Rajani Ranjan Sircar - an unsung hero in Andaman History
Tale of a first batch refugee in Andaman
Rajani Ranjan Sircar
(‘Sarkar’ in some official records), son of Parbati Prasad was my proud
paternal grandfather. He was born in 1909 in the village Jujkhola in East
Bengal (now Bangladesh) about 50 Kms from the Kotwali of Chattogram (often
spelled as Chatgaon or Chittagong). He was one of the pioneering persons of his
time to contribute in making of the present Andamans. He was the member of the
first batch of the refugees arrived here in 1949 in the Andamans under the
Colonial Scheme of the Government of India. His story as a representative of
the first batch of the refugees in the Andamans with all ups and downs I intend
to place in this book not merely for the reason that he was my grandfather, but
for the fact that his life of struggle is a reflection of a refugee life; and
he was a prominent and popular man who played a lead role in refugee
settlements in the Andamans. He continued his services of bringing refugees
from various camps for many years as revealed in the archival records of 1959.
He was an active member of the Chief Commissioner’s Advisory Council during
1957-60 and then became the first Bengali settler of the Andamans to be
nominated as a member of the Home Minister’s Advisory Committee (HMAC) in
1961-62.
Dominant narratives on the history of Partition
describe the exodus primarily as a wave of dispossessed Hindus migrating from
Pakistan to India, and an opposite flow of Muslim migrants crossing the Indian
border to reach Pakistan. The
story of the migration of my grandfather Rajani Ranjan Sircar, and his family
to the Andamans is a collective story of open
wounds of Partition
and the impact of the global demographic upheaval, the post- colonial
geopolitics, policies, displacement and voluntary choices. Through oral history
from the reminiscences within our family, it is well explored set of facts that
the Hindu Bengali refugees from East Bengal bore the brunt of the displacement
and faced multiple problems in the eventual resettlement in the remote Andamans.
On the other side of the room of joy of India’s independence, these wretched
people were dragged hither and thither from station to footpath and from
footpath to camps.
It was in October
1948, that an exploratory party, headed by the then Minister–in Charge of the
Refugee Rehabilitation Department visited the Andamans with a view to examine
the possibility of resettling displaced families from East Pakistan in the
islands. After a careful survey, the party was unanimous in their opinion that
the islands were admirably suitable for colonization of displaced persons.
Subsequently, in December 1948, a public announcement was made officially in
West Bengal under headline ‘Colonization in the Andamans’ with a lot of
attractive offers of facilities, to be provided with the refugees. At this
time, in most of the refugee camps but not in all,
impoverished camp dwellers were living with bodies waiting for mass cremation.
Enlisted families were carefully selected to ensure that they had a sufficient
number of able-bodied working males; and callus had to be touched and approved
by officials as proof of a hard-working man. Finally, on basis of the recommendation made by the
then Minister–in Charge of the Refugee Rehabilitation Department, 199 families
in two batches in 1949, of their own choice, sailed for the Andamans on 15th
March 1949 and 31st March 1949. 12 families have since returned to
the country; two on account of illness and others because either they were
unwilling to undertake or were unsuited for agricultural work. Such families,
on expressing their desire to return, were given free passage back to Calcutta.
During their stay in the Andamans they received the usual cash dole. Of these
remaining 187 East Bengal families including the family of my grandfather, 176
families were cultivators, seven were artisans, one family was a confectioner,
one was a compounder, and the remaining two families did not belong to any
particular category.
Rajani Ranjan Sircar’s first wife Basanti (my father’s mother), died long
ago when my father was a toddler. He in view of the emerged
geopolitical situation grim and uncertain, decided to leave his village with
his second wife
Subhashini, son Swadesh Bandhu Sarkar (my father, then 22 years) and five
daughters namely Geeta, Sabita, Nibedita, Binita and Namita. He
with his family somehow crossed the border and began to live at somewhere in
Tripura. But here too the monster shadow of the geopolitics continued to chase and he with his
family had to leave Tripura and eventually as a member of the first batch of
refugees arrived at the Andamans under the colonial scheme in March 1949. The Andaman scenario had by this
time a primitive look having less population dominated by the historically
settled Local Born Pre-1942 people. The Andamans then had to undergo various
changes under different schemes of the government. The first batch refugees
were initially placed at the outskirt of Port Blair at Homfraygunj, Manpur,
Collinpur and Manglutan, and few other places; but these areas were not the
permanent resettlement areas for them and the agricultural land was yet to be
allotted. Subsequently after a certain period, my grandfather got a cultivable
land at Mathura and since he was a politically active being an educated man
amidst a majority of illiterate refugees, very shortly he earned a reputation
amongst the administrative officials. He was greatly admired by A. K. Ghosh,
the then Chief Commissioner for his constant cooperation and contribution. He
was now given responsibility to prepare other refugee batches for resettlement
at Andamans but this time not under the colonial scheme but a rehabilitation
scheme.
Under the given
task of the Andaman administration, families in a large number were convinced
and brought by my grandfather Rajani Ranjan Sircar. These families included
some families of his native village Jujkhola and other adjacent parts including
Fatikchari and Chittagong of East Pakistan, who were facing socio-religious
atrocities in the dramatically changed geo-political situation after the
‘partition’, somehow reached West Bengal. One of such family was of one Nibaran
Chandra Bose from Chattogram (Chittagong) arrived in the Andamans 1961. The family
head Nibaran Chandra Bose had to visit frequently to have his document
clearance at Dhaka for coming to India and eventually he got frustrated of
rubbing his shoe from one office to another. Then one villager offered him to
help in crossing the border on some fees. In his professional illegal
arrangement, Nibaran Chandra Bose, his wife Savitri Bose, daughter Joythsna
Bose and sons Nirmal Chandra Bose, Sunil Chandra Bose, Anil Kumar Bose and
Krishna Bose had to walk day and night through the hill, marsh, forest and
rivers to finally reach West Bengal via Pashchimpur, Tripura and Agartala.
Here, the family came in contact of Rajani Ranjan Sircar, my grandfather, who
brought them to Andamans under the existing scheme of rehabilitation.
Unfortunately, in the Andamans the life for this once flourished family of East
Bengal (East Pakistan after ‘Partition’) became unenviable under the changing
circumstances. The life-raft on papers had full of opportunities and attractive
offers but the ground reality was quite different. The refugees in majority had
to face the livelihood difficulties and came at the verge of starvation. Since,
my grandfather persuaded them to come to Andamans, he personally decided to
take care of this family. He gifted them a piece of his own land at Mathura and
arranged for marriage of his only son (my father) with the elder daughter of
Nibaran Chandra Bose (my mother). Thus, with this marital knot two families
became one family. To the utter surprise of Nibaran Chandra Bose, after four years
in 1965, he and nineteen others were allotted pieces of land at Tirur. Owing to
the frequent Jarawa raids, they had to face manifold problems in cultivation of
the land. As per a report of 1971, out of these twenty refugees who got land at
Tirur, only four in great difficulties somehow cultivated the land. Nibaran
Chandra Bose, the man of great coverage with help of his grown up sons
established his own business of cane furniture at Mathura. Gradually the family
earned a good reputation with this business and his well educated sons got
employment having reputed positions. The descendants of this large family are
well settled and presently dispersely growing at various parts of the Andamans
and in mainland India.
Even after my
grandfather had re-settled himself at Mathura with his family, he being an old
man had to face the problems of livelihood unexpectedly in the coming years.
Owing to his old age, he was not able to cultivate his land under the scorching
sun and heavy rain. He began to face the same difficulties as the other
refugees faced, due to the lack of a visionary and flexible policy. Many of the
refugees were given bad quality land and many were not able to refund the taken
loan. He was still sincere in his services to assist the administration. In
1954, his wife fell ill seriously and was admitted in the hospital at Aberdeen
but the treatment was insufficient. He received no financial assistance for
treatment of his wife. The old man had to take his wife to Calcutta to save her
but all his efforts went in vain and his wife died, leaving behind her six
children to struggle ahead without mother. After the death of his wife he was
totally broken having his pecuniary condition miserable, and above all it was
beyond his every effort to take care of his motherless children at this old
age. In 1955, the sad old man unwillingly decided to send all of his five
daughters to an orphanage at Calcutta, where refugee orphans were being housed
for training on industrial works and allied handicrafts. He wrote an
application dated 17th February 1955 to the then Chief Commissioner
of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands requesting him to provide sea passage of
the sailing of the vessel S. S. Maharaja. But very soon he was advised by few
of his friends not to take the daughters to the orphanage as lots of
carelessness and negligence were in practice there in the orphanage. He then
gave up his thought to send the daughters to the orphanage. Looking to the pain
and misery in the face of the father, two of his young daughters committed
suicide with their own perception to relieve their sad father from all his
difficulties. This time too, the hopeless and broken man was not the man to
seek any assistance from anybody. He continued to meet the higher officials and
prominent people of the city but he never disclosed his pathetic family
condition to anybody for want of any help. The extreme poverty my grandfather
was facing was in fact caused by the sick loan policy of the government; and
the problem was further increased with the land encroachment practices by the
Burmans.
Rajani Ranjan
Sircar firstly built a house with the help of the local administration on his
allotted plot No 80 and 90 at Mathura village. Soon he felt inconvenience on
the house site to live there and he raised a small garden there. The same year
(1957) he was nominated as a member of the Chief Commissioner’s Advisory
Council. Further he was deputed to West Bengal for visiting various camps with
a view of giving publicity to the government’s rehabilitation scheme. For this
reason he used to travel Calcutta and often remained absent from his allotted
land in the Andamans. In his absence, one Burmese man namely Sutin Burma
erected his dwelling on the garden of Rajani Ranjan. On his return the old man
brought this matter into the notice of the then Chief Commissioner. With his
prompt interference, the officers namely Julfiqaruddin, Tehsildar and A.C.M at
that time, Narayan Biswas and Ananta Joydhar from Panchayat Committee,
Bakhtawar Singh, Sub-Inspector of Police then as a Circle Inspector, Khudiram,
Patwari, Parimal Das, Choudhury assembled on the disputed plot and sorted out
the problems. But Sutin Burma was an adamant man of criminal nature. He in 1962
around, on bribe, got the ownership of the plot on record in absence of Rajani
Ranjan Sircar who was still making to-fro journey for the purpose assigned by
the administration. Sutin Burma this time accompanied by another partner Ramdas
from Garacharma built a house on the allotted plot of Rajani Ranjan Sircar. By
the year 1966, the old man became too much tired of knocking the official doors
that he gave up all his efforts to regain his lost land. Sutin Burma went to
Burma after he handed over the land to Ramdas. Rajani Ranjan Sircar submitted
his last petition dated 17th February 1969 to the concerned
Tehsildar but no action he received in his favour.
Rajani Ranjan
Sircar was allotted a land under the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Land Tenure
Regulation of 1926 and due to no income generation he could not clear the loan
and hence he was deprived from the occupancy right over the land. The fact
behind the fact was that the old and physically weak man was not able to do
hard work to convert the rock-strewn land into a green paddy field, and since
most of the time he was in Calcutta with the government given task to bring the
refugees, he was not able to do any other work to generate income which further
led to his severe poverty. He with the purpose for grant of occupancy right had
representated before the Home Minister, Government of India during his visit to
the islands in the first week of November 1967. He also presented his
representation to Mr. Banerjee, Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of India
on 05th February 1968. His representation dated 16th
February 1968 addressed to the Chief Commissioner is reproduced here. “Sir, kindly refer to Your No. 35-21(9)
58/PL dated the 9th January 1968 refusing the grant of occupancy
right for the last 20 years. Further I have to state that the above reply has
shocked me very much increasing the undesired harassment unconstitutionally
despite my logics that (1) Since I have not mortgaged my paddy holdings under
reference to government, so why should the paddy holdings be dragged into loan
issue? It should remain entirely a separate issue, (2) Beside the government
action of non-issue of occupancy right for paddy holding to which I have got
the legitimate right, is quite unconstitutional because the revenue rules 1926
of Andaman and Nicobars clearly indicate that the owners of paddy holdings
become entitled to get the occupancy right after completion of five years of
occupation. My paddy holdings are in my possession since 1949 and therefore, I
have every right to get it but to my misfortune I have not been granted as yet
although I have been applying for it for the last many years.
I
have been giving applications
after applications informing the government that I would pay up all the
government dues by selling my paddy holdings and unless the occupancy right and
sale permission are not granted, the land cannot be sold. I further pointed out
that I would execute the sale deed and perform the money transaction under the
strict supervision of government to enable the government to collect the money
of government loan from the sale proceed without any difficulty…but the genuine
request was turned down.
I had
taken the government loan for installing a factory for making umbrella handles
from the mill waste but the benign government has not been able to allot the
site for factory building as yet although a period of about five years have
passed and I have been applying for it all through. This is the point worth
considering. My financial status has continuously been deteriorating and
reached to the state of pauper and dragged to the door of starvation. And as a
result of which my two daughters dependent on me could not bear the torture of
poverty and hunger and committed suicide…..”
This heart touching letter of my grandfather reflects
some bitter realities about the adamant and unflexible schemes in the name of
welfare of refugees and the unsolved difficulties of varied nature they faced. On
his correspondences reactions came on different dates from different Under
Secretaries of Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI, New Delhi namely Y.D. Sehgal, B.
K. Halve and R. C. Gupta and from the Chief Commissioner’s office including a
communication from K. K. Warriar, Assistant Secretary to the CC, but no wilful
effort to find a solution between the system and orthodoxy was made to help the
poor old man. The
letter is enough to expose the ‘wrongs’ and to grab attention on the ‘issues in
practice’ pertaining to the refugees. The story of my grandfather stands as a
classic testimony of how an insensible and non-visionary policy and attitude
can destroy a family and above all the ‘original aim’ the scheme was introduced
for.
My grandfather was
never an idle man at his so old age. He received a loan and as it had the
purpose, he purchased some milchy goats and cows, Unfortunately 11 goats died
within a short period for unknown reasons. Similar problem some other refugees
also faced. The Veterinary Department of Wimberlygunj made their best deal to
cure all the goats but their efforts went in vain. His three milchy cows with
two calves also died for unknown reasons. Then he brought a cow from Port Blair
to Mathura village but the said cow met an accident. Subsequently, he wanted to
establish a factory of Umbrella stick but no support he received. In 1964
around he had a small furniture workshop at Haddo opposite present Mini Zoo
near the house of Musa Master, a prominent citizen. The workshop supplied many
furniture items to the Chief Commissioner’s office; and the wooden gate which
is still in use inside the Kalibari of Premnagar was also a production of this
workshop. Despite receiving few supply orders it failed to gain profit from the
workshop due to his frequent travelling between Calcutta and Andamans.
Rajani Ranjan
Sircar was highly educated and socio-politically active at Ministry levels as
well as in the local domain where no one knew or guessed about his extreme
poverty he was silently going through. The man often clad in neat and clean
white dhoti- kurta had suffered so much so silently that the deaths of two
daughters did not raise any curiosity amongst the people and the officers of
the administration. Apart from the grief-stricken events in his family, he
continued to serve on behalf of the government on no salary or any honorarium.
Since he was well
acquainted with Hindi, English and Bengali, gradually became popular among the
local groups and the administrative officials as well. In the initial decade of
the refugee settlements, he played a key role, as requested by the local
administration to go to Calcutta regularly and select the refugee families,
guide them and bring them under the scheme of rehabilitation. He served as
member of Chief Commissioner’s Advisory Council in 1957-60 and Home Minister’s
Advisory Council in 1961-62 onwards. In the Home Minister’s Advisory Council,
he was accompanied by some prominent personalities of the Islands such as
Lachman Singh (the then Member of Parliament), K. R. Ganesh, Bishop John
Richardson (the first nominated Member of Parliament), Rani Lachmi of
Nancowrie, and others. It is noteworthy that he was often surnamed as ‘Sarkar’
instead of ‘Sircar’.
Affiliation with Freedom fighters
The
East Burdwan connection of the revolutionaries
There was a direct connection of the revolutionaries of Chittagong (many of them were imprisoned in the Cellular Jail) with some revolutionary families in Sripally district of East Burdwan. Mainly three of such families arrived from Chittagong have been in our deep family relationship began from my grandfather. During my school days I would go with my parents to meet them. During my previous all journeys to the mainland India, as essential I preferred to visit these three homes, stayed with them for a week or so, enjoying their affection, love and care, more than a blood relation. Excluding the years wasted under the crux of Covid-19, my visit to them has been annual. As the relationship descended from my grandfather, my father also had a deep family relationship with them as his two brothers and one sister; and to me they were my caring Jethus (father’s elder brothers) and loving Pishi (father’s elder sister). My eldest Jethu was Nibaran Choudhury Sinha who did not leave Chittagong, while his younger brothers Jogesh Chandra Sinha, Nikunja Behari Sinha (youngest) and sister (my Pishi) Jyothsna Rani Choudhury left Chittagong and came to Sripally owing to the geo-political disturbances.It is pertinent to mention here that Nikunja Behari Sinha was a recorded revolutionary Viplabi) declared as Freedom Fighter in free India.
The film unit of the Hindi movie ‘Chittagong’ headed by the Director and Producer Bedabrata Pain, in a function of ‘Chitagong’ in Sanskriti Manch at Burdwan had an interactive session. In this session they were made realized by my cousin Chandan Sinha that they did a big mistake by missing in the movie the murder of District Magistrate Durno by Saroj Guha and others. In this movie, the roles of the Chittagong revolutionaries were played mainly by Manoj Bajpayee, Barry John, Vega Tamotia and Nawazuddin Siddiquue. The tale of Subodh Roy, the youngest rebel incarcerated in the Cellular Jail was also given a place in the movie, based on true stories. Subodh Roy died in Calcutta in 2006. Many of the revolutionaries after repatriated from Cellular Jail had re-established their scattered life in Calcutta and other parts of West Bengal in which some of them gained good recognition and position while some lived in poverty and in a deserted condition; but they always tried to help each other in trouble. It is my proud privilege here to inform my readers that Subodh Choudhury, Ganesh Ghosh and few other revolutionaries of the Chittagong Armoury Case imprisoned in the Cellular Jail used to visit Sripally from Calcutta to meet the Sinha family, particularly to meet the widow of freedom fighter Nikunja Behari Sinha. Ganesh Ghosh’s one hand was observed to be amputated, my cousin Chandan Sinha told me. Ganesh Ghosh helped the widow of Nikunja Behari Sinha as a witness in declaration of her husband as ‘Freedom Fighter’ and as a result she being the widow of a Freedom Fighter got all pension benefits from the government. Nikunja Behari Sinha, as a member of the official delegation of the Chittagong revolutionaries on invitation from Sheikh Mujibur Rehman visited Chittagong after Bangladesh became an independent nation in 1971 from East Pakistan. Nikunja Behari Sinha had three sons Vijay, Vishwajit and Indrajit and three daughters Sakuntala (died in childhood), Bula and Meena. Vijay dada is the eldest of them.
Nikunja Behari
Sinha’s elder brother Jogesh Chandra Sinha had two sons namely Chandan Sinha
and Prabhu Sinha. Chandan Sinha has two sons namely Saurabh Sinha and Arnab
Sinha. My Jetthi-maa, the wife of
Jogesh Chandra Sinha with pishi
Jyothsna Choudhury would be their main cooks during the freedom struggle. During
their visits even in 70s, sometimes in a group of five or six, their care was
taken by the wife of Nikunja Behari Sinha and thus the Sinha’s home became a
hub for the revolutionaries for their gossiping and they spent long hours and
sometimes one or two nights in their friendly gusto forgetting any time
pre-scheduled. The third family, Jyothsna Rani Choudhury my Pishi had two daughters Shikha, Manu and
son Mukul.
Unfortunately, the grandchildren of this electronic age, busy with mobile phones, pay no serious attention with patience to hear, preserve and document the elders’ voice about the family history. Edward Bulwer-Lytton said, “We live longer than our forefathers; but we suffer more from a thousand artificial anxieties and cares. They fatigued only the muscles, we exhaust the finer strength of the nerves”
It is very
pertinent to write here that many refugees particularly of 1949 batch, before
coming to the Andamans, were directly and indirectly associated with the
revolutionaries of the Indian freedom struggle in different conspiracies of
East Bengal. Barun Banerjee, son of 1949 batch refugee Manoranjan Banerjee,
said that his father who died on 16th September 1976 at Diglipur was
one of those revolutionaries and escaped to Assam at the time when his
accompanied revolutionaries were being arrested. Barun Banerjee further stated,
“When I was adolescent, on encouragement
from my father, would often accompany ‘Master Moshay’ (Rajani Ranjan Sircar) in
his journeys at Port Blair and other various parts in the Andamans in
connection with his work. Rajani Ranjan Sircar would tell him many stories and
events of his life. As once he revealed, he was closely associated with the
revolutionaries of Chittagong and one of them was Pritilata.”
As I already
mentioned that my grandfather had family relationship with the revolutionaries
Nagendra Nath Dey and Saroj Guha and had numerous contacts with other
revolutionaries including Ganesh Ghosh and Subodh Choudhury. Now, it is
pertinent here to mention about the young girl Pritilata, with whom my
grandfather had a familiar connection. Pritilata Waddedar (5 May 1911 – 24
September 1932) was a Bengali revolutionary
nationalist born in Patiya village of East Pakistan (Bangladesh). She joined a
revolutionary group headed by Surya Sen.
Surya Sen and his revolutionary group decided to kill Mr. Craig, Inspector
General of Chittagong. Ramakrishna Biswas and Kalipada Chakravarty
were assigned for this task; but they mistakenly killed SP of Chandpur and
Tarini Mukherjee instead of Craig. Ramakrishna Biswas and Kalipada Chakravarty
were arrested on 2nd December 1931. Biswas was executed and
Chakravarty was transported to Cellular Jail. When Ramakrishna Biswas was in Alipore Jail, his
family lacked the amount of money required to travel to Alipore Jail of
Calcutta. Since at that time Pritilata was staying in Kolkata, she was asked to
go to Alipore Jail and meet Ramkrishna Biswas.
Later, along with the revolutionary group of Surya Sen, Pritilata took part in
many raids like attacks on the Telephone & Telegraph offices and the
capture of the reserve police line. In the Jalalabad battle, she took the
responsibility to supply explosives to the revolutionaries. She represented the
fifteen revolutionaries in the September 1932 armed attack on the
Pahartali European Club, during which one person was killed and eleven injured.
The revolutionaries torched the club and were later caught by the British
police. To avoid arrest, Pritilata consumed cyanide and died.
My grandfather was
in the regular contact of Bangeshwar Roy and others, who had constituted the
‘Ex-Andaman Political Prisoners’ Fraternity Circle’ and more than three hundred
freedom fighters joined this circle. This circle further made a strong
successful attempt to save the present wings of the Cellular Jail from their
demolishment.
My father was often
not so serious in knowing all things of the past from my grandfather. For this
reason it is still obscure whether he himself was a ‘revolutionary’ or was only
‘supporting’ them; but any one answer is sure, in view of the fact, that evidently
there was a direct connection of Rajani Ranjan Sircar with the leading
revolutionaries Saroj Guha (Chittagong Conspiracy), Pritilata (Chittagong
Conspiracy), Nagendra Nath Dey (Bathua
Conspiracy), Ganesh
Ghosh, Subodh Choudhury and Nikunja Behari Sinha. I don’t know how many and who
were the other revolutionaries my grandfather was in contact with, and what
role he was playing then in the Chittagong and other cases but my research in
insatiable curiosity is still progressive. Looking to his constant contacts,
the story of Manoranjan Benerjee, the place Chittagong he belonged to and his
age then, one cannot disagree with the possibility about him to be a
revolutionary or their ground supporter. This conclusion gets more strength on
the ground of few more facts that many arrested revolutionaries particularly
the leaders did not open their mouth till death about who were their partners.
Secondly, the Chittagong revolutionaries were mostly at the age between 14 and
21 and the senior revolutionaries including Master Da (Surya Sen) tried to the
possible extent to save the young and teen aged lads from the British notice
sending them back to their homes right after the task completed, and my
grandfather was a very young lad then; and the third fact is that, many
revolutionaries after the task completed, under strategy got dispersed to
different directions and after the independence those revolutionaries did not
come out to tell their tales, and largely lived in anonymity or deserted
condition as in the case of Manoranjan Banerjee. The fact above all is that
looking to the instances of painful attempts by some revolutionaries to get
benefit of Freedom Fighter status, many of the freedom fighters had given up
the effort to go here to there for want of pension benefit or any Certificate
to prove that he was a freedom fighter. It was an emotional harassment too. For any action, there are three parts, viz. End, Means
and Consequence. It has been the habit of the people everywhere in the world to
judge an action by its consequences. For example, America fought with England
for her liberty and she succeeded in her action. Everyone eulogised America.
But, if America had failed, all would have cried on her as a rebel. But this
ought not to be the proper attitude. An action should be judged by the aim and
the means. If the aim of these political prisoners was ‘Swarajya’ who would
blame them? But, though their aim was good, yet their means were violent and
therefore a large number of so-called peace loving political groups did not
support them. In all their bloody actions, there was not an iota of selfishness
in them. All they did, they did for the sake of their country. They cannot be
treated like terrorists, while they should be treated like war prisoners. But,
the treatment which was meted out to these political prisoners was so bad that
it was unimaginable injustice to them, in free India.
After arrived at
the Andamans in free India, my grandfather was still showing some tendencies
and signs in behaviour as if either he is a revolutionary or he was deeply
influenced by the revolutionaries. The revolutionaries would arrange for a mass
gathering to unite against the British under the scroll of Pratigya (Oath) for a specific mission or revolutionary task. In
the same manner, one day he gathered the prominent villagers of Mathura and
Brindaban and all of them took oath of ‘Unity, Peace and Patriotism’ in the
village, as revealed in the available copy of the oath collected from an old
record. In this Oath taking, gathered were Birendra Kumar Shil, Nibaran Chandra
Bose, Paresh Chandra Dey, Kartik Sutradhar, Lalit Sutradhar, Sitanath
Sutradhar, Nimai Chandra Mondal, Gorango Joydhar, Manohar Adhikari, Prafulla
Shil, Kunj Behari Bhadra, Narayan Chandra Biswas, Ananto Kumar Joydhar, Bhudeb
Bala, Ganesh Chandra Dhali, Ganesh Chandra Joydhar, Anando Dhali, Suren Madhu,
Bicharan Madhu, Naren Das and Suraj Narayan. His patriotic stance can also be
realized from the name of his son ‘Swadesh’ which means ‘own nation’.
The
Hindu Bengali refugees in the Andamans
Despite the initial
hardships and unfavourable living conditions, the Bengali settlers transformed
with time an unknown wild space into a familiar home space. Thousands of
families of East Bengal origin resettled on the Islands, both as free migrants
as well as beneficiaries of government’s rehabilitation schemes. In 1951 the
Bengali-speaking population of Andaman and Nicobar Islands was only 2363, and
by 1991 the number had grown up to 64,706 according to the Census of India.
Between 1949 and 1975, the Government of India, with the full cooperation of
the Rehabilitation Ministry of West Bengal, resettled more than three thousand
families.
The Shivdasani Report recommended for free passage, free land and other incentives to the refugees in the Andamans further reduced. The first two batches of Bengali refugees comprising 198 families reached Port Blair on 15th March 1949 and 31st March 1949, respectively. In the beginning, they were accommodated in barracks at a distance of few miles from Port Blair. Finding unexpected realities, 28 families of the 1949 batch returned; and those who received loan but were not in the position to repay, were not allowed to leave the island. In the beginning, the local people of Pre-1942 raised some objections against the rehabilitation in the Andamans but gradually their protest subsided with the rehabilitation of the refugees in the far flung areas out of the South Andaman. The subsequent batches were resettled in Middle Andaman (1953), North Andaman (1955-60), Havelock (1954-60), Neill (1968-70) and Little Andaman (1968-74). Gradually with the passage of time, the settlement villages became Bengali villages of Bengali homogeneous community. They built small temples in their courtyards and planted trees of red Hibiscus flowers (to daily offer before mother godess Kali) in the premises recreating the look of their native villages they left behind.
Today Bengalis in
majority as the complex and variegated society, inhabit different parts of the
Islands, with Bengali as their mother-tongue. Despite these numbers, the
journeys and lives of Bengali people on the Andamans are mostly an unwritten
history. In the new space and social environment the Bengali settlers continued
their cultural traditions, religious festivals and music performances. Their
socio-cultural values are coloured by different sub-caste sections of the
Bengalis. This classification should not be viewed from the window of faith
based Caste-ism only. The categories are in fact the divisions of work which
collectively makes the society a variegated progressive society with unity of
members (because one requires service of other). These sub-caste people are Brahman or Pondit, Naapit, Karmakar, Shah,
Taanti, Sutradhar, Halua-daam, Kayastha and Namashudra. A Brahman or Pondit has to perform worship and conduct rituals in the community,
a Naapit has a role of barber, a Karmakar member is a blacksmith, a Shah member has to make conch bangles of
Bengali Tradition, a Taanti is a
weaver who makes clothes, a Sutradhar
is a potter, a Halua-daam can make sweets and other cooked
items, and the Kayastha and Namashudra members are free to do
anything. Such is the system prevails in a Hindu Bengali society in the
Andamans. The refugee groups while leaving for the Andamans an unknown place
through negotiation included all these so called sub-caste members to help each
other in requirement of various works in the new place.
Mathura – a unique village of 1949 batch
Mathura village with total 171 families is located in
Ferrargunj Tehsil of South Andaman district, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The
population of Mathura is 801 (401 Male and 400 Females) as per Population
Census 2011. This village has literacy rate (88.79 %) higher than the total of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (86.63 %) as per the census of 2011. The Mathura
and its neighbouring village Brindaban mentioned in the record of Census 1901
were earlier the self-supporters’ villages. Thus, the Mathura has been
flourished from 14 families of 1949 to 171 families in 2011 with a high literacy
rate.
The families of the first refugee batch of 1949 arrived at
Mathura were headed by Biren Shil, Manoranjan Banerjee, Phatik Shil, Rajani
Ranjan Sircar, Jotin Biswas, Narayan Biwas, Ananto Joydhar, Suren Madhu,
Bicharan Madhu, Lalit Sutradhar, Sitanath Sutradhar, Nimai Chandra Mondal
and few other families. They were later joined by few other families including
the families of Suraj Narayan, Nibaran Chandra Bose and Bhudeb Bala etc. During
1949-52, only 14 familes were settled in Mathura having the total population of
63 only which increased to 81 in 1956.
I, with the golden opportunity to interact with few of the
descendants of 1949 batch refugees, have been able to unearth the hitherto
unspoken difficulties the first batch refugees had to face and the unwritten
circumstances at the time of their rehabilitation. Their true stories contain
relationship and affection for each other, assistance of neighbours, sincerity and cheating of few, the
problems and solutions, and the socio-political occurrences amidst the
prescribed livelihood support of the local administration.
My maternal grandfather, Nibaran Chandra Bose arrived in
Mathura to join the already settled 1949 batch families, was greatly supported
by my paternal grandfather Rajani Ranjan Sircar in all walks of the
rehabilitation and livelihood in Mathura. Eventually these two families became
one with the marriage of my mother Jyothsna Bose, daughter of Nibaran Chandra
Bose with my father Swadesh Bandhu Sircar, son of Rajani Ranjan Sircar. Thus
the marriage was a testimonial knot of affection and harmony built between the
families of a refugee of 1949 and a refugee family of 1961.
He about my
grandfather said, “Since ‘Master Moshay’
was highly educated and closely associated with the administration, he was paid
great respect by the refugees of his time. He knew all about my father who was
a revolutionary and had escaped to Assam before he came to the Andamans. Master
Moshay himself had some clear connection with Pritilata, who was a famous
revolutionary”.
Barun Banerjee
stated that he got posted as a teacher at the Junior Basic School at Mathura,
then only one school in the village. During that period a Burmese school was
there at the same place adjacent to the Junior Basic School (JBS), which was
existed before the JBS came in existence. This school was established with only
two teachers and 38 students. The school was inspected by a team from Ministry
of Education on 29th April 1956. Rajani Ranjan Sircar played a key
role in giving feed back to the team for further improvement in the education
system, through the questionnaire given to him by the team headed by the
Chairman A.N. Basu, Principal, Central Institute of Education, Delhi. During
the stint of Barun Banerjee in the school, the Principal was a very popular man
in the village namely Mr. Narayan Chandra Singharoy. His son Chanchan Singharoy
is a National awardee teacher serving in the Islands.
My maternal uncles (mother’s brothers)
Sunil Chandra Bose and Anil Kumar Bose explained that the Hindu Bengali
refugees had a harmonious relationship with the Burmese who were already
settled in the village. Before their final repatriation in 1965, the Burmese
land owners sold out their lands situated at Mathura to many outside people
originating a fresh demographic influx and several disputes. A Burmese namely
Sutin Burma sold his encroached land to a resident of Garacharama namely Ramdas
who further sold the same land to one K.T. Mohammed. Apart from this, many
Mathura residents also came forward to purchase the land from Burmese at cheap
rate. Phatik Shil purchased a land from a Burmese man while he was already
allotted a piece of land by the government. In the same way Kartik Sutradhar, a
refugee and professional carpenter purchased land from a Burmese at a cheap
rate and subsequently he sold the same to a village refugee Biren Shil. Many
refugees themselves volunteered to sale their allotted land. Two outside
residents Iqbal and D.C. Dey purchased an allotted land of Arun Banerjee.
Manoranjan Benerjee had developed a cultivable land on a stream side but
subsequently he transferred his land to Rajani Ranjan Sircar. Lalit Sutradhar
had a piece of land on the road side but later he found that on its soil there
was a good stock of red bricks. Looking to this stock, a Ranchi man purchased
the land from him. This clever Ranchi man began to sale out those red bricks to
the people who were building their houses in the vicinity. Thus the land rejected
by the owner proved to be a lucky-land for the purchaser.
The cases of land disputes in a
large number were pending before the administration. Many cases the villagers
promptly settled themselves and many were not reported. Biren Shil (1949 batch)
proceeded back to mainland soon after his re-settlement, but after his return
to the village in 1962 he had no land to stay on. Once again the unity and
harmonious relationship among the villagers came in effect. Nibaran Chandra
Bose accommodated his family in his house for about three months. Subsequently
he became self dependant so much that he ably purchased a land situated at
Alipur road from Kartik Sutradhar, and purchased another piece of land from a
Burmese before his repatriation. During that period, Nibaran Chandra Bose and
Ananto Joydhar were the first refugees in the village to construct a double
storied wooden house, constructed by a village refugee Lalit Sutradhar. The
houses of Nimai Chandra Mondal and Suraj Narayan were also constructed by Lalit
Sutradhar. It is revealed from these facts that the refugees from various
caste-based professional backgrounds were brought and resettled under a firmed
thought and plan. Each of the batches with majority of cultivators had
preferably a priest, a barber and a carpenter to assist at times.
Thus, Mathura of 1949 has come to
this date through various events and constructive changes with the new
demographic influx. The infrastructural development especially of road is
perceptible in the present day Mathura, which in fact began in 1970s with the
effort of Mr. C. Mohammed, the then Director of Rural Development. He was the
man behind the construction of the new road near the Mathura Bridge.
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