187. Gopinath Bardoloi (1890-1950)

Gopinath Bordoloi (Assamese: গোপীনাথ বৰদলৈ; 1890–1950) was the first Prime Minister of undivided Assam before independence and later Chief Minister of the Indian state of Assam, and also a leading Indian independence activist. He was a follower of the Gandhian principle of non-violence as a political tool. Due to his unselfish dedication towards Assam and its people, the then Governor of Assam Jayram Das Doulatram conferred him with the title "Lokapriya" (loved by all).

Early life and education

Gopinath Bordoloi was born on 6 June 1890 at Raha. His father was Buddheswar Bordoloi and mother Praneswari Bordoloi. He lost his mother when he was only 12 years old. He got admitted in Cotton College after passing matriculation in 1907. He passed I.A. in 1st Div. In 1909 and took admission in the renowned Scottish Church College, Calcutta and graduated in 1911. He then passed M.A. from Calcutta University in 1914. He studied Law for three years but came back to Guwahati without sitting in the final examination. Then on request of Tarun Ram Phukan, he took up the temporary job as Headmaster of Sonaram High School. During that period, he sat and passed in the Law examination and started practising in 1917 in Guwahati.

Political life

Assam Association was the only political organisation of Assam in that period. Assam Congress was formed in 1922 as a branch of the Indian National Congress. Gopinath Bordoloi's political life started when he joined the Indian National Congress as a volunteer in that year. He actively participated in the fight for independence. He was arrested in 1922 due to active participation in the Non-co-operation movement and was put in jail for 1-year. When the movement was called off following Chauri Chaura incident, he went back to practising law. From 1930 to 1933 he kept himself away from political activity and got involved in various social works after becoming member of Guwahati Municipal Board and Local Board. In addition, he was constantly demanding a separate University and High Court for Assam.
In 1935 Government of India Act was articulated with a view to form British India. Congress decided to participate in the Regional Assembly election in 1936. They won 38 seats and became the party with majority in Assembly, but due to a dubious law meant to reduce the power of Ministers and the Cabinet, they decided to remain as opposition party instead of forming the government. Gopinath Bordoloi was elected as the leader of the opposition party. With the support of other parties apart from Congress Md. Sadulla formed the Cabinet of Ministers. Congress party was gaining people's support as the government remained unaware of the basic problems of Assam. Md. Sadulla Cabinet Ministers resigned in September,1938. Then the Governor invited Gopinath Bordoloi to form the government and accordingly they took oath in 21 September.
The reasons of Gopinath Bordoloi becoming Prime Minister of undivided Assam were his political prowess, superb personality, truthfulness and behaviour which attracted not only his colleagues but also people of various communities. Congress got recognition as a powerful political party in Assam by virtue of his ability and intelligence. His contributions as Chief Ministers were mainly to stop Land Tax, stop giving lands to migrant Muslims to secure the right of indigenous people etc.
The new government didn’t last long as World War II began in 1939. Gopinath Bordoloi's Cabinet resigned in 1940 following appeal by Mohandas K. Gandhi. He was arrested again in December 1940. However, he was released before completing one year in jail due to ill health. When Quit India movement was launched in August 1942, Congress party was declared outlawed and all leaders were arrested.
In the meantime Md. Sadulla formed the government with the promise to help British in World War II and indulged again in communial activities. Gopinath Bordoloi was released from jail in 1944 and he straightaway started opposing the government with the help of other leaders. Md. Sadulla offered him to discuss the matters. An agreement was reached which included immediate release of all political prisoners, removing the ban on procession or meeting, correcting the process of rehabilitation of migrant Muslims etc.
In July 1945, British announced their decision to form a new constitution for India after holding the central and regional election. Congress too participated in the election in 1946 and they became the major party in Assembly with 61 seats out of 108. They formed the Government and Gopinath Bordoloi was made Prime Minister unanimously.

Cabinet commission and Bordoloi's role

British Government formed a Cabinet Commission in 1946 to discuss the demands for Indian Independence. The members held meetings with Congress and Muslim League in Shimla and Delhi. Their plan included grouping of states into 3 categories for selecting the candidates to form the constitutional body with Assam and Bengal in third group. Gopinath Bordoloi sensed the ominous sign for Assam in the plan as the inclusion would mean the local representative will become minority in comparison to Bengal. That would be devastating for rights of people of Assam.
The Assam Pradesh Congress committee decided to go against the grouping plan. Gopinath Bordoloi told the Indian National Congress working committee, Cabinet committee and Viceroy that the representative of Assam will form the Constitution of Assam themselves and will decide whether to join the group or not among themselves. Subsequently, the Cabinet commission announced that the grouping will be mandatory for every state and they may later withdraw from the group if they want. This further complicated the situation. Bordoloi met the National Congress leaders to discuss it with no result. He then with Assam Congress Committee decided to start mass agitation in Assam. After that only the National Congress working committee advised them to pass a unanimous decision in Assembly. Later, the members of the Assembly suggested a working formula in which ten representative from Assam would form their own constitution without joining any group and would merge with national committee to form the Indian constitution.
Jawaharlal Nehru and Muslim League were ignorant enough to this grim situation and joined hands to implement the grouping plan. Gopinath Bordoloi requested Mohandas Gandhi for suggestion and the later advised him to continue opposing the grouping vehemently.
In 1947, Lord Mountbeten took over as new Viceroy. He held separate meeting with Muslim League, Congress and Mahatma Gandhi. They decided to go for Partition as a permanent solution instead of grouping. India and Pakistan became separate independent countries.
Thus Gopinath Bordoloi played a major role in securing the future of Assam which would have been included in East Pakistan otherwise. Whether any other leader could have shown the light other than him during that crisis period is in doubt.

Contribution as Chief Minister

After India's Independence, he worked closely with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to secure the sovereignty of Assam against China on the one hand and East Pakistan on the other. He also helped to organise the rehabilitation of millions of Hindu refugees who had fled East Pakistan due to widespread violence and intimidation in the aftermath of Partition. His work formed the basis for ensuring communal harmony, democracy and stability which effectively kept Assam secure and progressive right up to the 1971 war over East Pakistan's independence. He was instrumental in establishing Guwahati University, High Court of Assam, Assam Medical College, Assam Veterinary College etc. Gopinath Bordoloi was also a gifted writer. He wrote several books like Annasaktiyog, Shreeramachandra, Hajrat Mohammad, and Budhhadeb while in jail. For all his life he was a stern believer in Gandhian principles. He led a simple life in spite of being a Chief Minister. He died on 5 August 1950.

He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1999.