An ignored chapter

116 years ago,140 farmers were killed in Patharughat in Assam during a peasants uprising against the British. But while Jallianwalla is a familiar name,Patharughat isnt....

Residents of a dozen villages in Darrang district in northern Assam are unhappy with a missing episode in Indias pre-Independence history. This is where the Patharughator Rann,one of the first peasants revolts against British India,took place in 1894. But this sacrifice of their ancestors,they say,hasnt got the national recognition it deserved.

At least 140 of our ancestors were killed 116 years ago while protesting against an order of the British government to increase the land revenue. Yet,while everyone has heard of the Jallianwala Bagh incident,the countrys historians have ignored Patharughat, says Md Jamaluddin Ahmed,a resident of Patharughat. He is also secretary of the Kendriya Krishak Shaheed Diwas that organises a function on January 28 every year to mark this historic incident.

After Assam was annexed to British India in February 1826,the rulers kept increasing land taxes at regular intervals,leading to resentment among the peasantry. In 1893,Chief Commissioner of Assam,Sir William Ward,increased the tax by 70 to 80 per cent. This triggered off massive resentment across Assam and a series of raij-mels peoples conventions were held to voice popular resentment against the tax.

These gatherings rattled the British enough for McCabe,then deputy commissioner of Kamrup,to write in a report: I can compare the authority of these mels to that wielded by8230;the Nihilists8230;the mels also warn the people of excommunication if anybody dared to pay8230; The question has therefore simply developed into the pointwhich is the paramount authority,the Mel or the Sarkar? McCabe is quoted in historian K.N. Dutts book,Landmarks of the Freedom Struggle in Assam,published in 1958.

At a meeting on January 28,1894,the peasants of eastern Darrang decided that they would not pay taxes at the enhanced rates. Three senior British officers rushed to Patharughat where the raij-mel was being held,but their refusal to listen to the peasants demands led to chaos, says Mayukh Goswami,a journalist from Mangaldoi,the district headquarters.

Thus,as the peasants protested the taxes,the British officers fired at the gathering of peasants. At least 140 people were killed in the incident that lasted for over an hour, says Ahmed.

While official records of that time put the number of people killed at 14,local historians have drawn up a list of 65 people who died in that firing. There are several interesting descriptions of the incident,including a manuscript called Doli-puran by a certain Narottam Das,who has the story in verse. People in these villages can still sing those stanzas by heart, says Benudhar Barua of Chengapara,a village in the area.

Story continues below this ad

But while people in these villages have been observing January 28 as a day to commemorate the sacrifices made by the 140 peasants at Patharughat,it was only in 2001 that Patharughat got a memorial. The memorial was built by the army with Lt Gen K Sinha,then Assam governor,taking keen interest. The army looks after the day-to-day maintenance of the memorial, says Maj Gen SS Jog,GOC of the armys 21 Division located at Rangiya near here.