Netaji & the Assam Congress Coalition

When Netaji came to Shillong for the first time on June 12, 1927, he stayed at ‘Kelsall Lodge’ in Oakland. Between June 12 and October 18, Netaji stayed at Kelsall Lodge twice.

He went back to erstwhile Calcutta in the last part of August and did not want to return to Shillong. However, on Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy’s advice, Netaji returned to Kelsall Lodge. That was his second visit to Shillong. Netaji again visited Shillong in June 1929 to rest. That was his third visit to Shillong (resources: Netaji’s letters)

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose visited Shillong for the fourth time in September 1938. That was the most significant visit since Netaji, as the president of the Congress, to form a Congress Coalition Ministry in Assam.

From Netaji’s letters, other resources and published news in Amrita Bazar Patrika and The Statesman during September 1938, it is confirmed that Bose visited Shillong five times.

The Congress Coalition Ministry in Assam was formed on September 20, 1938. Shillong was the capital of Assam Province when Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose visited. In 1927, he visited with his family to recover from illness. He was 30 years old.

He loved Shillong from the core of his heart. He used to call this city, ‘A Luxurious City’. Netaji loved the hills and dales of Shillong. He visited several localities in Shillong during his visits. He was loved and respected by all communities.

Netaji visited Shillong Raj Bhavan during his fourth visit on September 20, 1938, and met Governor GP Hoog.

Bose assumed the Presidency of Congress in January 1938 (His Majesty’s Opponent by Sugata Bose). During that period, the Congress Party governed seven of the eleven provinces of British India. The four exceptions were Punjab and Sind in the North and West, and Bengal and Assam in the East. Bose felt that a coalition in the remaining provinces would improve Hindu-Muslim relations and strengthen nationalist resistance to British rule.

Bose’s role in forming Congress Coalition Ministry

As the Congress President, Bose was instrumental in ousting the Muslim League Ministry headed by Muhammad Saadullah and installing the Congress-led Coalition Government led by Gopinath Bardoloi in Assam (His Majesty’s Opponent by Sugata Bose).

The following incidents took place during September 1938, when the Congress Coalition Ministry was formed for the first time in the history of Assam with the help of the President of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), Rashtrapati (Head of State) Subhash Chandra Bose.

Saadullah, then Chief Minister of Assam, submitted his resignation before the no-confidence motions that were moved in the Assembly on September 13, 1938.

On the same evening, Hoog invited Bardoloi to form a Ministry. Bardoloi wanted some time. He immediately consulted with Bose and Zonal Dictator, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in Calcutta via telephone and requested them to come to Shillong and intervene.

Immediately after he received the message, Bose expressed his happiness and said, “It was a matter of jubilation, that the people of Assam were now going to have a Ministry which would enjoy their confidence, in place of a ‘reactionary’ Cabinet that had been in power for so long.” (The Statesman)

On September 16, 1938, Bose reached Shillong at 1:30 pm via Sylhet. Before that, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad reached Shillong. Both the leaders were put at ‘Ashley Hall’ in Oakland near Ward’s Lake (The Statesman).

On September 16, 1938, evening, Bose delivered a lecture at the Polo Ground. A huge crowd of about 15,000 people gathered to listen to the Congress President. The next day, Bose delivered two lectures, one at Opera Hall, Shillong and another at St. Edmund’s College (Amrita Bazar Patrika).

On September 17, 1938, Bose and Maulana AK Azad issued a statement on the Congress Coalition Ministry of Assam. It was decided to select the Hindu personnel immediately but to postpone the selection of Muslims with a view to giving those Muslim groups who have not joined the Congress Coalition Party an opportunity of doing so by accepting the Congress Policy, programme and Congress discipline. After considering the response of those Muslim groups, the Muslim personnel of the Cabinet will be finally selected.

Story behind Congress Coalition Ministry

On the morning of September 19, 1938, speaker Basanta Kumar Das met Bardoloi, and after a discussion, adjourned the house sine die. Hoog expressed his displeasure to Bardoloi at the decision of the speaker in adjourning the House sine die and he postponed the oath-taking ceremony indefinitely.

Bardoloi protested and remarked that, “the adjournment of the House has nothing to do with the oath-taking ceremony.

Azad arrived in Calcutta on September 19, 1938. Bose, who had started from Gauhati (old spelling) on the way to Calcutta, received the news at a short distance and immediately returned to Shillong. He got in telephonic communication with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Rajendra Prasad. Bose also spoke to Bhulabhai Desai, senior Congress leader and legal advisor in erstwhile Bombay.

Desai told him (Netaji) that the Speaker was perfectly right in adjourning the Assembly sine die (Statesman, Tuesday, 20th September 1938).

After Hoog fixed the swearing-in ceremony of the Congress Ministers on September 20, 1938, afternoon, the deadlock ended and the Congress Coalition Ministry was formed in Assam for the first time in the history of Assam Province.

During this period, a meeting was held at Khasi National Durbar Hall, Shillong. Bose was given a grand welcome by the Khasi leaders. He was felicitated by Khasi leader Rev. Joy Mohan Nicholas Roy and others. Netaji delivered a lecture at Khasi National Durbar and heartily appreciated the patriotic spirit of the people of Shillong and encouraged them to gear up to struggle for freedom. (Shillong-er Bangali Samajer Obodan by Professor Shyamadas Bhattacharjee).

Before announcing the swearing-in ceremony, Hoog called on Bardoloi and Speaker Basanta Kumar Das and discussed elaborately the political developments.

The report of The Statesman, Tuesday, September 20 stated, “The constitutional difficulties having been solved the numbers of the newly formed Congress Coalition Ministry in Assam took oaths of allegiance and office at the Secretariat this afternoon.”

After the assumption of office, the Bardoloi Cabinet issued a notification that all branches of the services should take note of the policy and programme the new Ministry was going to carry out and the spirit with which the Ministers were actuated.

The newly appointed Assam Ministers made their first public speeches on September 20, 1938, before a large gathering at a meeting held at Jail Road, organised by the local District Congress Committee.

Bose delivered a speech. In his speech, Bose said, “The Congress Ministry had accepted office in a spirit of service and they wanted to emphasise the idea that, unlike the former Ministry, they were the servants of the people and not their masters.” (The Statesman)

After that, Bose went to Sylhet and finally to Calcutta.