Question 1169

Who suggested that the entire Assam should be connected to the East Bengal and it should be included in Pakistan?

Answer

Sir Mahammed Sadullah Khan

Why?

The Correct answer is Sir Mohammed Sadullah Khan . Important Points Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla, was the Prime Minister of Assam in British India . He was also the chairman of Guwahati Municipality in 1919 and Minister-in-Charge of Education and Agriculture for Assam from 1924 to 1934. After spending eleven years at Shillong, and disenchanted with Assam politics, he felt that it was time for him to make a move. The opportunity was at hand, Sir John Anderson, Governor of Bengal, had personally offered him a High Court Judgeship . Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla went to Calcutta in 1935. Much to his dismay, Sir Harold Darbyshire, the Chief Justice, pointed out that he could not be appointed as a Judge for want of requisite experience of ten years of continuous practice at the Bar. In an effort to assuage his profound disappointment, he was appointed as a Government Pleader with an assurance of elevation to the Bench within a reasonable period. The lure of politics combined with tremendous pressure by former colleagues was too strong for him. A General Election, under the Government of India Act., 1935, was being held in February 1937. Saadulla returned to Assam and was elected to the Legislative Assembly. The Governor invited him to form the Ministry.H e supported political and social creed with uncompromising integrity. He headed the Coalition Ministry from 1 April 1937 to 10h September 1938. Muhammad Sadullah also undertook a land settlement policy to populate the state with migrants from erstwhile East Bengal . Known as the Line System, the policy had its roots in a British effort to extract more revenue from Assam by making the land more productive (since the local peasants were not willing to work for the British). He later amped up the migration policy under its "grow more food" programme in the build-up to World War II. The Muslim League government in Assam under Sadullah further fuelled the policy, so much so that Viceroy Lord Wavell later wrote in his memoirs that Sadullah was much more interested in "growing more Muslims" . Saadulla also remained a close friend and associate of the Punjab Premier/Chief Minister Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan (in power from 1937 to 1942) and was a member of the Executive Committee of the All India Muslim League which met in March 1940 to draft the Lahore or 'Pakistan Resolution '. The Assam Legislative Assembly elected Saadulla to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1947 and later elected him to the drafting committee . Thus he helped in the preparation of the Constitution of the Republic of India. He was the only member from North-East India to be elected to the Drafting Committee .