PM Modi’s Claim On Assam And East Pakistan: What The 1946 Cabinet Mission Plan Reveals

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently revived a long-standing historical debate by stating that the Congress leadership was willing to allow Assam to be merged with East Pakistan during the final years of British rule. While unveiling a statue of Assam’s first Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi in Guwahati, Modi credited him with defying his own party to prevent Assam from being separated from India. To understand this claim, it is necessary to revisit the political developments of 1946, particularly the Cabinet Mission Plan and the responses it triggered within the national leadership.

As the Second World War ended and Britain’s ability to govern India weakened, independence became inevitable. The challenge before British authorities was to devise a framework that would manage the transfer of power while addressing the growing demand of the Muslim League for a separate nation. In March 1946, the British government sent a three-member Cabinet Mission to India to propose a constitutional structure that could hold the country together while accommodating regional and communal concerns.

The Cabinet Mission proposed a three-layered system of governance. At the top would be a weak central union responsible for defence, foreign affairs, and communications. Below it would be autonomous provinces, grouped into regional blocs with significant powers. These groups were designed in a way that brought together provinces with Muslim majorities, but one grouping also combined Assam with Bengal. This particular arrangement caused deep anxiety in Assam, as Bengal had a large Muslim population and was expected to become part of Pakistan.

Although the Congress broadly accepted the idea of a federal structure to preserve India’s unity, leaders in Assam strongly opposed being placed in a group with Bengal. Gopinath Bordoloi, who was then the Chief Minister of Assam, feared that this grouping could eventually force the province into East Pakistan against the wishes of its people. The Assam Provincial Congress Committee formally rejected the proposal, warning that it would sacrifice Assam’s political and cultural identity.

Before taking a firm stand, Bordoloi sought guidance from Mahatma Gandhi. Two senior Congress leaders from Assam met Gandhi and explained their concerns. Gandhi’s response was unambiguous. He advised Assam’s leaders to reject the plan outright, even if it meant opposing the Congress high command. He insisted that Assam must not surrender its autonomy or accept domination by Bengal under any circumstances. Gandhi went so far as to say that if Assam failed to resist at that moment, it would lose its very soul.

Jawaharlal Nehru also did not support forcing Assam into any arrangement it opposed. While he believed the Cabinet Mission Plan was designed to appease Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League, Nehru made it clear that provincial consent was essential. In letters written to Bordoloi in mid-1946, Nehru acknowledged that Assam was right in rejecting the grouping and assured him that the Congress would not agree to any decision imposed against the province’s will.

Publicly too, Nehru maintained that Assam had clearly expressed its opposition to joining Pakistan. In interviews and press interactions, he repeatedly stated that regions like Assam, the North-West Frontier Province, West Bengal, and parts of Punjab did not support the idea of Pakistan and therefore could not be legitimately included in it. His press conference in July 1946, where he suggested that provinces were not bound permanently by groupings under the Cabinet Mission Plan, effectively undermined the proposal and led to its collapse.

Ultimately, the Cabinet Mission Plan failed, paving the way for the partition of India in 1947. Assam remained within India, largely due to sustained resistance from its provincial leadership and the moral backing provided by Gandhi and Nehru. Prime Minister Modi’s recent remarks highlight this episode to underline Bordoloi’s role in safeguarding Assam’s place in India, a contribution that had received relatively limited national attention for decades.