Revisiting The Colonial History of Chaiduar: Mass Mobilisation and Protest Movement Against The British Rule

The people of Chaiduar, a historic place in the present Biswanath district of Assam, played an important role in the protest movements during India’s struggle for freedom against the British colonial rule. The role played by martyrs like Kanaklata Baruah, Mukunda Kakati and the organizational activities led by the local leaders and workers of the Indian National Congress have been recorded in the history of Assam so far as freedom struggle is concerned. The success of this struggle during the entire course of the movement is credited to them and it is primarily considered their achievement. This is basically a traditional concept accepted by the historians who studied the history of the movement from above. In the last few decades, with the development of subaltern historiography, there is a drastic change in the process of history writing. Since the view that instead of the elite, people irrespective of class, caste and gender play vital role in the history making process became an established fact, the colonial history of Chaiduar and its contributions to India’s struggle for freedom needs rethinking and revisit. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this paper to study the underlying factors behind the mobilisation of the common masses of Chaiduar and how different sections of people joined the protest movement against the colonial exploitation to overthrow the British rule. The methodology to be followed in this study is historical and analytical. Attempt will be made to make the work objective so far as possible. Both primary and secondary sources will be used in the preparation of this work.