A social scientist, economist, puritan, educationist all rolled into one, Amalendu Guha is a man with many facets. He is a diehard Communist and has been a crusader of the Communist movement the world over during India’s struggle for independence. He has seen the country from the days of colonialism to independence and liberalization.
Born in Manipur, he migrated to Guwahati and his field work, mostly, has been Asom, though he has spent much of his time in Kolkata and abroad.
A prolific writer, Dr Guha composes both in Asomiya and Bengali. His two published poetry collections are Tumaloi (Asomiya) and Luit Parrar Gatha (Bengali). His widely hailed book Planter-Raj to Swaraj is one of his greatest creations. The book is the outcome of his remarkable historical research related to the socio-economic history of Asom.
He was an active member of All India Students’ Federation and the Communist Party of India. He was also an executive member of the Indian History Congress (1975-77), president of North East History Association (1981-82), president of Indian History Congress Modern India Session (1983). Besides, he was also the president of various segments of Axom Xahitya Xabha.
With all these valuable contributions, Dr Guha has brought laurels to the State and the region. In an interview with Mamata Mishra, Dr Guha dwelt on a wide range of topics-regional, national and international. The following are the excerpts.
Mamata Mishra (MM): You were born in Imphal and spent your childhood there. How were your childhood days?
Amalendu Guha (AG): I was born in Imphal on January 30, 1924 and my childhood days were spent in Babupara, a Bengali- dominated area with a few Asomiya neighbours. I had my early education in a Bengali medium school in the same place. Thus my childhood days were spent in the British Reserve area which included Babupara, the Women’s Bazaar and the 4th Assam Rifles Battalion ground. That is the reason why my life was almost segregated from the Manipuri society.
My father, Jaminisundar Guha, came to Imphal in 1905 and worked there as a schoolteacher. My childhood days, spent amidst the idyllic landscape of Imphal, is the happiest period of my life.
MM: Yours was a big family. Please share with us something about your family.
AG: My father and mother were both from the Tangail subdivision of the Mymensingh district. Those days, till about 1915, there was no convenient transportation facility from Mymensingh to Imphal and the journey took some ten days from Dimapur to Imphal to cover 144 miles of road by bullock cart. Several bullock carts formed a convoy and moved during the night, and in the morning they would halt near a hill stream for preparation of meal and rest. My mother told us how she became afraid when semi-nude Naga tribesmen approached the cart with inquisitiveness. But they were very innocent people.
Yes, ours was a big family with six brothers and five sisters. My mother’s father and his mother-in-law, a very old lady, also lived with us. There was virtually a generation gap between the eldest and the youngest of the siblings.
After my father’s retirement our family shifted to Guwahati where my two elder brothers were already working in the Post and Telegraph department.
Now, I have a son who stays abroad . At this moment I can count down more than seven generations from my aforesaid grandfather’s mother-in-law to my eldest brother’s great grand children. I am very much a son of this soil.
MM: Apart from your family members, do you remember any close childhood friend or any such incident which is still fresh in your memory?
AG: During my school days in Manipur my closest friend was an Asomiya boy from Pathsala. His name was Parboti Charan Das. His father, Baliram Das, was the Bor Daroga in the British Reserve area.
Later when I got myself transferred from Imphal to Guwahati school in class VII, I found Babu (Parboti Charan) studying in the Cotton Collegiate School.
Again, when I went to Presidency College, Calcutta, in 1943, Babu was there in St Pauls College hostel. Without completing his graduation he joined the Army on Short Service Commission.
The last glimpse I had of him was during the Calcutta riot of 1946. Our ward boy in the Eden Hindu College hostel got panicky and informed me in advance that an army unit had come perhaps to arrest me and said that if I had with me any illegal literature, I should hand it over to him.
Anyway, I was confident that he had misunderstood. Babu then appeared on the scene and told me that he had just come to find out how I was feeling, and that he was on duty to take care of the Calcutta riots. Lieutenant Das, along with his unit, was sent all the way from Kashmir to Calcutta to control the riot. That was my last meeting. Thereafter, I learnt that he was drowned in an icy hill stream while he was trying to cross along with his jawans to fight the Pakistani intruders.
MM: You have an excellent academic record. From a small school in Babupara to the portals of Presidency College. Tell us about your education and career.
AG: I matriculated from the Paltan Bazar Bengali High school in 1941. I got 4th place in the order of merit in the I A examination in 1943 conducted by the Calcutta University. This helped me earn a Bengal Government merit scholarship and rest of my education was in the Presidency College, Calcutta. I had a Master Degree from the Calcutta University in a composite course covering economics and political science in 1947. After spending a year at Tangail and Guwahati, I joined the Darrang College, Tezpur, as a lecturer in economics in November 1948.
The School of International Studies, New Delhi, offered me a research fellowship of Rs 400 per month for 3 years. I took leave from Darrang College without pay and joined the above institute to do research work on the economic transition of 20th century Afganishtan for a PhD thesis. After submitting my thesis in 1962 I came down to Tezpur and again joined Darrang College.
Just 15 days after reaching Tezpur, I was arrested by a police officer who was my ex-student. He told me that the DC wanted to have a conversation with me and some other citizens. When I landed in the local police station I saw several other Communists including Bishnu Rabha. The DC had already fled and the military officer had taken his place, who was doing his duty during the night from the thana itself. The next morning we were handcuffed and taken in an open truck to the riverport Bhomoraguri. After a few days we were taken to Guwahati jail and then, by a special chartered plane, we were shifted to Bhubaneswar Airport and then to Buharampur Special Jail in Orissa. I was released after six months.
I was called for the viva voce and the Doctorate Degree was awarded in 1963.
MM: People know you as a true Communist. When and how did you got drawn to the Communist principles. Do you still consider yourself as a Communist, given the present condition of Communist parties in India?
AG: Yes, I am happy to know that people know me as a true Communist. But, I am sure some people might know me as a false Communist because a true Communist is expected not only to be a believer in Marxism but also to be a disciplined soldier actively and collectively participating in the day to day struggle for Socialism.
From 1943 to 1965 I was an active member of the Communist Party but it was no longer possible after 1965 because of my research work and other multifarious interests.
Nevertheless, I still consider myself as a Communist.
MM: During the ’62 Indo-China war you were detained and sent to jail. Please throw some light on it.
AG: There were no specific charges against me or others from Asom who were detained (all of us together numbering 52). In the warrant it was written that the Governor was pleased to detain me for the sake of the country’s security.
In the jail I had the good company of persons like Bishnu Rabha, Achinta Bhattacharya, Biresh Misra, Sudhin Pramanik of the Digboi strike fame, Mohanlal Mukherjee, Jibon Kalita, Bishnu Hazarika etc.
In the evening we used to take part in the volleyball games, with Bishnuda instructing us how to tackle the ball. Gaurishankar Bhattacharya and Baneswar Saikia took classes on Marxism. I was in Gaurishankar’s group. At my initiative we celebrated Bishnuda’s birth day inside the jail. A cultural programme was organized for the purpose. This was the first Bishnu Rabha Day, perhaps celebrated during his life time and later posthumously.
MM: Please tell us about your research works. You have been abroad several times for research purposes.
AG: As for my research works and my trips abroad, you can consult Oitijya aru Itihaas, Amalendu Guha abhinandan grantha (Journal Emporium, Nalbari/Ghy 2005). It contains my bibliography and authentic biodata.
MM: Behind every successful man, there is a women. What is your experience regarding this old dictum?
AG: Well, if this dictum is true, the reverse is also true. Behind every successful woman, there is a man. I think over long years of togetherness we’ve helped each other as far as possible. My wife, Anima Guha, is also a well known social scientist in her own sphere, and is doing commendable job for the society.
MM: Planter-Raj to Swaraj is a socio-political account from 1826 to 1947. What inspired you to do such an in-depth historical study?
AG: In the 2nd edition of my book Planter Raj to Swaraj — Freedom struggle and electoral politics in Assam 1826-1947 (Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2006) I have added a new introduction wherein you’ll find my answer. I was already doing research in economic history of Asom when, in 1965, I joined the Gokhle Institute of Politics and Economics. So you can understand that though I was a teacher of economics, my first love was history. That is why I did my PhD on economic history.
While working in the Gokhle Institute I had a pleasant surprise when Professor Bipon Chandra, representing the Indian Council of Historical Research, asked me to write a book on the role of Assam’s legislature in the Indian freedom struggle. At first I hesitated. However, given full academic freedom to do so, I seized the opportunity to make my beloved home province better understood.
MM: In Asom, Communism or Democratic Socialism has little role to play in the State politics. While the case is just opposite with the neighbouring West Bengal or Tripura. How do you compare the role of Communist parties in these three States.
AG: We cannot compare the situation in Asom with that of Tripura or West Bengal. Maybe there are some similarities between Asom and Tripura in matters like the immigrants problem, tribal backwardness and, worst of all, insurgency.
Socialism as an economic goal is popular as much in Asom as in Tripura. In both the regions, the undivided Communist Party of India started political work from 1940. ln Tripura, the party succeeded in winning over first the tribal communities and later also the Bengali refugees, through hard work and sacrifice and perhaps also because their political rivals, the Congressmen, had no base and were incompetent.
But in Asom the Congress party was well organized and had a strong base led by competent leaders like Md Tayebulla, Gopinath Bordoloi, Fakiruddin Ali Ahmed, Omeo Kumar Das, Jyotiprasad Agarwala, R K Hatibarua and so on.
The Congress already had a stronghold whereas the handful of Communists who emerged in 1940s, though no less competent and sacrificing, were no match to their rivals. The Left forces are still not much popular in Asom. Their followers, all inclusive, won’t be even ten per cent of Assam’s total population.
In West Bengal Left party activities started in the 1920s and after independence its pre-independence base further expanded. Once in power, the party performed well and that is why there is no anti- incumbency factor there. Left dominance over West Bengal, I think, will continue. In Asom, or even in Tripura, it is lack of performance on the part of the governments that makes them shaky at every election.
MM: Tell us about Amalendu Guha as a poet.
AG: My first poetry book in Asomiya was published in 1960. My Bengali book of verses Luit parerg gatha was first published in Calcutta in 1968 and has been reprinted in December 2005 by the Bengali department of the Cotton College.
MM: Do you think that Socialism and the Communist ideology have undergone comprehensive changes and given way to Capitalism?
AG: Yes, I believe in change. I believe in dialectical materialism, that is Marxism as a philosophy of life. It says everything is on move. All things are interrelated through conflict and contradiction and synthesization, they go through change. Surely, Socialist-Communist ideology has also undergone comprehensive changes.
However, I do not agree that it is giving way to Capitalism.
No doubt, Capitalism is playing a major role, but it has not been able to totally uproot Socialist-Communist thoughts and parties, although it was successful in bringing down Socialist regime in the erstwhile Soviet Union and eastern Europe. But Social Democratic and Communist parties are once more getting organized in their parts of the world.
Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea are still on their feet with their heads held high, despite many difficulties and threats from the Anglo- American imperialist camp. Besides, the USA’s hold over Latin America is loosening and Socialism is emerging in that area as the most popular goal.
MM: Finally, talking about own State, it is said that deep-rooted insurgency problem is the cause of economic backwardness. So, do you think that the Centre-UFLA talk will go a long way in solving the insurgency problem.
AG: Well, the insurgency problem is the effect rather than the cause of Asom’s backwardness. And it is hindering our economic development. This is the reality. I think, what has pulled back Asom during the post independence period is the parochial attitude of a large section of the people while tackling the State’s complex problems. The six-year Assam Movement has done much more harm than good to the people. It is because of its emotional outburst and bloodletting that we are behind in the race for development. Just compare Asom with West Bengal to understand the point. But I am optimist that things will turn better in future.
Let us hope that the Centre-ULFA talks take place and give positive results.
