Socio-Political Movements in North (A Sub-Himalayan Tract) Edited by Publish by Global Vision Publishing House Sukhbilas Barma

A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar

Dinesh Chandra Dakua

THE State continued its existence with great honour in eastern from the 15th century to mid 20th century for a period of more or less 500 years with dynasties more than one. During these long years, the Kings and their subjects used to live together and as they belonged to the same race, there was social relationships amongst them. Both the sides, the Kings and their subjects were Rajbanshis and even the Muslims by the name Nasya Seikh were converted Rajbanshis. Cooch Behar was an independent kingdom till 1774, when it became a part of princely India possessing a different status from the states of British India i.e. Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, , Madras, Bombay etc.

Cooch Behar—a Grand old Kingdom and its People The boundary of such a kingdom and later on princely state depended not on the language, culture or any such factor but on the military strength. It was mainly determined by the military victory or defeat. On the strength of its military power under the leadership of Naranarayan and

Dinesh Chandra Dakua: As an advocate he used to practise law in Mathabhanga Court, and joined the Left politics. 50 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal his great warrior brother Chila Rai, the then Kamrup was a great kingdom and a very big power in the plains of so called North Bengal and lower Assam. With on the north, Bhutan and Ahom on the east and Gour on the west, Kamrup used to have different boundaries at different points of time which got reduced to the state of Cooch Behar in 1774, more or less with the boundary of the present . The main dynasty in the name of Koch Rajbanshi which started with Biswa Singha sometime in 1510-1515, had its last king Bhup Bahadur, who surrendered his right to rule w.e.f 12th September, 1949 to the Dominion of India. As the was a part of the great kingdom Kamrup with vast territories under it, the residents of the entire region of Cooch Behar state and its surroundings, mostly Rajbanshis, used to consider Cooch Behar as the place of their own king and people and as such they used to keep close contact, physically and mentally, with Cooch Behar. It is interesting to mention that the people of the region though considered by the scholars as not belonging to the main stream , had and culture as their main cultural pursuit. Although the administration here was not a part of Bengal, it was virtually Bengal in its core. This is probably because of the attitude of the great kings of the dynasty starting from Biswa Singha, who as great devotee to Brahminism initiated Sanskritisation and Brahminisation from the 16th century itself.

Kshatriyas Movement In fact, the scholars like Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay are of the opinion that the Rajbanshis, i.e. the sanskritised Koch (mostly Mongoloids) left their Tibeto-Burman language and adopted Bengali as their language from the 7th century A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar 51 itself. This has led to the theory that Koch and Rajbanshi being of the same stock were one and the same caste. This is the theory, not accepted by the Rajbanshi educated class, which contributed to the generation of so many socio-political problems in this region. Here comes the issue of Kshatriiasation of this vast group of people under the Rajbanshi Kshatriya movement initiated by Harmohan Khajanchi and aptly taken over by Rai Saheb Panchanan Barma, the socio-economic political leader of North Bengal and pioneer of all reforms for the over all development of the Rajbanshi community. He formed Rajbanshi Kshatriya Samiti in 1910. Taking clues and quotes from the Hindu shatras, he obtained approval of the Brahmins to the claim that the Rajbanshis were degenerated Kshatriyas i.e. Bratya Kshatriyas. The Rajbanshis adopted sacred thread in a big conglomeration in 1913 (27th Magh of 1319 B.S.) and the Brahmins presided over the ceremony of sacred thread. Although not successful in returning the Rajbanshis as Bratya Kshatriyas in 1911 and 1921 census, the British administration admitted that Koch and Rajbanshis are separate castes and as such they were returned separately in the census. That is how Panchanan Barma ensured self assertion of the Rajbanshis during the period when the society was completely caste ridden. The Rajbanshis regained their self confidence, honour and prestige in the society. The organization was in a position to generate awareness, consciousness and raise aspirations amongst the Rajbanshis. Besides the Rajbanshis including the converted Muslims, the other main group of people (both Hindus and muslims), living in the area were the Bengalees hailing from Dacca, Mymensingh, Barisal etc. i.e. lower Bengal as termed by Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay, the country of ebb tide (Bhati Desh) 52 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal as commonly known in the area. This group of people hailing from Bhati Desh is commonly known as Bhatia, as opposed to Rajbanshis, who are commonly known as Deshi (indigenous). The local people were thus known as Deshi since they have no other country, while the Bhatias had their own places in Dacca, Mymensingh, Barisal districts, which they used to visit from time to time in connection with business and other professions. Through the Rajbanshi Kshatriya Samiti, Panchanan Barma was greatly successful in generating awareness amongst the community about education, health and economic pursuits i.e. the issues relating to social and economic development of the community. The period of the first two decades of 20th century was full of social activities of the Samiti when the entire North Bengal was absorbed with the idealism of Panchanan and the Kshatriya Samiti. It was not a simple affair of becoming a Kshatriya, but making the community fit to become Kshatriya was the main objective and with this end in view, he organized “Hari Basar” in villages where activities centered on the issues like food habits, manners and rituals, education and literacy, dignity of women and even the economic emancipation through loans from the Kshatriya Bank which was again a revolutionary step initiated by Panchanan Barma. He thus, dedicated his entire life to the emancipation of the Rajbanshi community. He had, at the same time, no quarrel or enmity with the other communities residing in the region. Rather he used to have common fellow feelings and sympathy towards all the communities and used to offer his helping hands for their emancipation too. Eradicating the degradation and inferiority complex from the Rajbanshi community and creating awareness amongst them was the motto of his life. He never thought of having A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar 53 separate identity from Bengali language and Bengal province. Rajbanshi dialect (folk language) was considered as the spoken language of the community by him. He used to write the reports, appeals, applications and resolutions of the Kshatriya Samiti in Bengali. Not only that, his literary pursuit was also in Bengali. His contribution to the history, anthropology, sociology, ethnology, literature and culture of North Bengal as the editor of Rangpur Sahitya Parishad Journal hardly needs any mention. In other words, asserting the identity of the community, as part of the greater society, and not thinking of alienating the community from the so called mainstream was his main objective and he succeeded to that end to a large extent. Subsequently, the Samiti was made a political organization on the strength of which Panchanan Barma himself and some of his followers won elections more than once. Upendra Nath Barman of was one of the important personalities who got elected in a number of elections as a candidate of the Kshatriya Samiti. One should recall that the great political call for driving away the British through “Quit India “ and other associated movements submerged all kinds of social, ethnic and political movements immediately before the independence i.e. during the 40’s. The same happened in case of the Kshatriya Samiti also. Death of Panchanan Barma in 1935 also contributed to the weakening of the Kshatriya Samiti activities. Upendra Nath Barman joined the Congress along with his followers mostly belonging to the Rajbanshi community.

Hitasadhani—a new Political Development Here it is worth mentioning that the political movements, for that matter any movement - social, economic or political were forbidden in the princely state of Cooch Behar. 54 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal

Naturally, while the entire region surrounding Cooch Behar state was pervaded by the activists of the Kshatriya Samiti movement, Independence movement, Tebhaga movement, Adhiar movement etc., Cooch Behar state was unaffected although the ripples of all such movements did have some access to the people of Cooch Behar including the Rajbanshis. A very important political development took place in 40’s. At the insistence of responsible governments in all the princely states of India, elections were held in most of them. Cooch Behar was no exception to this. Elections were held in Cooch Behar state, the first political event in the monarchy. Unfortunately, a strange kind of development took place in Cooch Behar in the context of the elections. The subjects of the state were divided into two groups—Deshi and Bhatia. The concept was introduced by a newly formed political party Hitasadhani Sabha—an organization of all the Deshi people i.e Rajbanshis (Hindus and Muslims) and other indigenous groups. One should note that though the King was from the indigenous people in Cooch Behar, the administration of the kingdom was fully under the high caste outsiders i.e the so called Bhatias and the indigenous people had no role there. When the election was declared in Cooch Behar, several Deshi leaders like Satish Chandra Singha Sarkar, Khan Choudhury Amanatullah, Gajendra Narayan Basunia, Ansaruddin Ahmad assembled the Deshi people under the banner of Hitasadhani Sabha, a party formed supposedly to look after the welfare and interests of Deshi people. They contested the election and won virtually all the seats of the Council. Two leaders from Hitasadhani Sabha –Satish Singha and Amanatullah Choudhury were included in the Council of Ministry and were given Education and Finance portfolios respectively. This development gave a major fillip to the A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar 55 feelings and spirit of the Rajbanshis and other indigenous groups of not only Cooch Behar but also the adjacent districts. The indigenous people who had no representation in the administration of the state so long, found two of their members seated in the Council of Ministry holding two very important portfolios and as such they got thoroughly elated and enthused. Even the common poor Rajbanshis forgot that it was these leaders of Hitasadhani sabha, the jotedars, big landholders and moneyed members of the society who were the virtual exploiters of the poor farmers and landless labourers. It is quite relevant that the activities of the left progressive political parties in Cooch Behar and as such the impact of their ideology amongst the farmers and other poor were very insignificant till then. The poor illiterate people were unaware of their rights and looked upon the god, king, jotedars, zaminders as the masters to control their fate. Hitasadhani Sabha leaders took full advantage of their illiteracy, ignorance and poverty. Moreover, they adopted every possible step and trick to charge people fully with the ethnic feelings and emotions. People were thus emotionally exploited and directed against the Bhatias. Hitasadhani leaders projected their preachings and activities in such manner as if they had taken over the unfinished job of Panchanan Barma for emancipation of the Rajbanshis. In fact, they succeeded in their mission to a large extent, although the success was short lived. These leaders were in power for very short period. Also they could not initiate any reformatory progressive measures for the economic and social development of the common Deshi people, who constituted more than 90% of the population. But the antagonism, ill-feeling and hatred generated amongst Deshi people against the Bhatias did not get removed and got carried over by the community for various reasons. 56 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal

Merger of Cooch Behar and its Effect on Deshi Psyche Cooch behar princely state was merged with Dominion India on 12th Sept. 1949 and subsequently made a district of w.e.f 1st Jan.1950. There were however, lot of pushes and pulls before the state got merged as the district of Cooch Behar. Lot of activities were carried on by the competing political parties and groups. Hitasadhani leaders wanted to retain Cooch Behar as a state (province) within the Union of India. Unable to convince the Union leaders, their opinions got divided. Some of the Muslim leaders wanted its merger with Pakistan. Assam leaders wanted that Cooch Behar should join Assam as its people had common ethnic affinity with those of lower Assam. The Muslim leaders sided with the Assamese opinion when they were sure of not getting merged with Pakistan. The Congress, the main political party in the scene, which was also the political party of the Rajbanshis-their leaders like Upendra Nath Barman, Satish Singha who had joined Congress by that time, Umesh Mandal and Rajbanshi jotedars and zaminders, was in favour of merger with West Bengal as Cooch Behar had intimate connection with Bengal and Bengali. At last, taking into account the developments and incidents happening in different parts of the country and in the adjacent areas, Sardar Patel and Nehru sided with the Congress and Dr. Bidhan Roy and decided to merge Cooch Behar with West Bengal as one of its districts. A so called independent state became a district, part of a state. Deshi people did not like and digest the idea. Particularly offended were the jotedars, zamindars, and intellectual class of the Rajbanshi community. The dignity and honour of Cooch Behar State and its people was considered to be lowered by converting it into a district, from the position of an independent state. A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar 57

The antagonism and ill feeling developed in the minds of Deshi people against the high caste Bengali gentry of North Bengal gradually got converted into the antagonism and ill feeling against the Bengalees in general and Bengali as a language. This attitude subsequently went beyond the boundaries of Cooch Behar and spread over entire North Bengal. Some of the Left parties extended their activities to Cooch Behar and its adjacent areas in the meantime. The poor Rajbanshi farmers and landless labourers found in them the saviour and took side with the left who had been advocating land reforms and other welfare measures for the peasantry. The section of the Rajbanshis with Hitosadhani attitude could not therefore retain the support of the farmers in spite of their best efforts to provoke them with the emotions and feelings of ethnicity. Majority of the peasantry left the Congress party and joined hands with the Left ones as they got benefits in terms of barga recording, allotment of vested land, allotment of house sites, etc. This continued for a decade or so. The reformatory measures undertaken by the Left Front Govt., which came in power in 1977 could not however satisfy them as the benefits available were much in short of the needs. The level of poverty, education, health and other socio-economic indicators were so low in this region at the time of independence that the steps taken by the Govt. proved insufficient and the discontentment among the Deshi people increased day by day. The influx of huge number of refugees i.e. Bhatias to North Bengal added to the trouble as they became unequal competitors of local people, in the matter of service, business and other socio-economic pursuits. The local people being mostly illiterate or semi-literate and having practically no connection with the higher ups, were not in a position to compete with the Bhatias. 58 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal

Rajbanshis are supposed to enjoy special facilities as Scheduled Caste. As a result of the influx of the refugees, they are now to compete with other Scheduled Caste communities like Jalia-Kaibartya, Nama-sudra, who are better equipped than the Rajbanshis. The jotedars and big landholders lost majority of their land because of ceiling laws. They were now to sell part of their retained lands for their livelihood. The lands were incidentally purchased by the Bhatias, who being uprooted from East Bengal, came to this part of the country with better financial capacity, better education, better capabilities in all respects than the locals. The financial support from the government for the refugees also helped them settling on the lands earlier belonging to the local landholders. All these incidents gave rise to the misconception that the Bhatias are responsible for the impoverishment of the localites i.e. the sons of the soil. Deshi farmers being used to traditional methods of cultivation, could not grow as much quantity of crops as the Bhatias who had better knowledge of improved methods of cultivation. Prices of land increased with the increase in productivity. The Deshi jotedars sold the lands to the Bhatia farmers, who offered higher prices than the locals. They engaged Bhatia adhiyars even by evicting the Deshi adhiyars in the hope of getting more crops. The Deshi farmers, not in a position to compete with the Bhatias became just onlookers to the holding of lands by the Bhatia farmers. The facilities created by the Left Front Govt., for the spread of education contributed to the growth of an educated and semi-educated class amongst Rajbanshis. Good number of boys and girls had secondary, higher secondary, graduation, even post graduation level education. The scope of employment for the educated however, shrank in the A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar 59 meantime. The only prospective field of employment in primary and high schools in the post of teachers also became inaccessible to locals because of tough competition from the Bhatias. The city and town bred boys and girls securing more marks because of better facilities available in town schools and colleges and even in private tuition/coaching centres, occupied most of the posts. All these added to the discontent among the local people, who blamed none but the Bhatias for their plight, and their despair and disappointment found expression through agitations. Agitated minds are the best source of emotion driven potentials, when no reasons cut ice.

Agitation under different names Hitasadhani sabha and later on Uttar Khanda Dal took full advantage of such conditions, and on the grounds of regionality fought for a separate state under the name of Uttar Khanda for the people of North Bengal in general, irrespective of caste, creed and religion. Whatever be their internal feelings and intentions, they had not claimed the separate state on the basis of any language, religion, caste or any community feeling. At least they did not declare such claims openly. The illustrious leaders of North Bengal like Rai Saheb Panchanan Barma, Upendranath Barman, Satis Singha Sarkar, and even Panchanan Mallik, Sampad Ray did not raise such demands as they knew that there was no theoretical or practical justification for it. Some of the leaders of later period came to the realisation from their experiences that they cannot separate North Bengal from West Bengal if they fail to exploit the people emotionally on the assumed grounds in relation to language, community and religion. The movements of AASU (All Assam Students Union) and ABSU (All Boro Students Union) in the adjacent area of Assam on the grounds of language 60 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal and community characteristics encouraged them. Even the limited success of Ghising in the hills had given them added encouragement. As such, they wanted to create a similar situation in North Bengal. Although Deshi people of North Bengal do not have a language separate from Bengali, as the Boros and Gorkhas have, these leaders did not hesitate to look for the same, and incidentally they found some intellectuals coming forward to help them in the mission. The intellectuals, none of them linguist, put forward the theory that the spoken language of the Deshi people of North Bengal, which has been named Rajbanshi or Kamrupi by the linguists, and which is called Deshi language by the locals, is not a dialect of Bengali, but a separate language itself, by the name Kamtapuri. Provoked by such theories being propounded by these intellectuals, a section of North Bengal youths, insisted on recording their language as Kamtapuri in 1981 census. The enumerators naturally declined to accede to such insistence which gave rise to disturbances at various places. Since however the theory did not gain much acceptability, disturbances were in limited places, and to the limited extent. The protagonists of the theory however, succeeded in forming an organisation by the name of AKSU (All Kamtapuri Students Union) with the declared objective of development and nourishment of language and culture. A substantial number of youths did join AKSU. Within a short span of time AKSU came up with the demand for a separate state Kamtapur on the grounds of the language of the Rajbanshis, Kamtapuri; the other grounds being issues of socio-economic development. It is worth mentioning that such demands for Uttarkhanda or Kamtapur was never raised till 1970s, when the Congress Party ruled the region. The Congress kept not A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar 61 only North Bengal, but other areas like the Sunderabns, Purulia, Bankura deprived of all developmental infrastructure in the matter of education, health, electricity, communications, etc. No demand for separate state was raised in spite of such ill development. But during the last three decades, when the Left Front Govt. has been trying to reduce the differential of development, even in the face of all unfavourable conditions created by the Central Govt., and has in the meantime been successful to an extent, these organisations are creating disturbances and turmoil purposefully in the whole region of North Bengal. These forces, instead of drawing the attention of the poor farmers and labourers to the all pervading communalism and capitalism affecting the life of the common people in the country because of the central government’s faulty policy towards the capitalism, are advocating the creation of a separate state for North Bengal under the same communal capitalist central government without realising that their move will hardly help the poor farmers, labourers and common people of North Bengal, whether Deshi or Bhatia. They are simply weakening the efforts of the Left Front government to oppose the wrong policy of the central government. This is to the detriment of not only North Bengal but the entire country.

Greater Kuch Bihar Movement—Preponderance of Feudalism Since the last decade of the last century to the first decade of the present century Kamtapuri movement was in its peak through out North Bengal. Since then a group of Kamtapuri supporters of Subdivision of Cooch Behar organised “Shiv Chandi” puja and called for a movement for separate state of Cooch Behar. The movement has however, not taken 62 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal strong root. A piece of stone like an amulet was proclaimed to be the armour of Bhagadatta of the epic age and the practice of worshipping the same was started by them. Giving wide publicity to the concept that the “Shiv Chandi” was a deity of the olden days of Cooch Behar kingdom, they introduced the worship of Shiv Chandi along with the amulet. With a definite plan they proclaimed continuously the glory of the amulet and the “Shiv Chandi”. A section of the local Rajbanshis got overwhelmed by this kind of agnosticism and took vow in the name of “Shiv Chandi” for the establishment of a separate Cooch Behar state. On the other hand, they continued their association with Kamtapuri programmes also. Thus they tried to put extra strength to the Kamtapur movement with help of agnosticism. While they restricted the movement to the small area of Dinhata, Kamtapuri and K.L.O continued their claim for Kamtapur state with the entire region of North Bengal including Cooch Behar, adjacent areas of Assam and Bihar. A state with the whole of the territory once occupied by this kingdom of greater Cooch Behar during the regime of Naranarayan and his brother Chila Rai, though for a short period on some parts, is the dream of the Uttar Khanda movement of 1980’s, Kamtapuri and K.L.O movement of 1990’s and the latest Greater Cooch Behar movement. All of them aimed at the establishment of a state Greater Cooch Behar separated from West Bengal. Not only that, dividing the people between Deshi (Rajbanshi and local Muslim) and Bhatia (people immigrating before and after independence) on the basis of the spoken language and “Shiv Chandi” devotee was their secret mission. The mission is not for a separate territory on the plea of political and administrative grounds only; creating an artificial distinction amongst the residents of a same region Deshi and Bhatia on the plea of A Journey from Hitasadhani to Greater Kuch Bihar 63 anthropological and linguistic grounds is also included in their programme. In this way, all these movements aim at not only the division of the territory but the division of ‘people’ also and to that effect, they can definitely be called separatist movements. Going a step forward the Greater Cooch Behar agitators have raised legal question on the merger of Cooch Behar with West Bengal as a district, and as such they do not accept the state government as the legal authority to rule them. They could easily move the Supreme Court on the point of legality, if they were serious and sincere. They however, opted for misleading the illiterate common locals by organising gimmicks like fasting, mass meeting, “Shiv Chandi” worship etc. It must have been crystal clear that such claims for separate state have come up during the period when the jotedars and reactionary forces have been out of power. The State Reorganisation Commission was formed in 1950’s. Congress, the party of the jotedars and the reactionaries, was in power at that time. Almost all the M.L.A’s of North Bengal belonged to Congress. Never was there any claim for separate state for North Bengal people from any corner then. The same Deshi people, Deshi language and Bhatias had their existence in absolutely full form. Changes have entered the area and they are definitely for better. The history of West Bengal during 1977 to 2006 is the history of the victory of the poor irrespective of Deshi, Bhatia, Hindu, Muslim, S.C, S.T etc. The history is in favour of the poor and against the jotedars, money lenders and capitalists. Hence is the necessity of dividing and weakening West Bengal for creating Uttar Khanda or Kamtapur or Greater Cooch Behar. One can very well appreciate the reasons 64 Socio-Political Movements in North Bengal behind the claim. Whose interest will be served better by creation of such a state under the leadership of the elements who are common enemies of the Left Front Government of West Bengal under the influence of National and International reactionary, communal and imperialist forces? Let me leave it to your best judgement.

REFERENCES Dakua, Dinesh, Kamtapuri Andoloner Asal Uddeshya, National Book Agency Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, September, 2001. Dakua, Dinesh, Hitasadhani Theke Greater Cooch Behar, Deep Prakashan, Kolkata, 2nd Edition, January, 2006. Dakua, Dinesh, Jati Satta O Jatiya Sanhati (Pariprekshit Uttar Banga), in ‘Desh Hitaishi’ Sarad Sankhya, 2006.

  