Inscribing the Migratory History of Tea Plantation Labours of Assam: A Journey from Ignorance to Experience

The tea garden labours of Assam have an absorbing history of their own. They were imported to Assam from various parts of Bengal, United Province, Central Province, Madras, etc. At the time when they were facing economic hardships in their day-to-day life, the agents of the tea planters of Assam visited those areas and tempted them with plenty of facilities and economic incentives. Believing the false promises of these dishonest agents, these innocent people decided to follow them to get relief from economic deprivation and reached Assam. Thus, the process of importation of labour into Assam started and gradually their number was increasing year by year. But as soon as they left their native place, they met with adversity and it was increasing day by day. On their way to Assam also, many of them died of various diseases and eventually when they arrived in Assam, they were subjected to inhumane conditions. No one was known to them and unhealthy food and unhygienic habitation added further misery. On many occasions, they were even physically assaulted which increased their mental instability. Despite this, they gradually adopted themselves in Assam and started to treat Assam as their land. Now, the tea garden labour community of Assam is a part and parcel of Assamese society and in politics also they have been performing a major role.

The anti-Partition and Swadeshi Movement in Assam

The anti-Partition and Swadeshi movement had its both national and provincial facets. While the partition of Bengal in 1905 provoked indignation throughout India, the provincial and in some cases the local issues also undoubtedly determined the nature and extent of the particular responses. The people of Bengal advocated for a united province while the people of Bihar and Orissa wanted separate provinces. Assam had special reason to be feared as it had now been added with the districts of Eastern Bengal. In 1874, when Assam was separated, it was expected that the separation of the province would give an opportunity to the Chief Commissioner to have a close supervision and he could adopt necessary steps for improving the backward condition of the province. But the people of Assam had the fear that by tagging the province once again with the much advanced districts of Bengal would nullify all the good that had been realized during the time of Chief Commissionership. The innate desire of the Assamese people living in the Brahmaputra Valley to preserve their distinct identity brought them to the anti-partition movement.

G.A. Naqvi: from Indian Police (UP), 1926 to Pakistani Citizen (Sindh), 1947

This is the story of how G. A. Naqvi (Indian Police, 1926) of the United Province (UP) was affected by the events of 1947–1948 in British and independent India and Pakistan and had to become what he did not wish to be: a private citizen in Pakistan. It shows how he, like so many others, had to become reconciled to the idea of British India breaking-up into independent India and Pakistan. This process changed forever the relationship between institutions of the Indian State and individual lives of Indian Muslims; the ‘long’ Partition of British India prompted new questions of legitimacy, citizenship and sovereignty, while producing “displacement, disruption and disappointment”. This was especially so in the so-called ‘Muslim-minority provinces’, among which the UP held the pre-eminent position and to which Naqvi belonged. After 21 ½ years of service, Naqvi found himself unwanted in both India and Pakistan, in a time of deepening communal divide, suspicion and hostility. A much sought-after officer during the Second World War, how was he to know that over 1947–1948, not one of the four governments to which he was and/or could be affiliated with would want to have anything to do with him.