Abdul
Gani
Guwahati:
The only book in English on the historic peasants’ rebellion at Pothorughat in
Darrang district in which as many as 140 peasants belonging to Hindu and Muslim
community laid their lives for the sake of their country has finally found its
place in the Library of Congress in America.
“It’s great news for all of us. It really meant a
lot for us because the sacrifice made by our forefathers never got recognition
the way it should have. Now the people in the world will come to know about it
in detail,” said Bhargab Kumar Das, a member of Organising Committee for the
National Level Seminar on the Pothorughat uprising by Agricultural Peasants,
who published the book.
The author of the book – Pothorughat – is eminent
writer Arup Kumar Dutta and it was released on September 28, 2010 by senior
journalist Dhirendra Nath Bezbarua and Asam Sahitya Sabha president Rong Bong
Terang.
The link for the Library of Congress catalogue
record for the book is: http://lccn.loc.gov/2012493997.
“In this regard we would like to thank Hiranya Kumar
Nath who is presently working as an Associate Professor of Economics at Sam
Houston State University (SHSU) in Huntsville, Texas, USA for taking the
initiative with the authority who after going through the book, readily agreed
to catalogue it at the Library of Congress. We were trying hard to organise a
national seminar in New Delhi on the Pothorughat issue but this development
would help us to make the sacrifices of the peasants known at the national and
international level. We are also thankful to Arup Kumar Dutta for writing the
book,” Das further added.
Locals rued that though as many as 140 peasants
belonging to Hindu and Muslim community had sacrificed their lives at the hands
of British on January 28 of 1894 at a sleepy village of Pothorughat or
Patharighat – some 16 km to the west from the district headquarters Mangaldai
while raising their voice in a peaceful manner against the hiked land revenue,
yet this chapter of the history of the Indian freedom struggle is little known
in other parts of the country.
“The entire nation is well aware of the Jalliwanwala
Bagh killing, but people outside the state of Assam are not aware of the
Pothorughat rebellion which is significant in many ways. It took place much
before the Jalliwanbalabagh massacre; the village farmers adopted the policy of
non violence which was adopted by Mahatma Gandhi many years later and the
entire rebellion was spontaneous without any prominent leader,” said another
member. (Seven Sisters Post)
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