| Prime Minister of Assam | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Style | The Honorable |
| Appointer | Governor of Assam |
| Formation | April 1937 |
| First holder | Gopinath Bordoloi |
| Abolished | August 1947 |
The prime minister of Assam [1] was the head of government and the leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly of Assam Province in British India. The position was dissolved upon the Partition of India in 1947.
The office was created under the Government of India Act 1935. During the 1937 Indian provincial elections in Assam, the Indian National Congress emerged as the single largest party. But due to its pan-Indian policy of boycotting constitutional government under the British Raj, it refused to form government and became the main opposition party. Hence, the governor invited the Assam Provincial Muslim League, led by Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla, to form the government in April 1937. The first Saadulla ministry collapsed in September 1938. The Assamese Congress, led by Gopinath Bordoloi, claimed the right to form government and was invited by the governor to do so on 21 September. [2] The Bordoloi ministry saw the beginning of World War II. After a request from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the Bordoloi ministry resigned in 1939. Across India, Congress leaders including Bordoloi were arrested in 1940 due to the Congress's strong opposition to war efforts. The Congress was briefly outlawed during the Quit India movement. Saadulla was invited to form two ministries on 17 November 1939 and 24 August 1942, with intervening periods of Governor's rule in between. Saadulla served as prime minister for a total of 9 years. Bordoloi was released in 1944. During the 1946 Indian provincial elections, the Congress led by Bordoloi received a majority and formed government once again. On 6 July 1947, the Sylhet referendum voted for the partition of Muslim-majority Sylhet district from Assam; and merger with East Bengal. Bordoloi later became the first Chief Minister of Assam after Indian independence in 1947.
| No | Name | Image | Term(s) [3] | Party | Governor | Viceroy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla |  | 1 April 1937-August 21 | Assam Valley Party (coalition with INC) | Robert Neil Reid | The Marquess of Linlithgow |
| 2 | Gopinath Bordoloi |  | 21 September - 17 November 1939 | Indian National Congress | Robert Neil Reid | The Marquess of Linlithgow |
| 3 | Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla | | 17 November 1939 - 25 December 1941 24 August 1942 – 11 February 1946 | Assam Valley Party (coalition with AIML) | Robert Neil Reid | The Marquess of Linlithgow The Viscount Wavell |
| 4 | Gopinath Bordoloi | | 11 February 1946 – 15 August 1947 | Indian National Congress | Sir Andrew Gourlay Clow | The Viscount Wavell Earl Mountbatten |
Gopinath Bordoloi was an Indian politician and independence activist who served as the 1st Chief Minister of Assam from 1946 to 1950. He was also the chairman of North-East Frontier Tribal areas and Assam Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee. He was a follower of the Gandhian principle of non-violence as a political tool. Due to his unselfish dedication towards Assam and its people, the then Governor of Assam Jayram Das Doulatram conferred him with the title "Lokpriya".
The Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated by princely states. After India's independence from the British in August 1947, its members served as the nation's 'Provisional Parliament', as well as the Constituent Assembly. It was conceived and created by V. K. Krishna Menon, who first outlined its necessity in 1933 and enshrined it as an Indian National Congress demand.
Hailakandi district is one of the 33 districts of Assam state in north-eastern India. It makes up the Barak Valley alongside Cachar and Karimganj. It was constituted as a civil subdivision on 1 June 1869. Subsequently, it was upgraded to a district in 1989, when it was split from Cachar district.
Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq, popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla, was a Bengali lawyer and politician who presented the Lahore Resolution which had the objective of creating an independent Pakistan. He also served as the first and longest Prime Minister of Bengal during the British Raj.
East Bengal was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 1955, when it was renamed as East Pakistan. East Bengal had a coastline along the Bay of Bengal to the south, and bordered India to the north, west, and east and shared a small border with Burma to the southeast. It was situated near, but did not share a border with Nepal, Tibet, the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Kingdom of Sikkim. Its capital was Dacca, now known as Dhaka.
Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla KCIE was the 1st Prime Minister of Assam in British India from 1937 to 1946.He was also the member of Constituent Assembly of India from 1946 to 1950.
United Bengal was a proposal to transform Bengal Province into an undivided, sovereign state at the time of the Partition of India in 1947. It sought to prevent the division of Bengal on religious grounds. The proposed state was to be called the Free State of Bengal. A confessionalist political system was mooted. The proposal was not put up for a vote. The British government proceeded to partition Bengal in accordance with the Mountbatten Plan and Radcliffe Line.
Colonial Assam (1826–1947) refers to the period in the history of Assam between the signing of the Treaty of Yandabo and the Independence of India when Assam was under British colonial rule. The political institutions and social relations that were established or severed during this period continue to have a direct effect on contemporary events. The legislature and political alignments that evolved by the end of the British rule continued in the post Independence period. The immigration of farmers from East Bengal and tea plantation workers from Central India continue to affect contemporary politics, most notably that which led to the Assam Movement and its aftermath.
Abdul Matlib Mazumder (1890–1980) was an Indian freedom fighter and political leader based in undivided Assam State. In 1946, when India was still under British rule, he became an MLA and also Cabinet Minister of Assam. He was one of the prominent Muslim leaders of eastern India to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the partition of India on communal lines. Mazumder along with Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed became the most prominent Muslim opponents of the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan, especially in the eastern part of the country.
Provincial elections were held in British India in the winter of 1936–37 as mandated by the Government of India Act 1935. Elections were held in eleven provinces - Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, the United Provinces, the Bombay Presidency, Assam, the North-West Frontier Province, Bengal, Punjab and Sind.
Bihar Province was a province of British India, created in 1936 by the partition of the Bihar and Orissa Province.
Mahmud Ali was a progressive leftist Pakistani politician known for his agrarian politics. He was part of the Freedom Movement and played an important role during the Sylhet referendum which led to its merger with East Bengal. As member of Pakistan's Second Constituent Assembly he demanded the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan and advocated the cause through his newspaper, the Nao Belal. He strongly opposed the 'One Unit' scheme and voted against the merger in 1956. After the dissolution of the assembly and abrogation of the 1956 Constitution he worked towards the restoration of provinces and a parliamentary form of government based on adult franchise.
Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province. Its capital was in Shillong.
The prime minister of Bengal was the head of government of Bengal Province and the Leader of the House in the Bengal Legislative Assembly in British India. The position was dissolved upon the Partition of Bengal during the partition of India in 1947.
The Bengal Legislative Assembly was the largest legislature in British India, serving as the lower chamber of the legislature of Bengal. It was established under the Government of India Act 1935. The assembly played an important role in the final decade of undivided Bengal. The Leader of the House was the Prime Minister of Bengal. The assembly's lifespan covered the anti-feudal movement of the Krishak Praja Party, the period of World War II, the Lahore Resolution, the Quit India movement, suggestions for a United Bengal and the partition of Bengal and partition of British India.
The Bengal Provincial Muslim League (BPML) was the branch of the All India Muslim League in the British Indian province of Bengal. It was established in Dhaka on 2 March 1912. Its official language was Bengali. The party played an important role in the Bengal Legislative Council and in the Bengal Legislative Assembly, where two of the Prime Ministers of Bengal were from the party. It was vital to the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan, particularly after its election victory in 1946.
Akshay Kumar Das was a Bengali Hindu politician of Pakistan, who served as a representative of East Pakistan in both the First and Second Constituent Assemblies, and held multiple ministries across the 1950s in governments formed by different political parties.
ʿAbdul Jalil Choudhury Badarpuri was a Bengali Deobandi Islamic scholar, teacher and politician. Born in what is now Bangladesh, Choudhury became one of the senior disciples of Hussain Ahmed Madani from Sylhet District. He relocated to Badarpur, Karimganj following the Partition of Bengal in 1947 and served as a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly for several terms. Choudhury has many contributions in Northeast India, covering Islamic and social development, and had participated in the Bengali Language Movement of the Barak Valley.
Ibrahim Ali Chatuli was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, politician and social reformer. He was the Education Minister of Assam Legislative Council, and an elected Member of the Assam Legislative Assembly belonging to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind political party. His constituency joined the East Bengal Legislative Assembly after the Partition of India in 1947.