Mail Dacoity in Surma Valley

[11] UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: Mail Dacoity in Surma Valley

A series of mail robberies were Committed by the revolutionaries in the Sylhet district in the middle of 1933 and 1934. Initially, the revolutionaries planned to destroy the Government letter boxes. Therefore, incidents like the burning of letter boxes in two different places in Sylhet were committed by them.

The first case in Assam province of an attempt to burn the contents of a letter box was reported in the Habiganj sub-division of the Sylhet district in May 1932. A few days later another same case occurred in the Sylhet district, in the South Sylhet Sub-division. Later, the revolutionaries planned to loot the money contain inside the mail to perches arms and ammunition for their organizations. The absconding members of Dacca Sree Sangha were pioneers in mail robberies.

1933 “Chandpur” mail dacoity

A serious mail dacoity occurred in Sylhet on 12^th January 1933, by Binode Behari Bhattacharjee(an important and active member of the Maulavibazar Terrorist Organisation and a good motor driver and a custodian of funds of the party) with Anil Das alias Renu (leader of Dacca Sree Sangha, absconder), “Sukumar Nandi Mazumdar (leader of Dacca Sree Sangha, Absconding in Sylhet) ”  Satya Charan Ray alias Satyendra Ray (member of Dacca Sree Sangha) and Sreeprashad Upadhyayay alias Sreepath alias Jnan Pandey(leader of the Habiganj Revolutionary part). They used a car driven by Binode Behari Bhattacharjee, “armed with firearms, iron rods, etc”.    subsequently chloroformed, assaulted two mail runners in broad daylight about nine miles from Sylhet town at “Chandpur”   and got away with insured covers and cash amounting to Rs. 8,186 were taken away. The Government suspected that the dacoity was committed by an expert from Bengal assisted by Sylhet students who were able to supply the local knowledge. The Government had offered a reward of Rs. 1000 for information about the offenders. Binode Behari Bhattacharjee was given part of the booty by Anil Das, who took away the rest. A secret meeting was held after the Chandpur Mail Dacoity in purchasing arms and ammunition for the party, Welfare Association, Sylhet ( a branch of the Dacca Sree Sangha) establishing connecting with other terrorist groups in India and obtaining a motor car to be placed at Binode Behari Bhattacharjee’s disposal to train another recruit in motor driving.

Another serious mail dacoity took place in March 1933, near Itakhola railway station in Sylhet district in which one man was shot dead and several others were wounded with revolver shots, and Rs. 3000 were stolen. According to police reports the dacoity was committed by a group of revolutionaries from the Tippera district of Bengal. The terrified villagers lost their temper and caught three of the four dacoits. Biraj Mohan Deb alias Bagha, one of  them was also charged with an attempt to murder  a police informer in the Trippera district. After trial one of the accused was sentenced to death and three others to transpiration for life.

Another mail dacoity at Samshernagar was also committed on September  2^nd,  1933, on a railway platform in Sylhet district led by Ananga Mohan Bhattachrjee (member of Sylhet Terrorist Organisation) who was a custodian of arms and ammunitions of the party. Binod Behari Bhattacharjee and  Barada Charan Bhattacharjee also took part in the dacoity. The property was stolen Rs.2, 347-8. The party made more attempts at dacoity in Sylhet district during 1934, which, however, did not materialize. The government did not succeed in capturing any dacoits. Binode Behari Bhattacharjee, Debesh Kamal Bhattacharjee, Krishnamoy Bhattacharjee were arrested but discharged for lack of evidence.

A secret meeting of terrorist leaders was held in Brajendra Nath Arjun’s, (Secretary of the Tarun Sangha), house, and it was decided to stage mail robberies on the Maulavibazaar-Rajnagar and Maulavibazar –Srimangal lines. To materialize their plan the terrorists, committed a mail dacoity on 5^th December 1933.  The runner carrying the mail from Ajmiriganj to Habiganj in Sylhet district was attacked by Bhadralog youths who carried away the bags and abstracted insured covered, valued Rs. 7,680. The Government suspected the post and telegraph office may be connected with the dacoity.

 The leader of the  Habiganj revolutionary organization, Satya Charan Ray alias Satyendra Ray staged the Paikpara(Sylhet)  Mail dacoity with the help of Sanat Dutta (Jugantar  leader) . He formed a gang at Habiganj with Ramesh Dutta Chaudhury, Gunendra Mitra and others for the dacoity. Besides Sanat Datta he had also closed touch with Uma Sankar Petua (a leader of  Silchar revolutionary party and Tinsukia Mail dacoity approver). He was armed with five chambered revolver at that time.  According to Government reports, the rifle used in the Tinsukia Mail dacoity was actually procured by Satyendra Ray and sent Sylhet for the use of the party. In the course of inquiry of the Tinsukia Mail dacoity case, it transpired that a gun (not rifle ) which was used by the dacoits and seized by the police was from the custody of Kumar Karan Kishor Deb Barman alias Karna Kanta of Agartala, in whose house Satyendra Ray lived for the sometime before the dacoity. Umednagar Mail robbery was  also committed by  Satyendra Ray with Gopendra Ray on  20^th Marchred-handed, 1934,  robbed cash and postal articles worth rupees 9,595/- from the mail runners on the Ujmirganj – Habiganj road. Satyendra Ray was caught by red-handed with a loaded pistol and cash money worth rupees 6,785. An attempt was made to rescue him from the Habiganj Jail by Sree Prashad Upadhyaa with three activists from Bengal.  Police received the information and  Satyendra Ray and other terrorist prisoners were transferred to the Sylhet Jail in May 1934. But even after then the mail dacoity continued.   

In Ajmiriganj-Habiganj rout there was third mail dacoity within a year in September 1934. The other two were in December 1933 and March 1934.

  An abortive mail dacoity was committed at Halitola of  Sylhet district on 31^st May  1935, by Pradyumna Kr.  Nag,  and Paresh Chandra Chaterjee of “Habiganj Terrorist Party (both) armed with weapons”  were arrested and convicted under section 393/398 I.P.C., and sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment. 

(Source: Assam State Government Archive)

Formation of GoalparaTarun Sangha, the First secret society in Assam

 

UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: Formation of Goalpara Tarun Sangha, the First secret society in Assam

As a result of the suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement, a revolutionary organization Tarun Sangha was formed in Goalpara in between 1923-24. The sole organizer of the Sangha was Khagendranath Nath. He organized the Tarunsangha with the help of Hiranya Kumar Basu of Dhubri, who was an active member of Bengal Anushilan Samiti, Pulakesh De (Dhubri), Pratul Ganguli and P.C. Chakravarty,  the famous revolutionary leader of Kumilla. Initially, Lathi and dagger play were practiced in the Sangha.  Later they appointed Biswanath Bhadury an expert in lathi and dagger ply from Faridpur to train the members of the sangha. Besides these, the members of the Tarunsanghawere are bound to read biographies of famous revolutionaries, preferably on the description of Bengal revolutionary activities. At that revolutionary related books were declared as proscribed by the government. The members of the Tarunsangha were always ready to do anti-government activities so they preferred those proscribed books as their study materials.¹  

The formation of Tarunsangha opened a new age in Goalpara. Youths from various places came to join the Sangha. The door of the Sangha was opened for all cast and creeds but in the case of membership, it depends on fitness. Moreover, the members were also not allowed to participate in every discussion and activity of the Sangha. There were two types of members- Ordinary members and Special members. The special members of the period were Kumar Rai, Mahabir Prashad Saha, Sudhinya Bush(Mantu), Anadi Charan Das of Southern bank of Brahmaputra, Umesh Chandra Das (village – Dahela), Rajani Kanta Das (village – Bahati, Sarat Chandra Rai (village – Tukura ), Mahaesh Chandra Das (Goalpara-Chandaria), Madhab Chandra  Das (Chandaria), Mathura Kanta Das (Chandaria), Harakanta Kalita (Goalpara town), Sachindra  Kumar Nath, Sailen Kumar Nath, Najimuddin Ahmed (Nayapara), Durga Prashad Rai, Sharat Chandra Das of Northern bank of Brahmaputra and Okhil Chandra Das(village -Piradhara ) etc.² The aim of the Tarun Sangha was to free India with armed revolution and not individual terrorism. To materialize their aims a good number of efficient members must be recruited. But it was very tough work for the organizers to find out a single competent member for the sangha. During that time, pictures and speeches of Jyanenjan Neogi’s Magic lantern created a great contribution for inspiration to the members of the Tarunsangha. Tarunsangha had good communication with the Anishilan Samiti of the Kumilla branch, that is why P.C.Chakravarty visited Goalpara in November 1926 and he administered the oath to Khagendranath Nath with blood signature of Nath’s chest in his notebook. From Goalpara he went to Guwahati to meet the other members of revolutionary organizations and from there by ship he back to Calcutta.³ The oath-taking system prevailed in the Bengal Anushilan Samiti from the very beginning. Any person who wanted to engage in the same Samiti activity had first to take an oath secretly. Aurobindo gave the oath of his revolutionary party to P. Mittra. He also administered the oath to, Hemchandra Das, with a sword and the Gita in his hands. The person taking the oath had to promise in a solemn manner that he would try to secure the freedom of Mather India at any cost, and not to declare the secret of his society, to anyone outside.

The Anushilan Samiti laid down three types of vows preliminary, find, and special, in order to infuse revolutionary morality into the new members so they could bravely face any danger and maintain absolute secrecy. The final vow, particularly, contained six pledges in which the members promised to keep secret to affairs of the Samiti from persons who were not found by oath.⁴

It is significant to note in this connection that the pledge of the oath enjoined the penalty of death for the betrayal of the cause of revolution and also for confession of the secret of the movement. Narendranath Gossain who became the approver of the Alipur Bomb Case was murdered within the Alipur Jail on 31^st August, 1908.⁵   by Kanai and Satyen. By killing Narendranath Gossain,  Kanai and Satyen proved that betrayers had no place among the revolutionaries dedicated to the cause of the country⁶. In 1917, Reboti Nag a member of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti was assassinated by his associates for disciplinary reasons.⁷ The oath-taking custom of secret societies of Bengal was also adopted by the secret societies of Assam. After the incident of Narendra Gossain, the secrecy and alertness of  SEWA SANGHA the first secret society of Assam increased. The member of the Sangha took an oath in the name of their country and religion, not to disclose the name of the other members in any circumstances. Anyone not keeping to this oath will be murdered like Narendra Gossain.⁸ There was a meeting of the Tarun Sangha at 5pm on the 4^th of April 1930, in the Jublee Garden , Guahati, about 150 students and a few other persons attended.  The leading men among them were –

 1. Hem Chandra Barua, Pleader

2. SidhiNath Sharma, Pleader,

3. Bishnu Ram Medhi, Pleader,

4. Dehi Ram Deka, Pleader,

5. AmbikaGiriRaichoudhuri and

6. Nara Nath Sharma of Sibsagar .

Government could not received any objectionable report instead of the cries at the time of dissolved the meeting “ Desh Mata Ki Jai, Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. Thus, despite the non-violence movement at the time, many youths formed secret organizations with the plan to spread violence or terror and drive the British out of India.

References –

1.      Nath, Khagendranath, Swadhinata Sangramat Goalpara, Goalpara, 1971, Page -30).

2.      “  ( Page-30).

3.      “ ,( Page-31).

4.       Sen, S. N., The Bengalis ; The people their History and Culture, Page- 150)

5.       Choudhuri, K.C. History of Modern India, Calcutta, 1993, Page-378)

6.       Sen, S. N., ----Page- 150)

7.      Mor Jeevan Dhumuhar Esati, A.Raichoudhury) and

8.      ^{YEAR -1930, ASSAM POLICE ABSTRACT OF INTELLIGENCE , TARUN SANGHA, GAUHATI} .

Lone Terrorist action in the Brahmaputra Valley

[ 11 ] UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: Lone Terrorist action in the Brahmaputra Valley

Inspired by the First World War, the revolutionary groups of India, planned to achieve independence by arranging Armed National Uprising throughout India with the help of the Indian and German armies.  The plan progressed under the leadership of Rasbihehari Bose of Anusilan Samiti. Some of the members from the ‘center’ who returned from foreign countries also joined him. To materialize his plan a special group was sent to Germany for negotiation and to bring ships full of arms and ammunition from there. In India, all plans and programmes were conducted by grand revolutionary leader Jatindranath Mukhupadhyay. During that period, though revolutionary groups were organized in different places under different leaders, they helped each other plan to fight against the British Raj. The plan of arms uprising in India was almost completed under Rasbehari Bose and the revolutionaries were waiting eagerly for the arrival of the chips which were supposed to bring arms and ammunition from Germany.  21^st February 1915 was fixed for open arms uprising.  The members of all the revolutionary groups were waiting for zero-hour. Unexpectedly two days before the zero-hour,  the British Government came to know about the plan from Kripal Singh. To suppress the uprising, the British Government started brutal exploitation of the Indian Army as well as of the Revolutionaries. After the incident, the British Government passed the Defense of India Act, of 1915. In accordance with this law, British Government arrested hundreds of revolutionaries.  Without a warrant and trail, they were put in jail. Many Indian military men were deported and imprisoned and many of them were hanged. In such a situation it became very hard for the revolutionary groups to survive.  At this juncture, Rashbehari Bose collected a passport in the name of Pramathnath Thakur and went to Japan to organize revolutionaries abroad. The British Government announced 12,000/- rupees for his head, dead or alive.  On the other hand in India, some leaders of AnusilanSamiti went underground and ran the activities secretly.² “Jadu Gopal Mukharjee, a student of Medical College, Calcutta, with a price of Rs.20,000 over his head, he went “underground” and traveled extensively in Bengal, Assam, and Northern India organizing the party. He was in charge of the Jugantar Party’s foreign bureau and was actively associated, in the early years of World War First, with the party’s negotiations with Germany for arms supplies to help the revolutionary movement in India. He was a “two-gun” man who could easily shoot it out with the police holding a revolver in each hand.  He was a man of much daring and a skilled horseman and also an adept at disguise, using the minimum of makeup”.³ In March 1917, Jadu Gopal Mukharjee with the help of “Priya Kanta Mitra”⁴, visited a shelter of the party at Binnakutta, in Assam where KshitishChoudhuri, state prisoner and Nagnendra Chakravartti (interned) were residing. The three discussed the best route to china, and Jadu Gopal asked them to procure a map. A map was procured from a lower primary school at night and made over to Jadu Gopal, who compared it with an atlas that he had brought with him.  He ordered a tracing of the map to be made and then resolved to open out a route to china by establishing gradually shelters in that direction. KshitishChoudhuri was sent out to the prospect. He opened a shelter at Sarbhum, which is on the Bhutan border, and Nagnendra Chakravarti opened another at Churang, which is in Bhutan 20 miles over the border.  At both these places Modi shops were established. Four houses were purchased to enable the members to travel from one shelter to another, and they engaged in trading in rice and smuggling ganja. They made the acquaintance of several persons in the neighborhood of Churang, from whom they secured a revolver, two guns, and some daggers. These shelters were kept open for five months. In July they had to be given up owing to a split in the party and to lack of funds, and so the project of entering china in this way was abandoned.⁵                 

Beside the shelter of Binnakutta , there were other  two revolutionary den in Guwahati, one was  ‘The Eastern side of Guwahati Jail in Athgaon area’⁶ , and the other was in Fancy Bazar. Nalini Ghose , the notorious leader of AnusilanSamiti, escaped from “Dalanda” jail on 23^rd December 1916 and sought refuge in Athgaon. Along with him, Parbhas Lahiri (Later Congress Leader of Rajshahi, member of the executive committee of undivided Bengal, and Finance Minister of divided East Bengal), Mahendra Rai (Later accountant of Purbabharati) Amarendra Babu and  Prabhat Dasgupta(he also escaped from “Dalanda” jail) all took shelter in Athgaon.  Those who lived at Fanci Bazar den were Naren Banarjee alias Kartababu, renown martyr Nalini Bagsi, and Taraprasanna Dey. It is worth mentioning that at that time there was full of co-operation among the various revolutionary groups of India. That was why Amarendra Chantupadhyay (later a prominent Congress leader and Member of the Central Executive Committee) and Satis Chandra Chakravarty  of Ygantar Party ,  were welcomed in Athgaon shelter after the project failure of entering China.⁷

 Mahindra Rai was guarding the shelter on the night of 7^th January 1918. At about 2 A.M., he heard sound of heavy boots and then the knocking of the door. It was the police. He hurriedly went back to the shelter to informed his comrade about the arrival of the police. The members of the AnusilanSamiti  with their guns got ready to counter-attack the police. Nalini Ghose ordered his compatriots -  “Fall in”. “Fall in” means to fight till the last breath of one’s life and to present the last bullet for one’s own life, in case of arrest. Nalini Ghose  and Prabhas Lahiri took a position at either side of the door while the other four stood behind them.  Amarbabu asked Nalini if that would be better to surrender to the police, and accept arrest.  But NaliniGhose was adamant.  He refused to surrender and asked his comrade to fight to the death.  Amar Babu readily agreed and took the position to attack the police. The police officer once again knocked at the door and asked the activists to open the door. Nalini Ghose threatened the police that they would all be killed if they try to enter the shelter. And with that threat, he opened fire. The police force was not ready for the sudden attack. They retreated. At that instant, Amarbabu once again suggested that it might be better for them to escape for the time being. The activists agreed with him and changed their plan of attacking the police force.

After their escape, they planned Amarnath Babu’s safe exit from Gauhati. To execute this plan, revolutionary activists, Nalini Ghose, Prabhaslahiri, Manindra Rai, Marendra Banerjee, Prabudh Dasgupta, Nalini Bagsi and Taraprasanna De from both Athgaon and Fancy Bazar shelters met at Nabagraha hill on 9^th June (January?). However, before their plan could be materalised, the activists were surrounded by police from three sides on 9^th January. Nalini Ghose suggested that he would try to stop the police force from advancing while his associates should escape. But his comrades vehemently opposed this decision. However, Ghose insisted that they should all leave while they could and started shooting at the police. Naren Banerjee, Prabudh Dasgupta, Nalini Bagsi and Tara Prsanna De try to escape running along the bank of the lake with the police force close on their heels. Naren Banerjee was caught by the police after chasing him for about a kilometer. Taraprashanna De was arrested as he tried to advance toward the lake. He was shot in the belly. Manindra Rai was also hit by a bullet in the leg but he managed to escape. The next day, however on 10^th January, the police succeeded to arresting him from a cemetery, identifying  him from the bullet mark.  Prabhas Lahiri  was also wounded and  finally he was arrested at Kamaksha temple. Nalini Ghosewho  helped his associates to escape was lying  seriously wounded and unconscious at the foot of the Nabagraha hill.  He was also arrested. A 380-bore revolver was recovered from him. According to eyewitnesses, 30 police personnel were wounded in this whole operation⁸. But it was a grand success for the British Government. Five important revolutionaries were arrested. “They were tried by special commissions under the Defense of India Act in two separate cases. Nalini Ghosh had been sentenced to 7 years, imprisonment for attempted murder, Tara Prasanna De, Narendra Benerji , Manindra Ray and Prabash Lahiri to 3 years imprisonment each under the Arm Act.”⁹ Nabin Chandra Bordoloi was their pleader during the trail¹⁰.

References –

^{1.                  Arunudoi, 17 June, 3 Ra Ashar, 1383 Bangla., During the Freedom Movement of India a glorious national history  was produced at the heart of Gauhati.}

^{2.                  ( Arunudoi, 17 June, 3 Ra Ashar, 1383 Bangla., During the Freedom Movement of India a glorious national history  was produced at the heart of Gauhati. )}

^{3.                  (The Statesman, Friday, September 3, 1976. OBITUARY ,Dr. JadugopalMukharjee.)}

^{4.                  ,( HOME POLITICAL –B NO. 315 – 319 AUGUST 1919 WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE ( NATIONAL ARCHIEVE) P3, Memorandum dated simla, the 19thjuly 1919. )}

^{5.                  ( Page 139 and 140. HOME POLITICAL –B NO. 315 – 319 AUGUST 1919 WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE ( NATIONAL ARCHIEVE) P3; Memorandum dated simla, the 19thjuly 1919. (WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE, dated simla, the 7thjuly 1919 (Revolutionary conspiracy in india :  The following are extracts and summaries of reports received from the intelligence branch CID Bengal, for the weeks ending June 18th and 25th.)}                 

^{6.                  (Goswami, Indreswar, BharatarSwadhinataSangramarPrekshapatatAsamarSamajbadiAndoolanAruKeijanmanAklantaJujaru, Nagaon, 2009, P-40)}

^{7.         ( HOME POLITICAL –B NO. 315 – 319 AUGUST 1919 WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE ( NATIONAL ARCHIEVE) P3. Memorandum dated simla, the 19thjuly 1919. )}

^{8.                  HOME POLITICAL – B: Pro. No. 581 – 84, May 1918 :Weekly Report of Director Criminal Intelligence. (National Archive) P-1}

^{9.                  (HOME POLITICAL – B :NPS . 581 – 84, May 1918, Weekly Report of the Director of Central Intelligence Dated Simla, the 11th May, 1918 .)}

^{(Goswami, Indreswar, Bharatar Swadhinata Sangramar Prekshapatat Asamar  Samajbadi Andoolan Aru Keijanman Aklanta Jujaru, Nagaon, 2009, P-40)}

The Root of Secret Societies in Brahmaputra Valley

 

[11] UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: The Root of Secret Societies in Brahmaputra Valley

Introduction: The Swadeshi Movement was started in 1905 as an agitation against the partition of Bengal and it spread to other parts of the country including Assam. Like the Swadeshi Movement, the Underground Resistance Movement also started as the Swadeshi movement in Bengal and spread from Bengal to Assam along with other regions. The period from 1905 (Partition of Bengal) was known as the era of extremism in the Indian National Movement. The extremists or the aggressive nationalists believed that success could be achieved through terrorizations. Therefore the history of terrorism movement shows the very close connection between extremists of Bengal and extremist of Bengali parts of Assam(1). It’s found that there were already disturbing signs that pressure in Bengal had caused terrorists to turn their eyes to Assam primarily as a shelter from Bengal police and secondly as a suitable terrain in which to stage dacoities and other outrages to replenish their finances.(2) During the anti-partition movement in Bengal (1905-1911)  not less than five revolutionaries sprung up; of these Anushilan Samiti of Dacca and Suhrid Samiti of Maymansing extended their activities by establishing their branches in Assam(3).  Local newspapers published accounts in support of the Bengal Secret Committee and also about Bipin Chandra Pal, Surendra Nath Banerjee, and other secretly traveling agitators had gained a firm grasp on the mind of the Bengali youths. Samities were started all over the newly created province (Eastern Bengal and Assam) in 1907, with the exception of Sibsagar, Goalpara, and Garo Hills every district had its volunteer organization(4). The most significant among the youth organizations of both valleys was the Tarun Sangha. The other organisations of the valley were the Yubak Sangha, Sabuj Sangha, Chatra Sammilan, Bharati Balak Samiti, and branches of the Anushilan Smiti and Yugantar. Many of them had revolutionary affiliations and sympathies.

The Root of Secret Societies in Brahmaputra Valley-

Before 1905 There were no secret societies in Assam. According to a Government report “ In 1902 the organizers trained the youths as volunteers to assist in the general Movement(5). In Assam the first use mode of underground revolutionary society was formed, “ in connection with the boycott of foreign goods, preaching the Swadeshi cult and usurping of the duties of the police in maintaining law and order at fairs and festivals”(6). The Swadeshi and Boycott movement of Bengal and Sylhet did send its ripples to the Brahmaputra Valley. On 12 November 1905, a big meeting was held at Bogribari under the patronage of the local Zamindar , S. N. Singha Choudhury , the proprietor of Bengal Soap Factory to protest against the partition. The extremist challenge in the form of terrorism too found a few adherents in Lower Assam ”(7). 

In Assam, the volunteers as a regularly organized body first came into prominent notice in a disturbance at Sirajganj (Pabna District) on 15^th November 1905. A Society called “ Swadeshi Sevak Samiti” had been started and a volunteer corps was formed by the society consisting of students. The main weapon of offense was the lathi and volunteers received regular instruction in Lathi-Drill.“Many of the volunteers were students, schoolboys, and full-grown men of 23 or 24 who went from district to district with professional agitators during their tour. In the matter of acquiring arms, the volunteers did not make much pragmatic profession. They received a certain number of pistols and revolvers imported by post into Chandernagar.  This avenue had been closed to them by the French authorities. A Samiti at Faridpur had supplied them with arms of about 30 to 50. Their rules were modeled particularly on the rules of the Jesuits, and following the examples of Gokhle’s Society in Poona's “The Servant of India”.  In Chacher the number of volunteers was twenty (8).

During the anti-partition movement,  “terrorist organisations like the Anusilan Samiti of Bengal tried to organise the young men in Assam also for terrorist activities. Assam was at that time a newly created province. As such some Bengali officers were transferred to the towns of Assam. Some of their wards who came along with them were already a member of these organisations. (9) Under their efforts and the auspices (patronage) of P. Dhobi (Mymensing) Aswani Kr. Dutta (Barishal) & Ananda Roy (Dacca) branches of Samities were started in Assam(10). As police investigation increased in Bengal they found their way to Assam and tried to secure a hold there.  It was after such contact the voluntary organization Seva Sangh – under Ambika Giri Raichoudhury is said to have developed into a terrorist organization on the line of the Anusilan Samiti for which even personal contacts were made with some revolutionaries of Bengal(11)

Therefore in the field of the underground resistance movement in Brahmaputra Valley,  Ambika Giri Raichoudhury was the pioneer.  In 1904, Ambika Giri Raichoudhury, Pitamber Chakravarty, Balek Lahkar, Triguna Barua, Nidhiram Das, Bishnuram Medhi, Kumud Bora, Binanda Barua, Roktim Bora, Pushpa Uzir, Ganesh Brahma, Keshab Sen, Anukul Dasgupta, Dhiren Sen, and Dhireswar Battacharya have formed a voluntary organization  Seva Sangha to help the poor. In every Sunday they went to the steamer and railway station to carry the load for the passengers. What they earned from that work they deposited it to their cashier.  In the Seva Sangha Nidhiram Das was Captain-Secretary and Anand Lahiri, manager of Assam Trading Company was the Cashier, and Ambika Giri Raichoudhury the sole organizer of the Sangha(12).   When the Sangha developed into a secret society, “the member of the Sangha were used to have a regular drill and physical exercise including training in wrestling, jujutsu, lathi, sward, and dagger play besides swimming and riding.(13)In Bengal “ J.N. Banarji, an accused in the Alipur Case (little detail of Alipur conspiracy case) started the first school for the physical development of Bengal youths in Calcutta in the year 1902. Participant youths were thought riding & bicycling and Politics were discussed(14).  Later physical training became compulsory in all secret societies.  “The members of Seva Sangha were said to have collected arms and ammunitions to overawe the police and high officials of the Government including Bamfyld Fuller the lieutenant Governor of Eastern Bengal and Assam”.(15)Their first step against the British Raj was the destruction of the British recreational club at  Digahali Pukhuri  (Guwahati) which was known as “Ananda Bungalow”. The main reason which led them to the heart against the Bungalow was that when the native people passed through the southern path attached to the boundary of the Club during recreational hours, they suffered various humiliations.  So they burnt the Bungalow on a pitch-black night in the month of  “Magh” (January ) just a few days after the Magh Bihu. After the destruction of the Bungalow, the members of the Sangha considered as a major step against the British Raj. The local police had no clue about the arson(16). But in suspicion’ AmbikaGiri was under police vigilance at Barpeta during the year 1907 –15(17).’  But the activities of the Seva Sangha carried out their network secretly by deceiving the police. (GUHA,172-page).

After the formation of the anarchist party, the members of the Seva Sangha learned all the requisite destructive techniques from Barindra Ghose, Ullaskar Dutta, and Khudiram Basu(18).”  Under the supervision of Ambika Giri Raichoudhury, they even accepted Arabinda Ghose (few lines of introduction) as their political pathfinder and became very active in underground activities(19).  The second important event of Seva Sangha was when Ambika Giri Raichoudhury and his comrade Surendra Dasgupta tried to kill Bamfyld Fuller, the Lieutenant Governor of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1906. At that time Ambika Giri Raichoudhury was known as “Dighai Kalita. They planted dynamite on the road to Shillong about six kilometers away from Guwahati but the bomb was a blasted just after the passing of Fuller’s car on the spot.   After the incident, Dasgupta was caught and Raichoudhury managed to escape.  Though Dasgupta disclosed the names of the anarchist party before the police, but the police couldn’t trace out Ambika Giri Raichoudhury alias Dighai Kalita. A poor labour Dighai Kalita was arrested but later released.

 After the Seva Sangha the existence of Secret Society was founded in Goalpara where  Secret Society like Anushilan and Yugantar type was formed on the 5^th of May 1907, “15 boys of Dhubri High School, one of whom a Mohamedan and the rest Hindus are being tough “LathiKhel” for two hours from 4 to 5 p.m. in the premises of Dinanath Sarkar, a contractor. The teacher was Romoni Mohan Sen(20).

In Tezpur student and an Anushilan Samiti member, Shri Birendra Nath Mukherji son of late Sasanka Mohan Mukherji, Assistant Surgeon at Tezpur came after appearing at the Entrance Examination in 1909. He along with another boy who came from Rongpur organised a club for training Youngmen in the youth of lathi and sward. The training used to be given in a secluded spot outside the town(21).

 Like the branch of the AnusilanSamity formed at Tezpur, the Prabhat Samiti at Dibrugarh and Byayam Sangha in Kamrup district were seen engaging in training the underground workers in Bomb making and various forms of sabotage activities. At Dibrugarh, on 1^st June 1907, to attack  the British sentiment, British cemetery was desecrated and tombstones were broken and carried away(22).” Such kind of anti-British activities was carried on in all districts, where secret societies were present. Initially, these secret societies were formed like a youth club and ashramas like Arunachal Ashrama, Jagatshi Ashrama of Surma Valley. The most important ashramas of Brahmaputra valley was “ Shanti Ashrama of Sibsagar. It was not considered by the police as an important organization. Therefore the activities of its members were not watched by the police (23)”.

References:

1)        Home Poll, File No. 45/V/34-poll, K.W. 1935, NAI. 

2)        Home Poll, File No. 45/V/34-poll, K.W. 1935, NAI. 

3)        The comprehensive History of Assam, Vol.V, H.K.Barpujari,Guwahati 2004

4)       Home Poll, Deposit. 1909, 6^th November 1908

5)       Home Pol. Deposit, 1909, 6^th November 1908, From E.C. Ryland, Off.of D.I.G. Crime Rlys. & Rivers, E.B. & Assam, 6^th. November. 1908.  

6)      Home Pol. Deposit, 1909, 6^th November 1908, From E.C. Ryland, Off.of D.I.G. Crime Rlys. & Rivers, E.B. & Assam, 6^th. November. 1908.

7)       Amalendu Guha, Planter Raj to Swaraj, Page -79  

8)       Eastern Bengal and Assam Abstract of Intelligence (pp69) 15-12-06 to 15-0-07 , Home Pol. Deposit 1909.

9)     Year 1947., P.H.A.  File No. 142., Background of the History of Freedom Movement in Assam., Omeo Kumar Das, Education Minister dtd. 18/10/55.  

10)  Home Pol. Deposit, 1909, 6^th November 1908, From E.C. Ryland, Off.of D.I.G. Crime Rlys. & Rivers, E.B. & Assam, 6^th. November. 1908 ,

11)   Political History of Assam, Barpujari, H. K., Vol. I, Page 195

12)   Mor Jeevan Dhumuhar Esati, Ambika Giri Raichoudhury.Estate

13)  Political History of Assam, Barpujari, H,. K., page 195

14)  Home Pol. Deposit, 1909, 6^th November 1908, From E.C. Ryland, Off. of D.I.G. Crime Rlys. & Rivers, E.B. & Assam, 6^th. November. 1908

15)   Political History of Assam, Barpujari, H,. K., page 195

16)  Mor Jeevan Dhumuhar Esati, Ambika Giri Raichoudhury.

17)  Planters Raj to Swaraj , Guha, Poge -  80.

18)  Asom and Ambika Giri Raichoudhury, Asomiya Alusana Chakra, Assamese Department, Cotton College, April 1989, Guwahati, Name of Article) Ambika Giri Raichoudhurir JivanPanji, Md. Abubakkar Siddique”  page – 80).

19) Sananda Chaliha, “Raichoudhuriaru Teur Madhur Udmadana” Ambika Giriraichoudhury, Asom Prakashan Parishad, 1985, page 250-151) 

20)   Goalpara- 18/5/07 page- 53 (State Archive Assam)

21)  Year 1947., P.H.A.  File No. 142., Background of the History of Freedom Movement in Assam.,  Omeo Kumar Das, Education Minister dtd. 18/10/55)In May 1910 revolutionary party became wider in Sylhet. (Home political – A / No. 140-141 / May 1910

22)   Eastern Bengal and Assam Political Abstract of Intelligence (pp69) 15-12 06 to 15-0-07) Sylhet, Darrang, Lakhimpur, Eastern Bengal and Assam, Sibsagar, Kamrup and Cachar. 

23)  Government and politics in the North the East India, V.V. Rao. Page -20, 

Non-Cooperation Movement and Non-Plantation Labour Strike in Assam

 

[10] UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: Non-Cooperation Movement and Non-Plantation Labour Strike in Assam.

 Besides the tea garden workers of Assam in another field also a number of strikes took place. The Railway workers in the state struck work during 1920-21. But even before that, in 1918 an instance of a strike by the Assam Government Press Employees struck work.  The strike continued for 29 days and all the printing works of the Government came to a halt and all official publications had to be suspended. Important Government notifications like postings, transfers, and appointments of officials had to be communicated by wire as the State Gazatte could not be published¹.

The next strike was that of the workers of the Dibru-Sadia Railways. About 500 employees of the Dibru-Sadia Railway workshop at Dibrugarh struck work on the 21^st April 1922.²

The workers of the said railway struck work demanding a fifty percent increase of pay and also for entitlement of some allowances which the supervisors and the middle management cadre employees were.‘The strike continued until the 12^th May 1922’.³ The authorities were compelled to come to terms. The worker’s salary was increased by thirty to thirty-five percent; in the case of those receiving wages below rupees one hundred⁴. The workers of Assam- Bengal Railways and the Steamer Workers of East Bengal resorted to an indefinite strike to protest against the oppression of the British Government towards the plantation labourers of Chandpur in Assam in 1921. The railway workers had their grievances too. They unionized on 5^th May 1921, under the banner of “ The Assam Bengal Railway Workers’ Union” under the presidentship of Jatindra Mohan Sengupta. They tried to ventilate their grievances through this union to the authorities against inadequate pay, discrimination in leave rules, non-sanctioning for free passes, wrongful dismissal, and non-allotment of quarters to the Indian employees etc⁵. Hartal was observed in protest of  Gurkha outrage at Chandpur and in a number of places in East Bengal and Silchar and Sunamganj⁶. In Sylhet district, there was a strike at the Bhanga Saw Mills owing to the manager’s refusal to take back a dismissed man⁷.

Dibru-Sadia Railway Strike (1928) : The working of  Dibru-Sadia Railways’ who went on strike in 1920 and succeeded in getting their pay increased by thirty to thirty-five percent, again went on strike in 1928 demanding a wage increase About four hundred and thirty (430)  workers had been involved in the strike and the company had to concede to the worker's demands. The management ultimately declared a fifteen to twenty-five percent increase in the wages on different categories of labour and only then on the sixteenth day since its beginning, the workers called off the strikes⁸.

Assam Match Factory Workers’ Strike: The workers of the Assam Match Company- Dhubri went on strike in 1928. The Swedish-owned company had a working force of nearly five hundred heads⁹. The Company was making huge profits since its beginning but the workers were ill-paid. Not only that, as time rolled on wage reduction became a regular feature of the company's administration¹⁰. The worker of the factory had the support of local citizens. The Conference of the Goalpara Youth Association which was being held at Dhubri under the presidentship of Nripendra Chandra Banerjee at the same time, expressed its sympathy to the workers at the factory.¹¹  The case of match factory workers was also taken up by the local Congressmen and also the revolutionaries of Goalpara under the banner of social workers. The management of the factory was firmed in their stand and they did not yield to the workers’ pressure. The strike ultimately did not succeed. Fifteen men were discharged. Other workers were joined from 9 November evening¹². That fifteen discharged men were hired houses in the Dhubri Bazar and they shows their protest by hoisting a Swaraj flag and placards inscribed “Be men again” – “ Independence for India”. They were financially assisted by the daughter of Goalpara Zamindar¹³.

All the 350 workers of the match factory of Dhubry were again on a 57 days strike, in protest against retrenchment in 1935-36. The strike was led by Bipin Chandra Chakravarty of Bengal. The workers won this time almost all their demands¹⁴.

Again for the third time, Dhubri Match factory workers struck work on 14 December 1936. The strike was lasted for more than one year.  But the Swedish authority did not compromised with the worker's demands and the strike totally failed. A Board of Conciliation set up by the Government failed to achieve settlement¹⁵. Sayed Saadulla adopted one novel method of compromise to deal with the strike Committee was to make twenty of their activist special constables for maintaining peace.  Defected workers at the end of the year, December 1937,  drifted back to work¹⁶.  

Jorhat Police Strike: The Constable of Assam Police went on a strike at Jorhat in 1929. The strike attracted the serious attention of the British Government as never before had such a strike taken place in the police department in the province. The trouble started when some policemen numbering about twenty-two, physically assaulted some people in the Kengapatti area of Jorhat in the evening of 16^th August, 1929.¹⁷  A general strike was observed in Jorhat on 19^th August, protesting against the police action and demanding punishment for the constables involved in the incident. The Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police visited the place for on-the-spot enquiry.  Four constables were arrested and sent up for trial. This action led to discontent among the armed constables. They called a meeting on 22^nd August, where they decided for a strike against their authority.¹⁸   The Deputy Commissioner immediately called on the Assam Valley Light Horse for aid which took possession of the police line in the following morning ¹⁹. Ninety constables were dismissed from the service and other offenders were given departmental punishment.  The strike were dismissed and arrested.²⁰   Thus the first strike of armed police personnel in Assam came to an end.

 The period 1936 - 39 opened in an atmosphere of labour unrest in Assam. The Congress Socialist Party had been active in probing for grievances both among industrial labour in the oil fields collieries and tea gardens and among tenants of certain Zamindars. The idea of a no-rent campaign was abroad in connection with the local Board Elections, which returned a substantial number of Congressmen.²¹  The period also saw a way of strikes in the plantation, oil, match and other small industries as well as among the other wage-earning population of the state. These movements were clearly anti-imperialist orientation.²²   At the same Dibrugarh came into the limelight when a strike of the steamer ghat workers there was successfully led by Kedernath Goswami, Congressman at that time.²³  The labourers working in a Cotton Godown of a Marwari merchant at Dhubri, who had struck work demanding an increased rate of wages, resumed only when the merchant acceded to their demands.²⁴  

Strike and Lockout at Digboi.

The most  serious strike was organized by the 10,000 oil workers of Digboi in 1838-39.  They were mobilized byChowdhuryChowkha Singh of Jamsedpur, who came to Tinsukia( then in the Lakhimpur district) for the purpose of starting Labour Unions and foment strikes among the employees of the Assam Oil Company at Tinsukia and Digboi. A meeting was held on 25^th September 1929 at Tinsukia for the purpose.²⁵  The workers were also impressed by the speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru, delivered during the visit to labour areas of Upper Assam, including Digboi and Doom-Dooma in 1937, talk of capitalist exploitation with reference to the Assam Oil Company and the British Plantation Companies. Subhas Chandra Bush who was at that time with the strikers of  JamsedpurTinplat Company, Came to know the miserable condition of the labourers of Digboi Oil Company and sent Saw Karim and Swami Jitanada to Digboi to organize the Oil Company workers. The oil Company workers were agitated over the questions of law wages, the retrenchment and the non-recognition of Bunglow servants as company employees. On February 22, 1938, the workers held a general meeting and formed the AOC Labour Union, which was registered subsequently on August 7, 1938, under the Trade Union Act, of 1928. The workers under the leadership of Sudhindra Pramanik, a trade unionist from Bengal, formed a strike committee and submitted to the company a 14 days strike day along with a twelve-point charter of demands(Guha, pp 237-246). The heroic struggle that they launched against the company and the Government to get their demands fulfilled brought not only retrenchment or loss of jobs to many but even loss of lives of four workers Praneswar Choudhury, Saiten Chakraberty,  Chandi Ahir and Birbam Keot.²⁶

The struggle ended with triumph on the Government side, which in its prolonged and tireless endeavours to suppress the movement declared the Digboi – Tinsukia area a protected one under the Defense of India Rule, promulgated in Assam in 1939, and cancelled the registration of the Union on January 10, 1940, on technical grounds(Guha). The Digboi Oil workers  organization was so strong that it was only on 25^th May 1939,  that the company was able to resume production” .²⁷  

The Digboi Oil Company strike had a great impact all over Assam. Everywhere the workers, including the drivers and mechanics of Shillong and those serving under the Municipal Board, were forming their unions and striking workers for periods of varying lengths causing “a good deal of trouble” to the Authorities(Guha). The workers of Lidu tea garden came to Tinsukia with groups and protested against the stop of water supply by the Company. In these strikes, the brain persons were Kedar Nath Goswami, Binoy Chakravarty and Nilmani Borthakur.²⁸  

The outburst of the Second World War (1939) created some new problems for the labourers. The labourers became discontented with the hike in the price of the commodities and the increase in workload for the war. They also demanded extra payment for overtime work. Under the Indian Defense Act, many works leader were imprisoned. Many worker's leaders were punished for their participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement. The All India Trade Union also failed to accept a definite programme. During the period The Trade Union Congress played the same role as the Indian Communists.

This is how the people of Assam from both plantations and no plantation sectors rebelled or protested against the British in conjunction with the freedom struggle.

 

    References:

        

• 1     Guha, Amalendu, Planter-Raj to Swaraj, Freedom Struggle and Electoral Politics in Assam 1826-1947,  New Delhi, 1977, p-107) .

• 2.      Confidential, Demi-official no. 807-c. dated Shilllong, the 1st May 1922, From A.W. Botham, Esq., Chief Secretary to the Govt. of Assam. To TheHon’ble Mr. S.P.O’Donnel, CIE, I.C.S., Secretary to the Govt. of India, Home Department, Simla.

  3.      Confidential , Demi-official no. 807-c. dated Shilllong, the 1st May 1922, From A.W. Botham, Esq., Chief Secretary to the Govt. of Assam. To The Hon’ble Mr. S.P.O’Donnel, CIE, I.C.S., Secretary to the Govt. of India, Home Department, Simla p-36.

  4.       Assam Labour Enquiry Committee Report No. 2, PP 7-8.

  5.      Benerjee, Dipankar, Labour Movement in Assam, New Delhi, 2005, P-32 op. cit.  The Statement,  5 June , 1921  .

  6.      P. Saha, History of Working  Class  Movement in Bengal, New Delhi, 1978, p-48. 

  7.      Home Poll. File No. 18, Confidential, 1922,  P-12

  8.      Guha, Amalendu, Planter-Raj to Swaraj, Freedom Struggle and Electoral Politics in Assam 1826-1947, op. cit, p-188

  9.      Benerjee, Dipankar, Labour Movement in Assam, New Delhi, 2005, P-32 op. cit.Amrit Bazar Patrika ,  November 9, 1928  and  September 6, 1929. 

  10.   Assam Police Abstract Intelligence , File No – 106, February 1936.

  11.  Home Poll. File No-1,  Fortnightly Report for Second Half of November 1928.

  12.  Benerjee, Dipankar, Labour Movement in Assam, New Delhi, 2005, P-41 ,op. cit.Amrit Bazar Patrika, 14 November, 1928, p-6 .

  13.  Home Pol., File No-17, Poll.F.R.for the second half of November 1928.

  14.  Guha, Amalendu, Planter-Raj to Swaraj, Freedom Struggle and Electoral Politics in Assam 1826-1947,  New Delhi, 1977, P-189 .

  15.  Administrative Reports 1925 - 1926, File No. – 81, Year 1937-38

  16.  Guha, Amalendu, Planter-Raj to Swaraj, Freedom Struggle and Electoral Politics in Assam 1826-1947, op. cit, p-188

  17.  Benerjee, Dipankar, Labour Movement in Assam, New Delhi, 2005, P- 42 op. cit.Amrit Bazar Patrika, 1stSeptember , 1929,

  18.  Assamiya, Saturday, 24th August and 31st August, 1929) . 

  19.  Benerjee, Dipankar, Labour Movement in Assam, New Delhi, 2005, P-43 op. cit.Amrit Bazar Patrika, 1stSeptember , 1929, p-6 .

  20.  Assamiya, Saturday, 7th September, 1929, p-5 .

  21.  Report on the Administration of Assam for the year 1938-39

  22.  Benerjee, Dipankar, Labour Movement in Assam, New Delhi, 2005, P-50 .

  23.  Sarma, Golak Chandra, ShramikAndolanarDhara, Dibrugarh, 1990,  PP. -73.

  24.  Abstract of Inteligence, Assam police, File No. 18, year 1935, 1936 and 1938, State Archive, Guwahti.

  25.  Home Pol., File No-17, Poll. F.R.for the second half of September 1929.

  26.  P.H.A. File No. 171, Labour Movement in Assam , State Archive, Guwahati.

  27.  P.H.A. File No. 171, Labour Movement in Assam , State Archive, Guwahati.

  28.  Sarma, Golak Chandra, ShramikAndolanarDhara, Dibrugarh, 1990,  PP. -79.