Maulana Bhashani first went to Assam in 1904, but from 1929 to 1947, he specifically campaigned and struggled to protect the rights of the oppressed Bengalis of Assam. Both of them left their homeland to stand by the deprived people of Bibhuwan and started their political lives.
Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani first settled in Ghagmari (present-day Hamidabad) of Assam by cutting down the forest in 1929. However, before this, he received the title ‘Bhasani’ after his name from the historic farmers’ conference held at Bhasanchar in 1924. The oppressed Bengalis and poverty-stricken people there welcomed him warmly. Gradually, Maulana Bhashani became the apple of the eye of the oppressed people of that region. Since then, he has been known in Assam as a humble farmer leader and spiritual guru. Maulana Bhasani started politics in 1917 as a supporter of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das’s nationalist party and in 1919 joined the Congress and participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement, serving ten months in prison. When Deshbandhu formed the Swarajya Party in 1923, Bhasani played an important role in organizing that party from within the Congress. However, many believe that he could have played a greater role in all-India politics if he had not been so obsessed with Assam. Considering Maulana Bhasani’s sacrifice, efforts and struggle for the rights of the deprived Bengalis of Assam, Indian researchers Bimal J. Deb and Dilip K. Lahiri expressed the opinion that Yazdhangdhahar, rahab rav at that time, the common people of Assam could cultivate their land, but they did not own the land. The landlords and landowners could evict their subjects as they pleased. In such a situation, Maulana Bhasani was able to establish their land rights, albeit on a limited scale, by organizing the ‘Assam-Bengal Praja Sammelan’ at Bhasanchar. He also played an important role in various charitable works, including the introduction of the cow slaughter system in Assam and reforming the weighing system.
He started a new chapter of the movement and struggle by standing up against the oppression of the deprived people of Assam, especially the Bengalis; which is known as the ‘Anti-Line Pratha Movement’. It is worth mentioning that the Assam government introduced this infamous ‘line system’ in 1920. To accelerate this movement, he organized Bengali farmers and formed the ‘Assam Farmers’ Association’. The association organized a vigorous movement against the ‘line system’ through meetings and rallies. In 1937, after being elected as a member of the Assam Provincial Executive Council for the first time, he introduced the ‘anti-line system’ bill in the Parliament. On November 19, 1939, in the council session of the Assam Provincial Muslim League, he strongly criticized the Congress government for not taking action against the line system. After becoming the president of the Assam Provincial Muslim League in 1940, he joined the movement against the ‘line system’ as well as the movement for the establishment of an independent Pakistan. In the same year, he also attended the Lahore session. The resolutions of the session gave him new hope and he immediately returned from Lahore and tried to establish an independent and sovereign state in the eastern part of India. But when the word ‘State’ was used instead of the ‘States’ of Muslims in the ‘Legislators’ Convention held in Delhi in 1946, Maulana Bhashani, Abul Hashim and others strongly opposed this distortion.
At the second conference of the Assam Provincial Muslim League on 30-31 February 1941, Maulana Bhashani appealed for Assam to be included in Pakistan. At the ‘Bangla-Assam Praja Conference’ on 8 and 9 February 1942, he warned the government that if the ‘Line System’ was not abolished by 31 March, he would start a civil disobedience movement from April. Fearing this, the government banned Maulana Bhashani’s meetings and meetings for the next year. Even then, he continued his movement and struggle. Under his pressure, the ‘line system’ was relaxed to a great extent by a government order on 24 August 1943. In his speech at the budget session of the Management Council in March 1944, he demanded the distribution of additional land in the province on a priority basis among ethnic groups, Hindu landless farmers and migrant Bengalis. On 7-8 April 1944, at the Barpeta session of the Assam Provincial Muslim League, Sa’d Ullah was called upon to join the liberation movement of Assam. The government was furious and issued an arrest warrant against him. Around 1944-45, the ‘Bengal Kheda’ movement in Assam, instigated by the ‘Ahom National Mahasabha’, began to take extreme shape. In protest against this, Maulana Bhasani protested against the eviction of Bengalis and government oppression in various areas including Mangaldoi, Barpeta, Guwahati and started the ‘Anti-Bengal Kheda’ movement. In the 1946 Assam general elections, the Muslim League won all but three Muslim seats under his leadership. From the first of May 1946, he began a hunger strike to death in Barpeta to protest against the eviction of settlements and government oppression. On June 26 of the same year, he organized the ‘Mangaldai Mahasammel’ to instill solidarity among Bengalis. From the conference, he called for ‘Direct Struggle Day’ on August 16 and ‘Law Disobedience Movement’ from November 7. At the Bengal-Assam Conference on March 3-4, 1947, he demanded the immediate independence of Pakistan by including Bengal and Assam in Pakistan. He said, ‘The movement for the independence of Assam has begun, let us all dedicate ourselves to this great struggle. We will not stop the struggle before we get the desired independence.
On March 5, he ordered all the members and leaders of the Muslim League Legislative Assembly to organize a ‘non-violent and non-communal’ resistance movement in their respective areas and throughout Assam. Then, he first called for the independence of Assam and announced the celebration of ‘Assam Day’ on March 10. The leaders said in the conference that Goalpara would be independent on that day and the rest of Assam would be free within a week. On the ‘Assam Day’ declared on March 10, he incited the Bengali farmers to a death-blow movement by giving inflammatory speeches under Section 144, eluding the police. He was arrested under the Security Act from the meeting venue. After being released from Guwahati jail on June 21 in the face of public agitation, he started campaigning for the Sylhet referendum on July 6-7 and sought votes for Pakistan in the ‘axe-marked box’. He sought the support of both Hindus and Muslims in this referendum.
