Diganta Barooah
After the Treaty of Yandabu on 24th February, 1826, an Assamese named Gomdhar jumped into the first freedom movement. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 is known as the Indian Independence Struggle. On 24th February, 1826, a treaty was signed between the King of Burma and the British Commander-in-Chief. The treaty ended the most expensive war the British had ever completed. 15,000 British and Indian soldiers were killed in the Anglo-Burmese War. When they arrived at the village of Yandabu on the banks of the Iravati River, the Maans were forced to sign the treaty on the terms offered by the British forces and the Maans began to disappear. The British then went to war with Burma twice more and in 1885 annexed the whole of Burma. The freedom struggle of Assam can be divided into four phases from 1828 to 1942. Kankalta was a teenager at that time of Quit India Movement of 1942. On 8th August of that year, at a meeting in Bombay, Gandhiji announced the British proposal to leave India. As a result, on August 9, the British government arrested many prominent Congress leaders, including Gandhiji. There was a wave of agitation across the country. People of all religions participated extensively regardless of caste, religion or race in the historic Quit India Movement of 1942.
They stood up against the British. The British government arrested the leaders of the movement and all those who participated in that movement. Leaders and stalwarts of people in Assam also went to jail. Jyoti Prasad Agrawal took charge of the agitation in Tezpur at that time. Thousands of people joined. The British committed indescribable torture against the protesters and arrested them. At that time, the courts and police stations were the centers of political power. Therefore, it was decided to hoist the Congress flag at the court house and police station in Tezpur under the leadership of Jyoti Prasad Agrawal. A volunteer force was formed for this purpose. From that volunteer force, the Death Force, initiated with the mantra ‘Karim baa Marim’ (Do or Die) was formed. Eighteen-year-old Kanklalta Barua bravely joined the death force without anyone’s objection. She was the first member of the death squad. This movement took the form of a mass movement. After the British annexation of Assam as a result of the Treaty of Yandabu, the rebellion was launched by Gomdhar Konwar, Jiuram Dulia Barua, etc. of Assam to regain the lost independence. They tried unsuccessfully to capture the capital Rangpur from the British and were imprisoned by the British.
Then the rebellion led by Pioli Phukan and Jiuram Dulia resurfaced. So in 1830, Pioli Phukan and Jiuram Dulia Barua were hanged by the British Imperial Forces. In 1839, the Tsingfao revolted and destroyed an arsenal of British troops and killed several officers. The British suppressed it with harsh hands and hanged Maniram Dewan and Pioli Phukan in Jorhat. The British government increased land rents in an exploitative manner and launched a massive agitation in Assam. The uprising of Peasants in Assam was born in the year 1861 at Phulguri in Nagaon and in 1894 Peasant’s uprising happened at Patharughat in Darang district. There were Peasant uprisings in Rangia, Nalbari and Bajali and about 140 peasants were killed and many others were injured for life in the Police firings at Pathrughat in Darang district. 27 people were also killed and many injured in police firings during the peasant uprising in Rangia of Kamrup District.
It was during this period that the National Congress was formed in 1885 and Assam leaders too joined in the Congress. The peasants held meetings in various districts of Assam like Darang, Kamrup, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur etc. and protested against the injustices of the British for imposing high land revenue on the poor peasantry class of Assam. The trio of Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bardoloi, patriot Tarun Ram Phukan and Kuldhar Chaliha were the pillars of the Assam Congress at that time. Most of the Congress leaders of Assam spent most of the year of 1922 in jail along with Gandhiji and other leaders of the country. From 1922 onwards, the movement intensified. In 1930, the Congress and its volunteer force were formed. They were able to inspire the revolutionary consciousness of the people with their patriotic songs of Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agrawal and Ambikagiri Rai Choudhuri. From 1930 to 1934, the British government arrested and fined more than 2,000 people in Assam.
In August 1942, the Congress widely promoted the Quit India Movement under the ‘Karim baa Marim’ (Do or Die) ideal. They arrested Maulana Taibullah, Bishnuram Medhi, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Debeswar Sharma, Gopinath Bardoloi, Siddhi Nath Sharma and most of the Congress leaders. They took the movement to the streets. The victims were identified as 16-year-old teenager Kanklalta Barua and a young colleague Mukunda Kakati who were leading the procession while hoisting the tricolor flag at Gohpur police station in the undivided Darang district. On September 20 of the same year, more than 24 people were killed in police firings. Finally, on 15th of August 1947 – India gained its long cherished and much deserved independence under its own flag as per the Constitution. Today, on the 80th Independence Day, we are able to stand proudly under our national flag because of the sacrifices of our forefathers and the able leadership of the leaders of that bygone era of our beloved nation.
JAI HIND
VANDE MATARAM
(The Writer is an Assistant Development Officer, Transformation and Development Department Government of Assam, 7002699011)
