Untold Stories of the Freedom Struggle from North-East India

Most people across the country have never heard about the way the people of North-eastern India had resisted British expansionism ever since the process of annexation of the region began in 1826. The heroic acts, the sacrifices, the battles to protect the sacred land from British occupation have largely remained neglected in the past 75 years.

This is for the first time that all such resistances, battles and movements, and the heroic deeds and sacrifices of individuals from across the seven states of the Northeast have been presented in one volume. Being brought out in the 75" year of India's independence, this volume will not only spread the stories of the Northeast across the country, but also establish the fact that the people of the Northeast had also played a crucial role and contributed immensely towards India's attainment of freedom.

Dr. Samudra Gupta Kashyap, a veteran Guwahati-based journalist is the State Information Commissioner in Assam since August 2020. For close to four decades, he is credited with having contributed immensely towards projecting the North eastern region in the right perspective to the outside world through his unbiased and ground-level reports and analyses. A bilingual writer, Dr. Kashyap is author and co-author of over a dozen books in English and Assamese. Winner of a number of prestigious awards for his contribution to journalism, he is also a much sought-after speaker on issues related to the Northeast. Some books to his credit are: Legal Protection to Illegal Migrants (2004), Kaziranga: The Rhino Century (2005), Raj Bhavan Assam and A Brief History of Guwahati (2014), Assam's Black Gold Saga (2019), Assam Police: Journey Through Changes and Challenges (2019), Dhekiajuli 1942: The Untold Story (2020), and India Bangladesh: Fifty Years of Friendship (2022). He had also done the research and script for several documentary films and television serials. These include Bhupen Hazarika's 26-episode Doordarshan serial "Brahmaputra, Son of Brahma: An Endless Journey' and Utpal Borpujari's 'Memories of a forgotten War.

From 1826 onwards Assam and the North-eastern region were being annexed as part of the British India. This led to some of the bloodiest resistance movements against the imperialist colonial power. The first resistance took place within less than two years of annexation, while the subcontinent's first peasants' uprising against the British also took place in Assam; that was as early as in 1861. The different tribal communities of the hill states on the other hand were engaged in a number of battles with the British in their attempt to protect their sacred lands, with hundreds of unnamed heroes making the supreme sacrifice. The First War of Independence (1857) led to the hanging of at least two great patriots in Assam. People took part in large numbers in the various phases of the freedom movement which followed, laying down their lives for the honour of this country.

Unfortunately, these stories of patriotism and sacrifice have yet to be systematically documented in a comprehensive manner. One must also place on record the fact that historians and scholars have been often accused of neglecting the North-east while writing about the country's great freedom struggle. Non-inclusion of the tales of the anticolonial movements of the region in works of history and textbooks on the other hand has led to a perception that the North-east had not been part of the freedom struggle at all. Yet, the heroic acts of patriotism of those like Maniram Dewan and Kushal Konwar of Assam, Ranuwa Gohain and Matmur Jamoh of present-day Arunachal Pradesh, Pasaltha Khuangcchera of present-day Mizoram, Pa Togan Sangma of Meghalaya and Tikendrajit of Manipur are no less than those of Mangal Pandey, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev or Tantia Tope.

Each of the bloody battles the Meiteis, Singphos, Khamtis, Wanchoos, Adis, Nagas, Kukis, Mizos, Khasis, Garos and others fought against the British, leading to the death of hundreds of brave men in the hills of the North-east, in fact deserve to be researched, documented and presented and told to people across the country. These in turn will not only help remove ignorance about the region, but also contribute towards strengthening national integration.

This is also the first book which will take to the people of the country the story of Tileswari Barua (12), the youngest martyr of India's freedom movement. Nowhere else in the country had a sanyasi and a beggar lost their lives during the freedom movement when British police opened indiscriminate fire to disperse people who had gathered to hoist the tricolour atop a police station. And, nowhere had a person taken upon himself the entire responsibility of derailing a military train and then walking to the gallows like a true leader and patriot, when the fact remained that he had strongly opposed a decision to derail the train in the first place.

**Contents and Sample Pages**