Shillong Assembly building tragedy evokes nostalgia

GUWAHATI, January 11: The destruction caused to the Assembly building in Shillong on Tuesday by a devastating fire evoked nostalgic feelings among the politicians and the officials here, who were associated with the two-storied 89-year old grandeur of architecture. The politicians and bureaucrats whom we could come to contact today recounted their association with this historic building under the roof of which many dramas of political upheavals concerning the NE region of the country, were enacted and which remained an witness to many moments of happiness and sorrow that touched the lives of the people here. A part of a heritage of the NE people is lost to the fury of a natural calamity - this was the common feeling we got from the people we contacted. Struck with remorse they recounted their association with the lost Assembly building which housed the Assam Assembly till March 1973. Former Chief Minister Sarat Chandra Sinha, who was first elected to the State Assembly in 1946, fondly recalled his days in Shillong and said that burning down of the building was an irreparable loss to the entire region. Talking to The Assam Tribune, Sinha said that the building was a political entity of the region. Recalling his days in Shillong, Sinha said that they first took oath in 1946 under the British rule and then again in 1950 under the Constitution of India. He said that he was part of the Assembly during the most vital period during the pre and post Independence era. He said that during the pre-Independence era, the discussions in the State Assembly concentrated mostly on the Independence of the country and then the discussions to oppose the 'grouping' took the centre stage. He said that in the post independence era, the Assembly witnessed discussions on the Constitution and also the issues relating to the building of the nation. Sinha also said that matters relating to the reorganisation of the states, Chinese war and Indo-Pak war were also discussed in the Assembly building. The former Chief Minister, during whose tenure the state was divided, said that vital records of both Assam and Meghalaya were lost in the fire. He revealed that during the division of the state, only the records pertaining to the Assam were brought here but the records pertaining to undivided Assam were left there. Veteran politician Gauri Sankar Bhattacharyya, who was an MLA in the State Assembly between 1963 and 1973, said that he was shocked receiving the news of the catastrophe that befell the Assembly building in Shillong on Tuesday. "I was shocked when I received the news, it was as if I had lost some very intimate member of the family" - he said. "Particularly, the loss of the Assembly Library is a grievous shock to me, as, I was one of the constant users of the Library. When I happened to be in Shillong I used to be in that Library from morning till night. "Whatever political studies I could make during that long period of 20 years as an MLA, it was in this Library. To the best of my knowledge and information it was one of the best Assembly libraries in the country. It had a rich stock of books relating to not only the legislative matters of India, but also to the matters related to Great Britain and the USA" - he said. Recounting his association with the Assembly building in Shillong, Bhattacharyya said that he had an intimate relation with the building. "I saw it for the first time in 1938 when Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi along with the Congress under his leadership, was voted to power. It was the best epitome of an Assam Type building with a Gothic design. The impression it left on me at the very first sight continued to haunt my mind until I became an MLA in 1952 to represent the Guwahati (then Gauhati) constituency. 1952 election was the first election of the Indian Republic and Guwahati was represented in the State Assembly before me by none other than the Lokapriya. "Since 1952, I was intimately connected with this Assembly building until 1972, when the Assam Assembly was shifted to Dispur, Bhattacharya said, adding, the Assembly sessions held in that building never witnessed the undemocratic scenes like the ones recently taking place in the country's Parliament. "Moreover, the mutual relationship among the MLAs of that time was also very sweet irrespective of their differences in matters of ideology and their political alignment," said Bhattacharyya. Veteran communist leader Phani Bora who was elected to the State Assembly twice - in the 1959 bye-election and in the 1967 general election, requested the Meghalaya State Government to rebuild the Assembly building in keeping with its previous design so that heritage of the building could be carried forward for posterity. Expressing his grief over the fact that the Assembly building in Meghalaya was burnt to ashes, Bora who was the leader of the opposition CPI in the State Assembly in the sixties and early seventies, said, "It was a national heritage and it should have been protected at any cost." When asked about the impression the Shillong Assembly building had cast in his mind, Bora said that in his student days he used to visit Shillong as a leader of the All India Students' Federation (AISF) to meet the Ministers and MLAs on various issues. He also used to visit the Assembly while it was on session then and witnessed the performances of the leaders like Late Sir Saadullah, Late Rohini Choudhury, Late Mavish Don, Late Debeswar Sarma, Late Bishnu Ram Medhi and Late Gopinath Bardoloi, among others. As a result, Bora and his friends used to organise mock parliaments in Cotton College and Bora used to play Sir Saadullah on those occasions. Sir Saadullah was the leader of the opposition in the State Assembly. The CPI group had 12 members, including four associate members, in the State Assembly in the sixties and early seventies. Notable among the group members were Late Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rava, Kamini Sarma and Promode Gogoi. The oratory of the Kalaguru in the House was resounding within the wooden structure of the Shillong Assembly House, Bora said. Bhupen Hazarika, the legendary musician of the State who is now the head of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, was also an MLA during the sixties and was associated with United Legislature Party (ULP) of the independent MLAs led by Gauri Shankar Bhattacharyya. Hazarika also used to sing songs in the Assembly at times on request from the other MLAs. "The memory of those days are very sweet," said Bora, adding, the news of the devastation caused to the building has hurt him much.