In 1977 the party was asainilated in the newly famed Janata Party.

Sons other a l l India p o lit ic a l parties including Janata also made their appearance in the p o lit ic a l scene o f Ass an during the period o f our study. But most o f these had very negligible impact on Assam p o lit ic s as was evidenced by their poor performance in the e lection s. Their a ctiv ities were too loca lised to warrant a detailed discussion. None o f these parties except Janata and Swat antra was ever successful in sending a representative to the State Assembly or to the Lak Sabha from Assam during the period o f our study. It appears that most o f these parties took part in the elections very casually and they did so only to sake their prase nee f e l t . &ven Bhartiya Janata Party^* (erstwhile Jan Sangh) belonged to th is category. Besides Jan Sangh, the other such parties were t

Akhil Bharat Hindu Nahasabha (ABHM), Forward Bloc(PB),All India Jorkha League (AIGL), Bolshevik Party,

Workers* Party of India (1PI) (formerly known as

Denocratic Vanguard), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Progressive Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCl)"^

Sons of these parties of course deserve special aention for

various reasons,

IftiTfl* HJ^gu Mahagfjbhgf

The history of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha in Assan

is almost as old as that of the Congress, At the national level the Mahasabha came into existence around 1918 under the leadership and initiative of Hadan Mohan Malaviya, a staunah Congressman of the time. At the beginning the Mahasabha could not be called a political party in the true sense of the term.It was rather a religious organization of political nature with many prominent Congressmen in its fold. The Mahasabha advocated the "maintenance f protection and promotion of the Hindu rooe f

Hindu culture and Hindu civilization*. In particular, tha Mahasabha tried to bring the hill tribes of the country including those of Assam into the religious mainstream of India, and to abolish the evils of casteism and untouchability in the Hindu religion. Gradually the Mahasabha became concerned with problems of purely political nature prevailing in the country from time to time. The Mahasabha had its say on "Reforms for Frontier Province* in the early twenties, it criticised the ■White Paper cm Constitution* and it protestad against the

59

"creation o f new d e fic it Provinces* in the early th ir t ie s , i t extended support to the British ignoring the stand o f the INC as regards the War.76 All these te s t if ie d to the p o lit ic a l nature o f the Mahasafcha.

The earliest protagonists o f the Hahasabha in Assn in the twenties included Brindaban Chandra Ooswani and Pltanbar Dev Ooswami, the Satradhikar o f Oarsaur Satra.^7 With their in it ia t iv e a special session o f the Hahasabha was held in 1986 under the presidentship o f Madan Mohan Malaviya just after the conclusion o f the Pandu Congress at the sane venue and under the sane pandal. In th is special session a resolution was adopted paving the way fen* the Organization o f Hindu Sahhe in Assan", Padnanath Qohain Bsrua who h ia se lf attended the session gave a v iv id description o f the special session o f the

Hahasabha in his autobiography t **ltaabar Dev Ooswani, the Ghairnan o f the Reception Committee, read out hie 90 minute long address in lucid ariatrocatic Asaaaeae. Torun I « Phookun acted as the interpretar o f his speech into English. Ooewmai's speech was highly qpplauded by the large gathering. Just after the speech o f Ooswani was over, Had an Hohan Halavtya cane to the roetrun to deliver h is presidential ad d ress...•' This ooen session o f the Hahasabha formally narked the beginning o f the Hahasabha a ctiv it ies in Assan and these were in tensified in the follewing years. On 10 and 11 June 1928, the Assan Provincial Hindu Baasllan set at Magson under the presidentship

7©o f B.ftJHonje, a prominent Hahasabha leader o f that tin e .

60

In Novenber|jM$tD,Savarkar, President o f the Mahasabha, toured

the Province to strengthen the grip of the Mahasabha on the

State 's p o lit ic s . During his tour he pointed out how Hindu

interest suffered at the hands o f the Congress owing to their

nonparticipation in the Assembly.80 But the Mahasabha did never

have any sign ificant influence on the people o f Assam at any

time t i l l i t v irtua lly vanished from the scene in the f i f t ie s .

The lone Mahasabha candidate in the 1952 Asseably election

also suffered defeat.

Bhartlva Jana Singh t

Bhartiya Jana Sangh (BJS) is one o f the most consistent

parties so fa r as participation in election is concerned. It

took part in a l l the Asseably elections held in post-indeoendence

Assam t i l l i t merged with the Janata Party in 1977. But it

drew a blank in e lecto ra l p o lit ic s . At the national level the

party was founded in 1951 and was shaped in its formative

period by BalraJ Madhokv Deendayal Upadhyaya, Deva Prasad Ghosh 81and others. The history of the BJS is not complete without

a description of the Rashtriya Say am Sevak Sangh (RSS) , a

non-political socio -re lig ious and cultural organization founded

long back in 1925 at Nagpur. The BJS is the p o lit ic a l wing

o f the RSS. The BJS leg is la tors and parliamentarians were

accountable to the RSS fo r their behaviour and performance.

The RSS was founded by KeshaV‘0^ Hedge war . It succeeded in

having more than 20,000 branches o f the Sangh a l l over the 82country. The Sangh believes that the greatness o f Bharntvarsfea

61

(In d ia ) lie s in the greatness o f Hindu philosophy and sp iritua­

l i t y , Hindu culture and trad ition .8 *̂ The Sangh also believes

that a "national awakening can be achieved only by uniting the

Hindus and making them rea lise their f u l l p o t e n t i a l i t y .

After independence the RSS fe lt the need for a p o lit ic a l wing

and the BJS was created with a l l the characteristics of a

p o lit ic a l party. Many prominent leaders o f Akhil Bharat Hindu

Mahasabha joined the new party and as a result the Mahasabha

became very weak and i t was almost made irrelevant in the

p o lit ic a l scene of independent India. From that time onwards

the Sangh has grown in strength in various States, particularly

Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana.

The beginning of RSS activ ities in Assam dates back to

the late fo rtie s , A batch of RSS workers came to Assam aroumd

1947 and made contact with some persons at Silcfaar. A f u l l -

fledged prantlva (regional) o ffice was established at Guwahati

in 1949 with Ram Singhji Thakur as the Praatiya Pracharak. Some

of the persons who helped in establishing S£j&§£ (branch1 s ,

train ing caqps) o f RSS at different places at the in it ia l stage

were Trailokya Nath Phukan, G irish K a lita , Sankarlal Sanaa,

Keshab Deo Bawri and others. Sarma and Bawrl belonged to the

Marwari community liv in g in Assam* In the f i f t ie s the RSS

opened o ffices at other places of the State, the f i r s t being

at Nagaon with Madhukar Limeye as its f i r s t pracharak. Kadhika

Mohan Goswami was responsible to a great extent for the86expansion o f RSS activ ities in the Nagaon d is tr ic t . But in

62

Assam the RSS a ctiv ities have always been watched by the general public with suspicion, and the Sangh has never been A le to establish its hold firmly. This is partly because o f the population pattern o f the State, which has conditioned the people to be averse to organizations with any amount o f r e l i ­gious smell. For the same reason Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha also could not make any significant impact on State p o lit ic s .

The BJS participated in the Assembly e lection of 1932 with three candidates but a l l o f them lost Only after its merger with Janata, an erstwhile BJS leader o f the State, Lakhesvar Gohain o f Kanpur (Nagaon d is t r ic t ) , could win from the Barhampur

( W |

constituency on Janata ticket in the 1978 Assembly e lection . After the Janata s p l i t , the former BJS constituent changed its name to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

§m*jagferis.In 1959 a new p o lit ic a l party emerged under the leadership

o f C.Rajagopalacharl, This new party, the Swat antra Party, had indeed a tremendous start with twentytwo members elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1962 general e lection . The mission o f the Swat antra Party was to oppose the Congress party’ s programmes, particularly its emphasis on s o c ia lis t p o lic ie s .

In 1959, a representative o f the Swataxztra party v isited Assam to form a branch, but there was very poor response from the people in the plains. However he succeeded in forming a branch at Shillong with J.S.Harayan, his wife and some lawyers.

63

The ad-hoc committee o f the branch headed by J .8 .Marayan mades one progress in spreading Swat antra ideology in the h i l l areasbut could not improve nuoh in the plains at the in it ia l stuge.John Dung and M.Blah were respectively the General Secretary

89and the Treasurer o f the ad-hoc conmittee, The party did not contest the 1962 general e le ction in the State.

In the s ix ties Swatantra a ctiv ities spread to the o le in s, particularly to the d istricts o f Lakhimpur, Barpeta, Nagaon, Dibrugarh and Sibsagar, But the party lost its original ground in the h i l l areas including Shillong because o f the in ten sifi­cation o f regional p o lit ic s in these areas prior to their separation from Assam* In fa ct, during th is period regional p o lit ic s completely overshadowed national p o lit ic s in the region. In the Barak Valley a lso, the party could never stake any organizational progress* In the 1967 Jsseohly election the party fie lded thirteen candidates while in the Lok Sabha e lection held simultaneously i t fie lded one candidate. Only two o f these candidates were returned to the Assembly. Of the thirteen Asseably seats contested by the party five were from the Nagaon d is tr ic t , three each from Lakhimpur and Dibrugarh d istr icts two from the Barpeta d is tr ic t . The lone Lok Sabha seat contested by the party was in the Lakhiapur d is tr ic t . Of the fourteen contesting candidates five belonged to the Muslim community, two to scheduled tr ib es , one to scheduled caste, one to tea garden workers community, one to Nepali community and the rest to the other backward classes. The atioioe o f candidates for the e lection was interesting. Swatantra was

64

perhaps the only party next to the Congress which tried to aalntain i t s seeular character in selecting candidates for an election. But the prospect of the party in the State did not brighten, and in the next Assembly election in 1972 the party’s strength was drastieally reduced in that only one candidate, ftanesh Mohan Kauli, was elected. When the Swatan&ra party at the national level joined the Bhartiya Lok Bel (BID) in 1975, the Assaa unit of the Swat antra party changed i ts naae accordingly and Ranesh Mohan Kauli renained i ts president t i l l i t s nerger with the Janata party in 1977*

All India Borkha league;Mb already aentioned that local politics in India has

been guided and shaped by one or core of the four paraaeters -geographical, linguistic , ethnic and religious. There are afew parties which cannot ba called s tr ic tly local, bsing guidedand ahapad by the ethnic par ana ta r . By our definition theseparties nay also ba caned a ll India parties. One such partyla the All India Oorkha league (AIGU.) which was founded atDarjeenng on 15 May 1943̂ ® with e view to bringing a n theOorkhas together at the national level. The nigratlon of theGorkhaa froa Nepal started nora than a century age. They le ftth e ir homeland in search of Uvelihood and settled in parts ofnorthern and eastern India where they found the cllaate suitable

mand slad-lar to that of the ir own land. The league claised minority statue for the darkhas in India with a n the benefits

6 5

e n j o y e d b y o t h e r r e c o g n i s e d m i n o r i t y c o m m u n i t i e s , A t t h e t i n e

o f f o r m a t i o n o f t h e AIGL, A s s a m h a d a s l s e a b l e p o r t i o n o f t h e

G a r k h a p o p u l a t i o n i n I n d i a . T h e m a i n s o u r c e s o f l i v e l i h o o d o f

t h e G o r k h a s i n A s s a m m e r e , a n d s t i l l a r e , a g r i c u l t u r a l a n d

c a t t l e f a r m i n g , a n d t h e y w e r e v e r y b a c k w a r d e d u c a t i o n a l l y .

V i t h i n a y e a r o f t h e f o r m a t i o n o f t h e AZBL, i t s p r e s i d e n t

D a s b a r s l n g h G u r u n g t o u r e d t h e P r o v i n c e e x t e n s i v e l y a n d h a d

d i s c u s s i o n s w i t h p r o m i n e n t p o l i t i c a l l e a d e r s a n d t h e G o v e r n o r

r e g a r d i n g t h e p r o b l e m s o f t h e G o r k h a s i n A s s a m a n d u r g e d t h e n

t o f i n d a p p r o p r i a t e s o l u t i o n s t o t h e m . T h i s w a s t h e b e g i n n i n g

o f t h e A l l I n d i a G o r k h a l e a g u e a c t i v i t i e s i n A s s a m . I n i t i a l l y

t h e l e a g u e c o u l d b e t t e r b e c a l l e d a s o c i a l a n d c u l t u r a l o r g a n i ­

s a t i o n r a t h e r t h a n a p o l i t i c a l o n e . T h e l e a g u e d e c l a r e d i t s

a i m s t o b e t h e u p l i f t s e n t o f t h e G o r k h a s i n A s s n s o c i a l l y ,

c u l t u r a l l y a n d e d u c a t i o n a l l y . W i t h t h e e f f o r t s o f t h e l e a g u e

s c h o o l s a n d l i b r a r i e s w e r e e s t a b l i s h e d f a r t h e G o r k h a c h i l d r e n ,

b o d e s a n d a a g a s l n e s w e r e p u b l i s h e d a n d o t h e r o r g a n i s a t i o n s

w e r e f o r m e d f o r t h e p r o m o t i o n o f G o r k h a m u s i c , a r t a n d d r a m a

qoi n t h e l a t e f o r t i e s a n d t h e f i f t i e s . T h e l e a g u e d i d o f

c o u r s e h a v e p o l i t i c a l a c t i v i t i e s a l s o , b u t t h e s e a c t i v i t i e s

w e r e c o n f i n e d t o t h o s e p n o b l e a s w h i c h d i r e c t l y c o n c e r n e d t h e

G o r k h a e o a m u n i t y .

EgitfaL&as fA n o t h e r a l l I n d i a p a r t y w h i c h m a d e i t s a p p a a r a n c a i n t h e

p o l i t i c a l s c e n e o f A s s a a i n t h e f o r t i e s w e e t h e F o r w a r d B l o e ( F * ) .

66

The party tr ied to sake its presence fe l t through e lectora l competition after India attained independence, but i t fa iled to make any sign ificant impact on the State p o lit ic s . The origin o f the formation o f the Forward Bloc at the national level dates back to 1939 when an ideologica l clash erupted between Stfcfcam Chandra Bose and sons prominent Congress leaders including Mahatma Gandhi."^one o f the close associates o f Subhas Chandra Bose during the formative period o f the party were Amiya Math Bose, At indr a Math Bose and Humayun Kabir. By the end o f 1943 Subhas Chandra Bose and his XNA*s exploits became very popular in some parts o f the State, particularly in the Caohar d is tr ic t . On 27 November 1943 a IMA aeroplane airdropped pamphlets in Bengali, Hindi and Urdu in some parts o f the North Lushai H ills . The pamphlets contained description o f IMA a ctiv ities and pictures o f Subhas Chandra Boas in IMA uniform and Punjdoi soldiers marching towards the empltal Delhi. This had a tremen­dous impact on the people o f the neighbouring areas, particularly in the Cachar d is tr ic t . Attempts ware made to spread a network o f FB organizations in d ifferent a rea s .^ In April 1946, Mukundalal Sarkar, Secretary, A ll India Forward B loc, accompanied by Viswanath Dubey v is ited Lakhiapur d is tr ic t , held meetings at Dibrugarh, Tlneukla, Digbol, Margherita and Imdo in order to consolidate party a c t iv it ie s . At the time o f independence f lo ca l units o f the Forward Bloc wars farmed at Nagaon, Tespur, Guwahati and in Cachar, At the beginning the party 's head o ff ic e was located at Ouwahati, but later on i t was sh ifted to Nagaon, But the party could never grow in the State to become a p o lit ic a l force o f say sign ificance,

67

A few other Bengal baaed parties founded in the forties ■ade their occasional appearance in the Assembly elections in Assam* These sere the Bolshevik Party, RerCilutionary S ocia list Party (BSP) and S ocia list Unity Centre o f India(SUCI). Another Bengal based party, the Workers* Party o f India (WPI), formerly known as the Democratic Vanguard, founded in 1994, made its appearance in Assam in the early s ix t ie s , But these parties had very l i t t l e impact on the State*s p o lit ie s .

Ima&JLlxiL:

By 1979, the movement spearheaded by Jayf. Beth ash Narayan gathered fu l l strength against Indira Gandhi's government a Indira Gandhi's frantic e ffo rts to contain the agitation did not succeed. Then came the h istoric Allahabad High Court judgement invalidating her e lection to the Lok Safeha. All these prompted Indira Gandhi to choose the last weapon prescribed

in the Constitution to keep her power intact. On 25 June 1979, she took th is ultimate step under Article 392 o f the Constitution and declared internal Emergency throughout the country. Proclaim­ing Emergency was perhaps the most expensive p o lit ic a l blunder o f Indira Gandhi, Emergency lasted for eighteen months with a ll the leaders o f the movement behind the here. A ll o f a auddan, Mrs Gandhi relaxed Eaergenmy to a great axtant and announoed that the general elections would be held in March 1977. Under the compulsion o f the constitutional provisions she freed almost a l l the leaders o f the Opposition who ware put behind the bars. The Emergency aeted like e cata lytic agent in bringing

68

about meaningful and workable unity anong the Opposition parties. Immediately alter their release iron prisons the Opposition leaders sat together to prepare a strategic blueprint to light the elections with a strong deternination to defeat their opponent, the Congress.

Meanwhile, on 4 January 1976, the S ocia list leader N.G.Garay announced that the Congress(O), Jan Sangh, Bhartiya Lok Dal (BID) and the S ocia lis t Party had famed the Janata (People’ s) Front, to enable then to work unitedly in both houses o f the Parlianent. These parties which had been cooperating in the Parliament under the naae o f Janata Front since January 1976 began talks on their e lection strategy and a possible merger at Morarji Desai's residence in Delhi on 18 January 1977.Jays frakaah Bar ay an we loosed the Opposition mow# in a statement issued at Patna on the following day. He also said that he would associate himself with them only i f they united under one flag .At a press conference on 20 January Mererji Desai announced that the four parties would figh t the elections as one party, the Janata Party, with a common programme and with one flag and symbol, and after the elections these parties would form e single party. Morarji Desai said that the Janata Party would try to contest a l l the seats, and would cooperate with any ene who was ready to cooperate with i t on the basis o f principle

and fo r the cause o f democracy.

The Janata Party leaders announced at a press conference on 23 January that they had formed m national committee o f 27 members to conduct the e lection campaign with Morarji D»sal as

69

Chairman and the BLD leader Char an Singh aa tha flea-Chatman.

Addraaaing a press oonferenca Jay?, ffukash Narayan declaredi•The choice is nothing lass than between democracy and afascist type o f dictatorship. The ruling Congress which hasbeen guilty o f murdering democracy by putting thousands ofinnocent citizens behind the bars, should newer be elected to

9kpower again.*

The Janata Party launched its e lection campaign on 30 January with mass meetings in s ix major c it ie s attracting large crowds.

Following the a ll India pattern, in Assam too the Opposi­tion parties farmed the State unit o f the Janata Party. In Assam Opposition leaders imprisoned during Emergency were gradually released. Biswa Goswami, Golap B orb ora were the last persons to be released after 20 January 1977. They immediately assembled at Guwahati and toe*; the in itia tive in forming the State unit o f the Janata Party. Leadsra who ware outside or were released earlier made some preparatory work.9-5 The local party, Peopled Democratic Party (Jana Gana Tantrik Dal) also merged with i t in March 1977 Just before the general e lections. Tbs S ocia list leader Golap Barbara was the f i r s t President o f the Assam unit o f the Janata party and Biswa Goswami was thef ir s t General Secratary, The Janata Party did not fare well In

%the 1977 Lok Sakha e lection in the State. The party could manage to capture only three out o f fourteen seats while Congress captured ten leaving one to e candidate belonging to a

70

lo ca l party, the Plains Tribals Council o f Assaa (PTCA). But the 1978 Asseatoly elections returned Janata to power Baking Golsp B orb or a the f ir s t non-Congress Chief Minister o f the State. Zamedlately after becoaing the Chief Minister Barbara relinquished the presidentship o f the State unit o f the party. There were two aspirants for the o ff ic e o f the President - Gaurisankar Bhsttacharjee and Blswa Goswaai. An e lection was held and Bhattacharjee won the b a ttle . In a deaocratlc set up one has nothing to aqr against such an e lection . But fo r a party in its for native stage one has reasons to ponder c r it ica lly over i t . Bhattacharjee was basically a coanunist while Goeweai was a s o c ia lis t . One had reasons to suspact i f th is e lection was inevitable bacauaa o f the ideolog ica l difference between two top ranking laadars o f the party. The events that followed just i f lad this suspicion. The sharp Ideological and personal differences aaong the party leaders at the national level broke the party into pieces in the State as wall.

The President, Gaurisankar Bhattacharjee, noainsted five secretaries to the State unit o f the party. By 1978 several units o f the Janata Party sprang up at d ifferent rlaces o f the State.

After the Janata party cans to power in 1978, defections from the party took the ugliest fora . There were soae defections in the pre-Janata days also froa the Opposition to the ruling party, but those were aoatly outside the Aaseofely. Crippled by large scale defections o f party asabera to other parties, aainly

s

71

the Congress, the Janata rule did not survive for a fu ll five-year tern. For the f ir s t tine Ass an cane under the Presi­dent's rule on 12 Deceaber 1979, tint Asseably being kept in suspended animation. According to the Constitution o f India, the President's rule cannot be extended beyond one year. But i t could be extended provided two conditions were sa tis fied t ( l ) the State Assembly, which was in suspended animation, is dissolved, and (2) the Chief E lection Commissioner certifie s that new elections are not possib le. Both o f these conditions could have been met. But Indira Gandhi who returned to cower in the 1960 elections tr ied and succeeded in putting her oarty in power. In the 1978 Assembly e lection Congress(l) bagged only 8 seats out o f a to ta l o f 126 securing a meagre 8.91 n .c . of the votes polled . In the instant case in Assam, some 43 legislators defected to Congress(I) making i t the largest single group in the Assembly. Indira Gandhi picked up Anowera Taiaur as the Chief Minister o f Assam. Anowara Taimur took oath as the Chief Minister o f Assam on 6 December I960.

v^efore closing our discussion on the origins o f the a ll India parties in Assam, le t us have an overview of those oarties belonging to the three d istinct groups - Congress, S ocia list and Communist. According to the nature o f formation, the parties may be broadly divided into three categories, namely (1) orimary parties, (2) breakaway parties and (3) merger parties. We shall be using this categorisation in a somewhat technical sense.Let us elaborate a l i t t l e mare what we precisely mean by thia

Ii

categorisation. I f the formation o f a new party is not supported in any manner by any other existing party or parties and I f the founder nenibers o f the new party do not include a sizeable section o f dissidents or breakaway members o f any other existing party or parties, then the new party w ill be referred to as a primary party. Sometimes i t happens: that two or more parties are formed by a sp lit in an existing party because o f personal and/or ideological differences among the members. I f a new party so formed adopts a name different from that o f the original party, then the new party w ill be called e breakaway party. I f two or more parties merge together to form a new party with a name different from those o f the merging parties, then the new narty w ill be called a merger party.

There are instances whan a party changes its name and

adopts a new one. In such a case we do not say that a new oarfcy is formed. There are also instances when a party joins another party unconditionally sa crific in g its own iden tity . This is not a case o f formation o f a merger party. In such a case we simply say that the f ir s t party ceases to exist from the time o f joining the second party.

The number o f p o lit ic a l parties belonging to the fir s t category is much smaller than theft o f parties belonging to the second or the third category.

The nature o f formation o f the parties be longing to a certain group can be best described with the help o f la ttice

72

( 7 3 )

d i a g r a m s ( s ee d i a g r a m s (i), ( i i i ) , ( i i i ) ) .

(i) C o n g r e s s ( i i ) 5 o c i n ] i *31

( i i i ) C o m m u n i s t

RCP1(1942) CPI (1943)

>'

1964

1969

CPI(M)

1c p i (m l)

N o t e : The y e a r s m e n t i o n e d in t h e d i a g r a m s a r e t he > c ;m

f o r m a t i o n o f t he S t a t e u n i t s o f t h e r e s p e c t i v e i

74

The la t t ic e diagrams c lea rly depict the nature o f formation

o f these pa rties . Only four o f these parties may be ca lled

s t r ic t ly primary. These are the INC(1921), SP (1% 8), RCPK1942),

CPI(1943). The s o c ia lis t group seems to be the most unstable

group while the communist the most stab le . Even IN C (l) is

nothing but a breakaway party, Just lik e KMPP and IlfC(O).

In teresting ly the popularity o f a party does not defend on its

nature o f formation.

•J The Local Parties

The Assam Association was one o f the f i r s t lo c a l org n iza-

tions partic ipa tin g in p o l i t ic a l a c t iv it ie s in the en tire north

Eastern region. But th is Association along with i t s contempora­

r ie s could not s t r ic t ly be ca lled ’ p o l i t ic a l p a rtie s ’ . I t was

only from the twenties o f th is century that a number o f

organizations which could indeed be ca lled ’ p o l i t ic a l p a rtie s ’

sprang up in many parts o f the region , espec ia lly in the h i l l

areas. Some o f these pa rties , in Nagaland and Mizoram, grew up

under the patronage o f the administration. Meghalaya used to

send representatives to the Assam le g is la t iv e Assembly in the

fo r t ie s , and lo ca l p o lit ic s grew up almost independently. Since

independence the regional parties in the h i l l areas have been

posing a serious challenge to national p o l i t ic s . I t was these

reg iona l parties which had played a major ro le in the

reorganization o f Assam. But in the plains the pace o f growth

o f reg iona l p o lit ic s was much slower in the corresponding oeriod.

75

For the purposes o f our study, the lo c a l p a rtie s w il l be

d iv id ed in to four groups, and chronology w il l be maintained as

fa r as p ra ctica b le in each group t

(1 ) Local P arties o f present day Assam (upto 1980)

(2 ) Local P arties o f Nagaland (upto 1963)

(3 ) Local P arties o f Mizoram (upto 1972)

(4 ) Local P arties o f Meghalaya (upto 1972)

life r e c a l l that Nagaland ceased t o be a part o f Assam in 1963

while Meghalaya and Mizoram were separated from Assam in 1972.

Local P arties o f present dav Assam (upto 1980)

One o f the lo c a l p a rties o f undivided A3sara, which took

part in the P rov in c ia l Assembly e le c t io n s o f the fo r t ie s was

the Ahom Sabha. The o r ig in o f the Sabha dates back t o the li-st

decade o f the la s t century, although i t became a tru ly

p o l i t i c a l party only in the f o r t i e s . The Sabha was estab lish ed

in 1893 at Sibsagar by Padmanath Qohaln Baruah with some eminent

p e rso n a lit ie s l ik e Kannath Gohain Phukan, Padmeswar Gohain

Phukan, Hemadhar Borgohain and Krishnananda Gohain Phukan. They

f e l t the need o f such a Sabha fo r the u p l i f t o f the members o f

th e ir Ahom community who, in th e ir view , were in a ’ degraded 97p osition * . The c h ie f o b je ct iv e o f the Sabha was t o organize

the Ahoms in to a coherent and united community. Under the

secretarysh ip o f Padmanath Gohain Baruah the Sabha grew from

strength t o strength , and branches o f the Sabha were opened in

76

go■any parts o f Assail. In 1910 the Sabha changed Its name to Ahom Association and the loca l branches which t i l l then had functioned as independent units, were asked to follow the policy and programme as determined by the Working Committee of

the Association, From the very beginning the Association acted like a pressure group to exert pressure on the Government for gaining concessions for the Ahom community. But the conrolexion o f the Association gradually changed and by the forties i t acquired a ll the characteristics o f a p o lit ica l party under the leadership o f Surendranath Buragohain and i t fielded candidates in the by-election o f 1940 and in the general elections of 1946, but a ll o f them were defeated by the Congress. Buragohain Immediately realised that the Ahom Association had no p o lit ica l future, and that only a hroad based p o lit ic a l party representing d ifferent communities o f the Province had any chance o f defeating the Congress and capturing power. He came in contact with Muhammad Saadullah and P.M.Sarwan who represented the Muslims and the tea garden labourers o f the province, and they together formed the Sarbadal Sramlk Sabha£>&S)aBut'almost immediately after the formation o f the Sarbadal Sramik Sabha, Saadullah and Buragohain with their followers joined the Congress. Buragohain ju s t ifie d his join ing the Congress by saying that the Ahom community had no p o lit ic a l future unless i t joined the Congress. In fa c t , Buragohain entered into an agreement in this regard with the Congress as the leader o f the Ahom community and the Ahom Association. But a sizeable section o f the members o f the Association opposed the move o f their Presides* and they convened

77

a neating at Khowang in October 1951. The meeting, presided overby Durganath Gogol, was largely attended and i t discussed thesituation arising out o f Buragohaln and his followers* Joining

99the Congress . The meeting condemned the action taken by Bura-gohain. Meanwhile Buragohaln and some others from his camp weregiven nomination by the Congress for the ensuing f ir s t generalelections to be held in February - March 1952. In December 1951,Joy Chandra Gohain, the General Secretary o f the Ahom Association,published a le a fle t in which these leaders were cr it ic ise d . Thele a fle t further declared that the Ahom Association would be forthe u p lift me nt o f the Ahom community and for the mutual trustand understanding among the different tribes and castes of

100Assam . The Association, in the subsequent years lest itsp o lit ic a l character and rather remained as a socia l organizationwith l i t t l e activ ities o f significance. On the other hand,despite Buragohaln and Saadullah's ex it the Sarbadal £>ramikSabha somehow maintained its existence but i t became a ' leaky

101boat with no captain' . In 1966 i t was dissolved and in itsplace the Assam Labour Party was founded, but this too met with

102the same fate as that o f Sarbadal.

When the Indian Government announced to reorganize Assam on the basis of federal plan, some o f the younger leaders of the Ahom community fe lt the necessity o f reviving the Ahom Associa­tion for p o lit ica l and economic gains o f the Ahoms. As a result, a meeting was convened at Gargaon, one time capital o f the Ahom Kingdom, to revive the former Ahom Association. In July 1967 the Ahom Tai Rajya Paris had was formed at Guwahati and in October

78

the sane yea rf the Mongoloid National Front was formed at

Dibrugarh. In December 1967 a l l these three bodies merged in to

one, the Ahom Tai Mongoliya Rajya Parishad. Khagendra Nath -* ik ia

who became the C hief Ju stice o f the Assam High Court in July

1987 was the f i r s t President o f the Parishad and Siba Buragohain

i t s f i r s t General S ecretary . Some o f the other prominent members

o f the Parishad were Jogendra Nath Phukan, Devanand Konwar,10?

Janaki Handique and Chandra Arandhara . The Parishad demanded

a separate homeland fo r the Ahoms com prising severa l d is t r ic t s

o f Assam. This demand fo r a separate homeland was rather a

r e v iv a l o f s im ilar other demands ra ised at d iffe re n t times by the

members o f the community fo r the past 20 years or s o . But the

Parishad gradually re a lise d the lim ita tion s as regards popularity

and e ffe c t iv e n e ss o f a community-based p o l i t i c a l organ ization and

i t became s ce p t ica l about the a cce p ta b ility o f i t s various demands

Including a separate homeland fo r the Ahoms, The leaders f e l t the

need o f in s t i l l in g * u n iv e rsa lity 1 t o the organ ization by su itab ly

changing i t s aims and o b je c t iv e s t o make i t more acceptable t o

a l l section® o f the popu lation . As a r e s u lt , on 30 November 1970,

the Ahom Tai Mongoliya Rajya Parishad changed i t s name to Ujani

As&m Rajya Parishad(UARP) and i t was declared that "reg ion a l

economic resource p o te n tia l was the a n a ly tica l b a s is , but not

geography or population was ever the ba s is o f the party *10£t The

UARP took part in the 1972 Assembly e le c t io n in the State as

Independents, but did not win any s e a t . In 1978 Assembly e le c t io n s

the UARP made a llia n ce with the Janata Party and I ts P resident,

79

K.N.Saikia, contested as an alliance candidate fron Nazira, but

was defeated. Another UARP sponsored veteran Keshato Gogol gotnomination as a Janata candidate and was returned to the

109Assembly. ' During the time o f the Foreign Nationals Movement

which sta rted in 1979, the Perished d id not take up any agita­

t io n a l programme. But long back in 1967* the Parishad pointed

out th is problem and t r ie d t o create p u b lic opin ion in Upper

Assam against the m igration o f fore ign ers t o Assam10**. Sons

other socio-econom ic demands o f the Parishad were the formation

o f a separate Board o f Secondary Education fo r Upper Assam and

form ation o f a separate branch o f the High Court o f Assam and

the Revenue Board, establishm ent o f an o i l re fin e ry near the

o i l f i e ld s o f Upper Assam and the extension o f broad gauge

railw ay lin e up t o Dibrugarh.10^

Tribal p o lit ic s in Assam is at least half a oentury old and i t grew out o f the tr ib a l people 's feeling o f being exploited p o lit ica lly as well as so c ia lly . The various tr ib a l communities o f the State were never happy with the role o f the national partlaa in solving th eir problems, and thsy always had a feeling o f seclusion and deprivation. Andrew Clow, the Governor o f Assam from 1942 to 1946, summarised the causes for this feeling o f the triba ls as follows t The Assamese both caste Hindus and the Muslims professed solicitude for the tr ib es , but neither had troubled to study the question nor had any real sympathy with the tr ib es"108. This feeling o f seclusion and deprivation among these communities gradually took shape in the growth o f a number o f lo ca l organizations like the Kachari

80

Sanallan, the Koch-Rajbangshi Sanallanf Chutiya Sanmilan and tha Muttock Association. In itia lly each organisation worked independently and confined its a ctiv ities to the comaunity it claiaed to represent. Thereafter, in the th irties they joined hands and famed the A ll Assaa Tribal League.10 ̂ The formation o f the Tribal League was a step towards bringing a ll the aongoloid tribes and coaaunitles to a coaaon p o lit ic a l p latfora . The leaders realised that i f they remained divided, the communities would never be in a position to exert enough p o li­t i c a l pressure to convince the Government as well as the national parties o f their needs and aspirations. Their basic ala was to fight for the solution to the socio-economic problems o f the tr ib a l people. Goplnath Bardoloi's proposal for a 'protective systea o f tr ib a l b e lts ' to safeguard the interests of the tribals from the immigrants fin a lly earned him the co-operation o f theTribal League to his successful bid at toppling the S&adullah

110ministry in 1938 . They even participated in the formation o fthe Congress-coalition ministry sworn in on 20 September 1938. Goplnath Bordoloi proposed 'Joint electorate with reservation o f seats for the tr ib a ls ' and in itia ted discussion with the Tribal League. Rupnath Brahma, the President and Satishchandra Basumatarl, the General Secretary o f the Tribal League accepted the Congress o ffe r . Following the understanding, Bhimbar Deuri and Rupnath Brahma Joined the Congress Parliamentary Party in July 1946 and Deuri was later inducted into the Bordoloi Cabinet (September 1946 to 14 August 1947)111. After indeoendenee the tr ib a l people o f Assam supported, in general, the Congress

81

party and many o f thair leaders were elected to the Assam Legislative Asseably as Congress candidates and the League gradually went to the oblivion from the p o lit ic a l arena o f the State. But alter twenty years from independence the tr iba l people again fe lt the necessity o f reviving their p o lit ica l identity for various reasons, and as a result the Plains Tribal* Council o f Assam (PTCA) was formed in 1967, The PTCA leader B.K.Basumatari observed that while the tribals saerified their separate p o lit ic a l identity under various promises from their partners, the Government after independence fa iled to fu l f i l the promises to the triba ls and not only that, the tribal* were systematically deprived o f a ll benefits o f the modern age. According to Basumatari, th is led the tr ib a l people to have a p o lit ic a l forum o f their own, the Plains Tribal* Council of

119Assam‘S . The Council and the ea rlier League were on the same line with almost identical p o lic ies and programmes. The idea o f a new State within the present te r r ito r ia l boundaries of Assam he® been reiterated by the leaders o f the PTCA and some sort o f p o lit ica l move has been afoot in the name o f creation o f this State styled as Udayachal. The major argument adduced in support o f the demand fo r Udayachal is that under the existing arrangements the plains tribal* in the Brahmanutra valley are being socia lly and economically exploited and hence, a separate p o lit ic a l entity for the tribal* is the only solution . There are about 14 lakha o f plains tr iba ls concentrated in various area* o f the State. The tr ib a l leaders c r it ic is e the Government’ s ’ crafty delim itations' o f the Assembly and Lok

82

Sabha constituencies by ignoring the constitutional provision

fo r the triba la and they believe that this is an 'a r t fu l aethod'

o f strangulating p o lit ic a l voices o f the t r ib a la . They conn la in

that the huge amount of fund allocated by the Central government

fo r the upliftaent of the triba la is being m isutillsed, making

nontribals the re a l benefic iaries. They further complain that

though t r ib a l areas and blocks have been created bo protect the

t r ib a ls , at least 40 per cent o f such reserve land have been

systematically allotted to non-tribals and outsiders and that

the implementation o f the educational plans and projects in the

t r ib a l areas have been intentionally blockaded which makes the

tr ib a ls sceptical about the Government's sincerity in their m

upliftaent. These are some o f the causes the PTCa is

committed to figh t, and one can w e ll imagine the extent of

popularity i t can command from the t r ib a l people. In the Fifth

House o f the Assembly only one o f the 14 t r ib a l members

belonged to the PTCA while in the Sixth House there were as many

aa 22 t r ib a l members with four belonging to the PTCa . This gives

an idea of the marked p o lit ic a l awakening amongst the trib a ls

who are becoming mare and mare conscious o f their p o lit ic a l

and constitutional righ ts . It is worth noting that almost a l l

the p o lit ic a l parties o f Assam have, of la te , decided to a llo t

a proportionate number of Assembly seats to the t r ib a ls .11^

The late nineteen s ix ties saw the emergence o f another

lo ca l party which was basica lly d ifferent in character from

most of the e a r lie r loca l parties like the Ahoo Association,

the T riba l league, the Ahoa Tai Mongaliya Rajya Parishac, the

8}

Ujani Asom Rajya Paris had and the Plains Tribals Council ofAssam. While these parties were purely ethnic in character,the new party had no reliance at a l l on the ethnic parameterand i t professed "protection o f the interests o f a l l the

*111indigenous people o f Assaa. ' The formation o f this new partynamed Jana-ganatantrik Dal, Asom (in English, People’ s Democrat

liftt i c Party, Assam, abbreviated PEP) was formally declared in 1968 by a group o f Independent MLA s , prominent aaong them being Gaurisankar Bhattachar je e , Bhupen Hazarika, Akhil Randan Dasgtgjta, a trade union leader, Ramesh Chandra Baruah and Jogen Barman. BhattacharJee was the President, Hazarika and Dasgupta were the Vice-Presidents while Baruah was the Secretary and Barman was the Organizing Secretary o f the newly born oarty.The PEP believed that for emotional integration of the different sections o f the people liv in g in the State i t was most essential to create opportunities so that their languages and cultural could expand and flourish simultaneously. The PEP also advocated maximum employment for the loca l youths in a ll the industrial and business concerns in the State

A youth wing o f the party, which came to he known as Asom Jatiyatabadi Juvak Samaj, was born simultaneously.Although there was no formal link between the PEP and the Serna;}, these two organizations maintained close and intimate relation­ship between them with cooperation in fighting to safeguard the interests o f the indigenous people o f the State. The Asom Jatiyatabadi Juvak Samaj was committed to remaining non-oolitlca l

84

in character whereas the PEP was a regular p o lit ic a l party

with ambition o f fighting elections in the State. Rajani Kanta

Oas was the f i r s t President of the Saaaj while Harendra Nath

Saikia was its f i r s t Qeneral Secretary. The Samaj did not have

a formal Constitution u n til 1970* In 1970 a committee was

formed fa r preparing a draft Constitution with Qr.Upendra Nath

Das as the Chairman and Narendra Nath Saikia as the Secretary.

The other members of the committee were Rohit Saik ia , Haidar

Husain and Sidyadhar Subedar.

While preparing to take part in the 1972 Assembly

elections, the PDP had a serious difference with the Saaaj over

granting nomination to some of the candidates. Three PDP candi­

dates including Oaurisankar Bhattacharjee and Dulal Chandra

Baruah, who fought as Independents were returned to the Assembly

in 1972.

When the Emergency came in June 1975, the activ ities of

the PIP had to be drastically curtailed which pushed the party

to an almost dormant state . After about a decada of its exist#nee

the PEP merged with the Janata Party in March 1977. The SaaaJ

also followed the PEP by formally announcing its merger with

the Janata in June W77118.

Two other local parties that came into existence in the

late seventies were the Asom Jatlyatabadi Del (AJD) and the

Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad(P iP ). The Jatiyatabaoi Dal vas

formed in the la tte r h a lf of 1977 after the merger of Juvak

Samaj t ie Jana—ganatantrik Dal with the Janata. of the

85

founder members o f the AJD were erstwhile members o f the Saaaj and the Dal, who opposed the merger with Janata. Unlike the Juvak Sana;), the AJD was out and out a p o lit ica l party prepared to use a ll p o lit ica l means including e lect oral competition for the * protection o f the interests o f the sons o f the s o i l* . The theory o f the "sons o f the so il* even drove the party to disapprove the large scale entry o f Bahirwaata (outsiders) into the State in search o f Jobs and other mean o f livelihood . By and large the party could draw sympathy from the Assamese neoole.

Nibaran Bora, a former S ocia list was the founder Presidento f the Purbanchaliya Loka Parlshad which came into existencein 197®. The party was based on the premise that the nationalparties were unable to f u l f i l the 1 local* aspirations o f thepeople o f Assam. During the in it ia l phase o f the h istoric

119'fo re ign nationals movement* in the State the party became very popular. This was partly because o f its leader Nibaran Bora's almost extraordinary oratorical capacity and partly because of the party's catchy slogans like "throw out the foreigners from the mother land” . The PlP*s a ctiv ities and slogans completely overshadowed those o f the AJD.

The foreign nationals movement was spearheaded by the All Assam Students* Union ( AASU). At AASU*s instance and including i t A ll Assam Gana Sangram Psrishad (AAGSP) was formed with regional p o lit ica l parties like PIP and AJD, Asom Sahitya Sabha and a number of other organizations.

86

The eighties w i l l no doubt remain as the aoet fe te fu l

years in the p o lit ic a l history of Assam. The year 1985 saw the

eaergence of a broad based loca l party, the Asom Sana Perished

(AGP) . within a few months o f the signing of the Assaa Accord

on 15 August 1985. And within less than three months of its

formation, AGP became the ruling party in Assaa on the basis

of the aassive mandate received in the December 1985 general

elections. While AASU remained outside the AQP, it s cadres

worked heart and soul fo r the success of the AGP candidates.

AAGSP came to be dissolved and the PIP and AJD merged their

identity with the AGP. Opponents o f the AGP with party p o lit ic a l

a ffi lia t io n s are often found coopering i t with the Janata and

they are sceptical about the future prospects o f the party. It

is too prematura to give any defin ita opinion in th is regard,

but i t may be pointed out that no comparison could be drawn

between the Janata and the AGP in view o f the has ic d i f fere nee

between these two parties - the Janata is a merger party while

the AGP is basica lly a primary party.

Local Parties of Nagaland (upto 1963)

The State o f Magaland was carved out of Assam in 1963.

Before that Nagaland was known as the Mega H ills d is tric t cons­

titu tin g a part o f Assam. Our objective in th is section is to

study the lo ca l po lit ic s up to 1963 in this erstwhile

d istr ic t of undivided Assam. WS sh a ll, therefore, often re fe r

to Megaland mi the Mage H ills d is t r ic t . This d is tr ic t of Assaai

87

remained almost untouched by the wind of national p o lit ic s ,

except perhaps Rani Guidalu* s involve me at in the country’ s

freedom movement around 1930 in her own way. It was partly

because o f a ’ fierce pride amongst the Nag as to protect their

land, their forests and their way o f l i f e from interference by

the more sophisticated people of the plains and their overall120exploitation by an expanding economy which was a lien to them ".

This feeling was expressed in a memorandum submitted by the

members of an organization known as the Naga Club to the Simon

Commission. The memorandum demanded the exclusion of the Nagas

from the proposed reforms and their retention tinder direct

administration, to save them from being overwhelmed by the people

of the plains • This Naga Club consisting of lo ca l government

o ff ic ia ls and v illage headmen was formed in 1918 under o f f ic ia l

patronage. The details of the early activ ities of th is Club

are not availab le , but the memorandum submitted by the Club to

the Simon Commission in 1929 made i t clear that the Club had

acquired the characteristics o f a 'p o lit ic a l organization'

by that time. Thus the Naga Club might perhaps be ca lled the

f i r s t p o lit ic a l organization in the d istric t in the p re-indepen­

dence days. I t appears that in those days the p o lit ic a l

activ ities in this d is tric t were much more restricted than those

in the plains below. The acute backwardness of the d istric t

coupled with the 'r ig id ly exclusive administrative system' adopted

by the B ritish fen* this part of the land was mainly responsible

fo r th is .

88

The Naga Club which was formed to foster the welfare and

soc ia l aspirations of the Nagas caste to be replaced in 1946 byTOO

a new organization. In 1945, Charles Pawsey, the then

Deputy Commissioner of the d is tr ic t , brought into existenoe an

organization known as Naga H ills D istrict Council with some Naga125government O fficers . This Naga H ills D istrict Council changed

its name in 1946 and became Naga National Council(NNC) under124the leadership of the founder president Nayangnikcha Ao.

T.Sakharie was the f i r s t secretary of the MNC.12^. The NNC's

programme was to bring'^lhout unity and understanding among the

different tribes liv in g in the Naga H ills d is tr ic t . Though at

f i r s t the NNC was a socio-cu ltural organization, i t took no tias

to acquire a l l the characteristics of a p o lit ic a l party capable

of generating p o lit ic a l consciousness in the Naga people. The

NNC went to the extent o f conducting a p lebiscite in 1951 on the

p o lit ic a l status of the Nags H ills d istric t and i t boycotted

the general elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly and

to the D istrict Council.

The NIK'S demand fen* ' complete independence* for the

Nagas brought, in the m id -fift ie s t large scale violence and

bloodshed in the d is tr ic t . The NNC leader A.Z.Phizo with his

ardent followers took up arms fo r the fulfilment o f th e ir demand

fa r 'complete independence* and embarked upon an undeclared

war against the Indian Government. In March 1956 they even

declared the establishment of a 'Naga Federal Government*. The

Indian Government had no other alternative but to ban the NIC.

89

In the wake o f these happenings in the d is t r ic t , the libera lNaga leaders condenned the a ctiv ities o f Phiaso and his followersand sought to bring the con flic t to an early end and to achievea satisfactory solution through peaceful negotiations. &arly in

at1957* the Church leaders also cane out with a condemnation of violence and an appeal to Christian Magas to work for peace. As a result o f these e ffo rts three meetings o f the A ll Tribes Naga

Peoples Convention were held, one at Kohiaa in August 1957,

another at Ugma in May 1958 and the third at Mokokchung in October 1959. The basis for the future State o f Nagaland within the Indian Constitution was mooted in these meetings o f the Convention , and i t is this Convention which gave birth to 'l ib e r a l p o lit ic s ' in the d is tr ict with the formation of a p o lit ic a l party named the Nagaland Nationalist Organization (UNO). It was committed to adopt Constitutional methods for the satisfactory settlement o f the Naga problem. The NNO originated in the very f ir s t meeting o f the Convention at Kohima at the in itia tive o f Naga leaders like Dr.Imkongliba Ao, SMlu Ao, Hokishe Sema, R.C.Chitten Jamir, Thepfulo Nakhre Angami and John Basco Jasokie. The NNO was formed with the primary objective o f mitigating the untold sufferings o f the Naga people as a consequence o f the con flic t between the Indian Security Forces and the underground followers o f Phizo. It was also aimed at restoring peace in the Naga H ills and to advance the general welfare o f the Naga people. Above a ll the NNO proclaimed that

T o othe Naga H ills would remain an integral part o f India . ftien in 1963 the Naga H ills became Nagaland as a fu llfledged State

90

within the Indian te rr ito ry , i t was the NNO which controlled

the S tate 's administration vested in oil Interim Advisory

Council.

Local Parties in Mizoram (upto 1972)

Mizoram was known as the Lushai H ills d istric t t i l l its

separation from Assam in 1972. As in Nagaland here also local

p o lit ic s grew up under government patronage. It was the B ritish

who, in the last decade and a h a lf o f the ir administration,

started encouraging the Mizos to take greater interest in

administration and p o lit ic s . The B ritish c iv i l servant rtcGall,

the D istrict O fficer o f Lushai H ills during 1952-1943,

in itia ted a move for involving the loca l ru ling Chiefs in the

art o f administration. His successor Macdonald frequently

invited the representatives of the ru ling Chiefs and commoners

to Joint conferences, and under his in itia tive Mizo Common

People's Union was formed. Later i t changed its name to Mizo

Commoners Union and fin a lly on 9 April 1 9 4 6 , the party came

to be known as the Mizo Union. The la st change o f name was

necessitated to make the party a broad-based one offering

scope to accommodate Mizos from a l l walks of l i f e . The oarty

existed by this name t i l l its merger with the Congress in 1974.

Pachchunga and Vanlawma were the f i r s t President an;, the Mineral129Secretary of the party . From the very beginning the Mizo

Union took active part in current p o lit ic s . The party deb ted

at length the options open to the Mizos in the event of British

withdrawal from India. The Mizo Union immediately became popular

91

among the Mizo people, espec ia lly among the younger generation.

But a d iv is ion occurred in the party on the question o f

pa rtic ipa tion in the D is tr ic t Conference, constituted by

Macdonald with Mizo Chiefs and commoners with a view to deciding

the Constitutional status o f the Lushai H il ls . This led to a

s p l i t in the party and subsequently two wings, l e f t and r igh t,

emerged. The righ t wing was led by Pachchunga and Vanlawma, the

President and the General Secretary o f the Mizo Union. The

l e f t wing included rad ica ls lik e Khawtinkhuma and Saprawan/ra.

The basic d ifference between these two wings o f the party came

to the surface when the Bordoloi Sub-committee v is ite d Aiz \wl!

on 17 A pril 1947. The l e f t wing submitted a memorandum to + he

Sub-committee sta ting that the Mizo te r r ito ry should be a

part o f India fo r a period o f ten years a fter which they would

decide fo r themselves as to what they should do. But strange

though i t might seem i t was the r igh t wing which demanded 1*0independence, ^

The r igh t wing's re je c t io n o f the Mizo Union's decision

to Join India a fte r independence was supported by the Lais

(Mizo Chiefs) a lso. The r igh t wing dissidents o f the Mizo

Union and the Lais were ready to support any movement which

opposed the union o f the Mizo te r r ito r y with India. Meanwhile

Lai Biak Thanga, a hardliner in the r igh t wing o f the Mizo

Union, conceived the idea o f forming an independent State -

the Chin State - comprising the regions in India and Burma,

inhabited by the Mizos speaking the same language and

92

belonging to the same ethnic origin . On 20 July 1947, Lai

Biak Thanga founded the United Mizo Freedom Organisation (UMFO)

with the object o f forming the Chin S t a t e . B u t the progr amme

was soon to be given up in the chaqg&i situation and on 14

August the accredited leaders o f Mizo p o lit ic a l parties held

a meeting at Aizawl to accept the fa it accompli o f the Lusnai

H i l ls ' inclusion in independent India with the ten years 132stipulation .

The pace of soc ia l change reflected in the ascendancy of

the Mizo Union brought in it s tra in new tensions. A new

organization led by the Chin Chiefs (ca lled Chinzahs and Hlychos)

in the south-eastern part of the d istric t had the blessings of

the administration, and i t was ca lled the Pawi-Lakher Tribal *1 2 2

Union , and i t had a sim ilarity of outlook with the UMFO.

In the f i r s t general e lection in 1952, the Mizo Union

captured a l l the three seats allotted to the d istric t in As am

Legislative Assembly, On the other hand the UMFO drew a blank.

The Union also bagged the majority o f the seats in the d istrict134and v illage councils.

The UMFO could not attract much o f a following and on

2 October 1957 it merged with the Eastern India T riba l Union

( E H U ) ^ , a p o lit ic a l party of the Khasi-Jaintia and Goro H ills

which wanted to carve out a separate State within the Indian

Union. (That State came into being in 1972 with the name

Meghalaya. It did not of course include the Mizo D is tr ic t ).

On the other hand, the Mizo Union had also lo s t , to some

93

extent, its e a r lie r popularity before the 1957 general election

because of a r i f t in the party. The r i f t occurred because of

charges of malpratices in the distribution o f lease on urban

lands, leve lled against the Union after the abolition of

Chiefs hip in the d is tr ic t . ^ As a resu lt , the Mizo Union could

secure only two seats in the Assam Assenbly in the 1957 election,

conceding the third to an E.ITU - sponsored dissident. The Union

however retained its majority in the d istric t and v illage

councils.

In 195*^-1959 there was a serious famine in the d is tr ic t ,

aggravated by rodent pests. R e lie f was inadequate and there was

considerable mismanagement in making i t available to the

affected people. There was widespread hardship and discontent

among the people. To give vent to the ineffic ien t handling of

the situation by the authorities, disgruntled members from both

the p o lit ic a l parties formed the Mizo National Famine Front with

the primary Objective o f giving r e l ie f in a l l possible ways to the famine stricken people o f the d is tr ic t . That was in 1959.

But inevitfably, the Front acquired p o lit ic a l overtones.

Laldenga, an enployee of the d istric t council who had lost

his Job, played a prominent part in organizing the Mizo National

Famine Front.

As the Mizo Union, in association with the Indian National

Congress, was at the helm o f a ffa irs at the d istric t leve l, the

Mizo National Famine Front campaigned against the Mizo Union.

The Mizo Union la te r parted company with the Congress over

Assam*s language policy in I960, and the Mizo National Famine

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Front further strengthened its position and on 28 October 1961

changed its name to that of the Mizo National Frost (MW) with

the objective of establishing a 'Sovereign, Independent,137Grmater Mizoram', By this tine the fanise was also over.

The very thought of independence had an intoxicating e ffect on

the Mizo people and the MNF was quick to grasp the popular senti­

ment and thus it made independence its prinary goal. Meanwhile

the Mizo Union and the £2TU Joined the A ll Party H i l l Leaders

Conference (APHLC)138 which was barn in April I960 in order to

oppose the decision o f the ru ling Congress to declare Assamese

as the State language o f undivided Assan and to fight for the

format ion o f an Eastern Frontier State eonprisii*; the h i l l

areas o f Assam, Later, there was a schism in the Mizo Union

group, and an in fluen tia l section preferred a Mizo State within

the Indian Union. F inally in 1963, the Mizo Union broke with

the APHLC. The exact reasons of the Mizo Union's separation

from the APHLC were as follows I On 10 October 1962, the

APHLC decided not to resort to 'd irec t action' in view of the

Chinese aggression. The Mizo Union, a constituent unit o f the

APHLC, led by Ch. Chchunga rebelled against the APHLC on the

ground that the Chinese aggression was the best oddortunity to

extract concessions from the Government o f India. A delegation

of the APHLC led by Sangma v is ited Aizawl to nersuade the Mizo

Union to remain within the APHLC but to no ava il. The rea l

reason for the secession o f the Mizo Union from the APHLC was

that they did not like to be a part of the H i l l State and that

I

the H i l l S ta te , i f i t was formed, would be dominated by the

Khaais. They wanted t o have a S tate o f th e ir own and they did1 * 0

get one in 1972 along with Meghalaya.

An attempt to bring the Mizo Union and the Mizo National Front together was made at a conference held in Churachandpur in Manipur, in the second week o f January 1965. It was attended by different groups and parties o f the Kuki-Chin and Mizo tribes o f Assam, Manipur and Tripura1^0. Its decision was to

make a peaceful and united approach for a Mizo State w ithin the Indian Union. Representatives o f the Mizo Union and the iiizo

National Front also participated in i t . 1^

Despite the Churachandpur d e c is io n , the MNF continued t o

bring in arms and sent volunteers to erstwhile East Pakistan,

now Bangladesh, fo r tra in in g . The MNF pecpuited thousands o f

volunteers in January and February 1965 and openly s ta rted to

t r a in them. In October the same year the MNF submitted a

memorandum t o the Prime M inister o f India demanding f u l l142independence fo r the Mizo d i s t r i c t . In January 1966, Laimana,

one o f the se cre ta r ies o f the MNF, was shot down with a sten .gun

because i t i s a lleged , he d id not agree with some o f the141extrem ist ways o f the MNF . That was the s ig n a l fo r the open

r e v o lt o f the MNF, launched in March 1966, with the form ation

o f the clandestine "government o f sovereign , independent I'lizara*".

There were already large sca le v io len ce and terrorism in the

d i s t r i c t . The army was re q u is it io n e d and i t was compelled to

re so r t t o a ir boobing at severa l p laces o f the d i s t r i c t . The

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96

hard core o f tbs MNF retreated into the jungles and the deeo ▼allays after a governaent ban on the party on 6 March 1966 under the Defence o f India Rules. It was reminiscent o f those days in Nagaland in the aid f i f t ie s when the NMC under the leadership o f Phizo took, to arms. The ban on the MNF continued even after Mizoram was given the status o f a Union Territory in 1972 and was l i f te d only on 18 August 1 9 6 6 . But in the seventies and eighties the MNF had undergone such transformation that i t came to cower in Mizoram in 1966. This is another story which lie s outside the purview o f our study.

Two other loca l parties, though not o f much significance,

made their appearance in Mizo p o lit ic s before 1972. One was Mizo National Council founded in the early s ix ties by Vanlawama, a former leader o f the Mizo Union in its formative days. This party was also fo r an independent Mizoram, an ideology identical with that o f the more vigorous MNF. The party fa iled to gain popularity among the Mizo people, and i t slowly became inactive

Till*and gradually fizz led out. The other was the Mizo Democratic party farmed after the Mizo H ills D istrict Council elections held on 23 April 1970. The party had the aim o f joining the Mizo H ills D istrict with Meghalaya.*^ The decision to create a separate p o lit ic a l unit with the Mizo H ills D istrict made the party quite irrelevant in Mizo p o li t ic s .

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Local Parties o f Meghalaya (upto 1972)

Meghalaya, as i t stands today, is composed o f three geographical units, namely, the Khasi H ills , the Jaintia H ills and the Garo H ills , and the inhabitants o f these three units are known as the Khasis, the Jaintia* and the Oaros respectively. There appears to be a misapprehension among the people in other parts o f the country that a l l Meghslayafts are Khasis. The birth o f pseudo p o lit ica l and p o lit ic a l organizations in the State took place much earlier than in the other two h ills States of the region, Nagaland and Mizoram. Local p o lit ics in this State grew up an three d istinct lines, namely, Khasi p o lit ic s , Jaintia p o lit ic s and Garo p o lit ic s . There were o f course occasions when these three lines o f p o lit ic s intersected with one a not te r . The power o f the ethnic parameter in the growth o f lo ca l n o litics is perhaps nowhere so much manifest as i t is in this State.

Of the three geographical units comprising Meghalaya,

Jaintia H ills had the distinction o f being the f ir s t to give birth to an organization which later acquired the characteristics o f a p o lit ic a l party. It was around 1900 a.D. when tte Jaintia Durbar was established as a socio-cu ltural organization. But i t was not until 1923 that the Jaintia Durbar was actirised 83 a p o lit ic a l platform. In 1923 the Khasi National Durbar was brought into existence to look after tte interests o f tte Khasis, and tte formation o f tte Khasi National Durbar induced tte Jaintia leaders to mould the Jaintia Durbar as a p o lit ica l organization. Tte Durbar submitted a memorandum to tte Simon

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Commission demanding reforms to the H ills also. In 1947, it

demanded the rev iva l of the Sutnga State. The Durbar took cart

in the general elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly and

the Khasi Jaintia H ills D istrict Council. In 1997, the Durbar

became a component of the Eastern India T riba l Union.

The main aims o f the Khasi National Durbar were to bring

about unity among the Khasis, improve the system of administra-147tion in the Khasi States, safeguard the interests of the Khasis,

protect and preserve their well established customs and conven­

tions and fin a lly improve the economic condition of the Khasis.

The Khasi National Durbar formally case into being in a meeting

held on 4 September 1923, which had been convened by the Syiems

of My Ilium and Nogkhlaw States together with Rev. Nichols Roy

and Wilson Reads. The f i r s t President and the Secretary of the

party were Join Manik, the Sylem of Sohra, and Rev. Nichols Roy

respectively. The party la te r played an important role in

Meghalaya p o lit ic s , even a fter Ind ia 's independence, and it

played the pivotal ro le in bringing about unity of many of the

loca l parties in the farm of the Eastern India T riba l Union.

Chronologically the third p o lit ic a l party, in Maghalaya

was the Garo National Conference founded in the Garo H ills in

1943* But the process of formation o f a p o lit ic a l organization

started long ago in 1937 before which there was no p o lit ic a l

activity whatsoever in the Garo H i lls . The Garos fe lt the

necessity of a p o lit ic a l organization to organize public opinion

in the wake of the introduction o f 'Constitutional reforms' in

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1937* But th is idea o f forming a p o l i t ic a l organization did not

immediately m ateria lise. Then cane the second World War. The

Garo e l i t e Joined the Garo Carps formed fa r the Burma Front.

This brought an opportunity to the Garo e l i t e to meet frequently

and exchange ideas fre e ly and to prepare a blueprint o f the

foundation o f a p o l i t ic a l party. When the war ended, the Garo

e l i t e returned to th e ir homeland and tr ie d to convert the

blueprint in to a structure. The Garo National Conference was

founded in 1945 with a view to devising ways and means fo r the

promotion o f the welfare o f the Gar os and fo r safeguarding the

p o l i t ic a l , so c ia l and economic in terests o f the Caros and

preservation o f th e ir customs and culture.

The Garo National Conference was the most e f fe c t iv e

p o l i t ic a l party in the Garo H il ls . In 1956 the party broadened

i t s outlook by christening i t s e l f A l l Assam Garo National

Council. I t may be noted that the Kamrun and Goalpara D istricts

of Assam contained quite a large number o f Goto inhabitants.

But about a year la te r , in 1957, the A l l Assam Garo National

Council became a constituent o f the Eastern India T rib a l Union.

U n til 1945, lo c a l p o lit ic s in Meghalaya developed along

three d is tin ct lin e s , namely, Ja in tia p o l i t ic s , Khasi p o lit ic s

and Garo p o l it ic s . But in 1945, with the in it ia t iv e o f some

Khasi leaders, attempts were made to make these lin es converge.

The year 1945 saw the b irth o f two p o l i t ic a l organizations known

as the Khasl~Jalntia P o l i t ic a l Association and the Khasi-Jaintia

Federated State National Conference. The f i r s t was formed by

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Dr.H.Iyngdoh and the second by Rev. Nichols Roy, an erstwhile

Khasi National Durbar leaddr. Dr.lyngdoh's atteapt at *united

p o lit ic s * did not succeed, and his party gradually f iz z le d out

and disappeared from the scene a fte r i t s miserable defeat in

the 1946 elections to the Assan L eg is la tive Assembly. On the

other hand Rev. Nichols Roy's atteapt succeeded to a great

exten t. I t contested the D is tr ic t Council e lections in 1952 and

was able t o form the Executive Coonittee with the help o f the

INC.149 In 1957, i t also be case a constituent o f the £4TU.

In the la te fo r t ie s and ea rly f i f t i e s three other Khasi

parties made th e ir appearance in the p o l i t ic a l scene o f

Meghalaya. These were the Highlanders Union, the Khasi States

People's Union and the H ills Union. But these parties were too

sh ortlived and in e ffe c t iv e to warrant a fu lle r discussion.

Before the 1952 general e le c t io n , another Khasi Jaintia

Combined e f fo r t was made to fig h t the e lec tion s . A l l the candi­

dates o f the new party, the Khasi-Jaintia Durbar, were routed

in the e le c tion and the party disappeared.

The year 1957 is indeed very imoortant in the p o l i t ic a l

h istory o f the North-fast Region insofar as i t s ign a lled the

future pattern o f the reg ion aris ing out o f i t s fragmentation

in a b id to bring about in tegration . I t was in 1957 when the

f i r s t meeting o f the A l l Tribes Naga People 's Convention was

held in which the process fo r creation o f a senarate Nagaland

sta rted . I t was again in 1957 when a new p o l i t ic a l party known

as the Eastern India T r ib a l Union (EITU) emerged on the scene

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with the sole abjective o f fighting for the creation o f a separate h i l l State comprising present-day Meghalaya and Mizoraau The £2TU was sponsored by the Sy ie m-contr o lled Khasi National Durbar1^0, and its nation o f a separate State for the h i l l people instantly attracted aany o f the other parties to it s fo ld . Besides Khasi National Durbar, the Jaintla Durbar, the A ll Assam Garo National Council (formerly Garo National Conference), the Khasi-Jaintia Federated State National Conference and even the United Kizo Freedom Organization became constituents o f the EITU.The E.ITU was considered as a representative organization o f the h i l l people and their aspirations. The E.3TU fought the 1957 general e lection on the basis o f its H ill State demand and i t swept the p o lls . The situation that emerged led to the ex it o f the then Assaa Chief Minister, Bishnu Ram Medhl who was succeeded by Biaala Prasad Chaliha.

The late Govind Ballabh Pant, who was then the Union Home Minister, had to intervene to allay the misgivings o f the h il l people. He persuaded the KITU to jo in the Chaliha ministry by

placing the department o f Tribal Affairs under the charge of one

o f it s representatives. But th is arrangement was neither an

easy nor a happy one and Captain Williamson Sangaa (the E..CF J Minister in charge o f Tribal Affairs who later became Chief Minister o f Meghalaya) was confronted with indifference, non-cooperation and even h ostility from some o f his Cabinet colleagues, and the whole arrangement was contemptuously dubbdd as a State within a State. Stresses and strain* were created and in tensified , and the situation reached a climax when, in I960,

the State Government introduced a B il l in the Ass an Legislaturedeclaring Assamese as the sole o f f i c ia l language o f the State,

in the teeth o f united opposition from the H ills . Captain151Williamson Sangma and his E3TU associates J resigned from the

ministry and the h i l l people took this as the last straw that152broke the camel's back . Actually the problem started on

22 April I960, when the APCC (Assam Pradesh Congress Committee) took the decision that Assamese should be made the State Language. This decision was accepted by the Chief Minister Chaliha who declared that necessary leg is la tion in this regard would be introduced in the next session o f the Legislative Assembly.Captain Sangma immediately expressed his unhappiness to the Chief Minister on his decision. The Chief Minister advised Sangma to c a ll for a meeting o f a l l leaders o f the h i l l areas and find out their views on the matter. Sangma convened a conference o f the h i l l leaders at Tura on 28 April I960 under the Chairman­ship o f B.M.Pugh. The Conference unanimously resolved to o^-ose the o f f ic ia l language b i l l . It also resolved to form the All Party H ill Leaders* Conference - the APHLC, composed o f leaders o f a l l the p o lit ica l parties in the h i l ls , including the Congress and Swat antra Party branches In the H ill D istricts . The APHLC formally came into being in a meeting o f h i l l leaders on 6-7 July 1960 at Shillong and ultimately brought the union of almost a l l the different p o lit ic a l streams o f Meghalaya.

Under the leadership of the APHLC the H ill State movement gained further momentum, and this was once again re flected in the general e lection o f 1962, when 53 per cent of the valid votes

103

were secured by the APHLC. The APHLC again swept the polls in

the 1967 general e lection . This tine 63 per cent o f the votes polled went to the APHLC1^ .

The upsurge in favour o f a separate H ill State wee not the sudden reaction o f the h i l l people to the Assam Government’ s language p o licy . It was the fin a l point o f their gradual reaction to the p o lit ic s o f Assam, dominated as i t was by the Assamese- speaking people o f the Valley.

But the APHLC also could not bear the brunt o f internal dissension which is so common in Indian p o lit ic s . On 14 May 1968, the Union Home Minister announced the decision o f the Government o f India to create the Autonomous State o f Meghalaya within Assam. It was claimed that the leaders o f the APHLC accepted the plan unconditionally. Therefore the radicals in the party formed an Adhoc Committee with the purpose o f forming a parallel organization. Thereupon Hopingstone lyngdoh, the leader of the rebels was expelled from the party . He immediately joined the Adhoc Committee and took a leading part in the formation of a new party with himself as its president and Basalwmoit as the General Secretary. The new party came to be known as the H ill State People’ s Democratic Party (HSPBP).

The APHLC and the HSPflP were the main loca l parties in

Meghalaya when i t was formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister as a fu ll-fledged State on 21January 1972. After the formation o f Meghalaya, the APHLC became confined to Meghalaya. The

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gratitude for the Central Oovernaent fo r granting Statehood to

Meghalaya Bade a sectio n o f the APHLC leadership in clin ed towards

the Congress. The Garo National Council, which had not form ally

d issolved i t s e l f in the APHLC, a lso showed d is t in c t understanding

towards the Congress. But lack o f personal equation among the

Khasi leaders stood in the way o f Congress-JPHLC u n i t y . O n the

other hand the H ill State People*s Democratic Party remained as

the most e ffe c t iv e lo c a l Opposition group in the S ta te ,