The Forgotten Forefathers

Instrumental to the foundation of the tea industry in Assam, Indian Chinese people have been resigned to ignominy.

Fifty-year-old eminent Assamese writer Dr. Rita Chowdhury who has been honoured by the Sahitya Kala Academy and various other socio-cultural organisations, has written about the sense of alienation of the descendents of those who helped the British pioneer the tea plantation in Assam.
Several books have been written on the struggles and exploitation of the people involved in the development of the state’s tea estates and some of these have been filmed by Bollywood and Assamese movie makers. However, Dr. Chowdhury’s ‘MAKAM’ is a totally different novel from others written so far. The children of the indentured labour brought to the then Assam with false promises from Santhal Paranas, Adivasi areas of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and other areas are now a political force and are pampered by all political parties for their votes. But there are others in the beginning of the 18th century who were smuggled out from poverty stricken areas of underdeveloped China, the land where tea was first grown. Many Chinese people with tea seeds and tea saplings were stealthily brought by the British East India Company for their know - how.
Dr. Chowdhury came to Makum near Dibrugarh about four years ago to conduct research for the story. She says that the migration of Chinese labourers during the British period had immensely contributed not only to the tea industry, but also to many other sectors of Indian society. They married into local families thus creating a new community called Indian Chinese who were bonded to the Indian soil and its socio-cultural milieu. They rose to prosperity by dint of hard labour and skill deployment oblivious of the tragedy which occurred during the Chinese invasion in 1962 forcing them to separation from their families and harassment by the law enforcement agencies.
This is the theme of her 17th novel. Speaking to media persons in the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in New Delhi on November 22nd, she said that the Chinese War changed their life, although they had nothing to do with the war and had also forgotten their roots in the homeland of their ancestors. Overnight they became suspects due to their ethnicity. The Government of India on mere suspicion arrested most of them and put them in Dibrugarh and other jails following the outbreak of the war. A sizable number of them were taken to faraway Deoli Internment Camp in Rajasthan. Since their mother stock was India, it was difficult to identify them as Chinese or Non-Chinese. Some were arrested and others were left out. Families were divided and relatives were split from their near and dear ones.
Their properties were seized under the Enemy Property Act and they were packed off almost penniless. After the Chinese war ended and a ceasefire declared, most of the captives in Deoli Interment Camp were deported to China. Many of them left behind their spouses and children who have grown up in India. After the war, many of those who could not be deported to China were released from jail and were settled in their original places. However, their property had been auctioned off as enemy property.
In ‘MAKAM’, Dr. Chowdhury narrates how the deported Indian Chinese have rebuilt their lives from scratch. They suffer from the trauma of what had befallen them in the wake of the Indo – Sino war. Although their country of birth declared them enemies and perso non-grata, they remember India as their ‘jaman jaga’ or motherland. After deportation to China, they were not happy and left for other countries. However, they cannot forget their roots in the Northeastern state of Assam where their forefathers contributed immensely to the development of tea estates.
The author regrets that although 38 years have elapsed since the war ended, the Central and state governments have not taken any positive steps to rectify this historical injustice. However, the Government has decided to amend the Enemy Property Act and Dr. Chowdhury hopes the unfortunate Assamese Chinese communities will also be brought under its purview.