Gopinath Bordoloi: The Man Who Kept Assam in India

In 1946 the Cabinet Mission drew a plan that tied Assam to Bengal. One man said no, and Assam stayed out of that group. That man was the premier of the province.

His name was Gopinath Bordoloi. Assam called him Lokpriya, loved by all. He was a lawyer, a Gandhian, and later a Bharat Ratna.

1Who was Gopinath Bordoloi?

Bordoloi was born on 6 June 1890 at Raha in Assam. He lost his mother when he was twelve. After matriculation in 1907 he joined Cotton College.

He then moved to Scottish Church College in Calcutta and graduated in 1911. He took an M.A. from Calcutta University in 1914. He studied law but came home without sitting the final exam.

He took a job as headmaster of a school. During that time he passed the law exam. In 1917 he began to practise in Guwahati.

• Born 6 June 1890 at Raha.
• Studied at Cotton College and Scottish Church College.
• M.A. from Calcutta, 1914.
• Began law practice in 1917.

2How did he rise in Assam politics?

Bordoloi joined Congress as a volunteer in 1921. That was the year Assam Congress began as a branch of the national party. He gave up law to join the Non-Cooperation Movement. Police arrested him in 1922 and he spent a year in jail.

He then returned to law. From 1930 to 1933 he stayed away from politics and did social work. He sat on the Guwahati Municipal Board. He also kept asking for a separate university and High Court for Assam.

In the 1936 election Congress won 38 seats. It chose to sit in opposition. Bordoloi became the leader of the opposition. When Muhammad Saadulla’s ministry resigned in September 1938, the Governor invited Bordoloi to govern. He took the oath on 21 September 1938.

• Joined Congress in 1921; jailed in 1922.
• Asked for a separate university and High Court.
• Led the opposition after the 1936 election.
• Became head of government on 21 September 1938.
• Read about the Non-Cooperation Movement.

His first ministry was short. He resigned in 1940 after Gandhi appealed to Congress ministries to quit over the war. Police arrested him in December 1940. Ill health led to an early release. He was freed again in 1944 after the Quit India years.

In 1946 Congress won 58 of the 108 seats in the Assam assembly. Bordoloi was chosen head of the government without a contest. It was the position he held until his death.

3Why did he fight the grouping plan?

The Cabinet Mission of 1946 met Congress and the Muslim League. Its plan placed provinces in three groups. Assam and Bengal fell in the third group. Bordoloi saw danger in that.

The reason was numbers. Bengal was far bigger. Assam’s representatives would be a minority inside the group. They could be outvoted on Assam’s own future.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee voted against the plan. Bordoloi told Congress leaders and the Viceroy that Assam would frame its own constitution. It would decide for itself whether to join a group. Accounts say Gandhi backed him and that mass action was planned.

• Plan put Assam and Bengal in one group.
• Assam’s members would be a minority.
• Bordoloi said Assam would decide for itself.
• Accounts add that Gandhi backed his stand.
• Read about the Cabinet Mission.

4What happened to Sylhet?

Sylhet was a Muslim-majority district of Assam. It bordered Bengal. In 1947 a referendum decided where it would go.

Accounts say the vote took place on 6 and 7 July 1947. Sylhet voted to join East Bengal, later East Pakistan. Congress workers alleged pressure during the vote. Treat those details as claims from partisan sources.

Assam lost a district, yet it stayed whole otherwise. After independence Bordoloi also worked to settle Hindu refugees who came into Assam from the east. That task burdened the province for years.

• Sylhet: Muslim-majority district of Assam.
• Referendum in July 1947, per accounts.
• Sylhet joined East Bengal.
• Bordoloi helped settle refugees afterwards.
• See the Mountbatten Plan.

5What did he build and leave behind?

Bordoloi chaired the Constituent Assembly’s sub-committee on the North-East Frontier tribal areas and the excluded areas of Assam. Its work led to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. That schedule shapes tribal self-rule in the North-East even now.

He had long asked for a university and a High Court for Assam. Gauhati University and the Assam High Court later came into being. Older accounts credit him with a hand in both, and in Assam Medical College as well.

The Governor, Jairamdas Daulatram, gave him the title Lokpriya. Bordoloi died on 5 August 1950 while still in office. He received the Bharat Ratna after death, in 1999.

• Chaired the sub-committee behind the Sixth Schedule.
• Pushed for Gauhati University and the Assam High Court.
• Title Lokpriya from Jairamdas Daulatram.
• Died 5 August 1950; Bharat Ratna, 1999.
• Read about the Sixth Schedule and Assam.

6What are the exam traps?

Keep the group, the committee and the year straight.

• The plan grouped Assam with Bengal, not Bihar.
• The group was Section C.
• His committee led to the Sixth Schedule.
• The Bharat Ratna came in 1999, after his death.
• Lokpriya means loved by all.
• See the Bharat Ratna.