Student Revolution in Assam

In the present volume the author chronicles a most extraordinary period of the student movement in Assam by making an in-depth analysis of the Assamese language and literature in a bid to preserve the distinctive identity of the people of the state as well as their attempt to reshape the history of our country by winning freedom from British domination. Beginning with the formation of the Assam Chatra Sanmilan in 1916, the book carries us through thirty turbulent years of literary and cultural activities and the young students’ deep involvement in the National burning issue of language, arising out of language of the court and the schools in illegal migrants entering the province from establishment of an Assam University and the problems faced by the eager student leaders in overcoming the crisis arising out of the moderate Congress leadership in the province. Established much before the formation of the Assam Unit of the Indian National Congress in 1921, the Assam Chatra Sanmilan had spread its branches throughout the province and had brought about a political reawakening which had prepared the people of Assam to plunge headong into the national struggle for freedom. The students of Assam appeared to be in the vanguard of every movement in Assam whether it be Non-Co-operation or Civil Disobedience. With its rich amalgam of meticulous scholarship and narrative sweep the book makes very interesting reading, more so as a number of student leaders-turned-veteran politicians mentioned in the book were interviewed by the author. The eighteen appendices incorporated in the book provide valuable and rare source material for further research on the subject.

Dr. (Mrs.) S. Bora (b. 1948) passed B.A. (Hons) in History from Loreto College, Calcutta. She secured first class first position in History in the M.A. Examination of the Gauhati University winning the university gold medal and the Dr. S.K. Bhuyan memorial prize for securing the highest marks in History. She obtained Ph.D. Degree from the Gauhati University in 1985. Currently she is a Reader in the Department of History of the Dibrugarh University. She visited U.S.A. in 1989 as a Fulbright scholar and delivered a series of lecturers in the Yale University and the Vanderbilt University and also to the Board of Ministries at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. She is life member of the Indian History Congress and the North-East India History Associations and Members of the Indian Institute of Historical Studies. Currently she is a member of the Board of International Advisors for the Journal of Women’s History, Indiana University, U.S.A. She is author of a text-book on European History for the B.A. Classes of the Gauhati University which was published by the Text Book Co-ordination Committee of the Gauhati University. She has to her credit more than a dozen publications published in research journals and the proceedings of various national History Conferences. She is presently working on a project entitled ‘Impact of the American Baptist Missionaries on Women of North East India (1836-1900)”.