Dr SACHCHIDANAND SINHA 
KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY
71 years have passed
since Sachchidanand Sinha left us on this day for his heavenly abode in the
year 1950. As we remember him today on his 72nd death anniversary, I
take a leaf out from his life which gives a glimpse of his political relations
with Krishna Ballabh Sahay. Sachchidanand Sinha was one of the three leaders who
mentored Krishna Ballabh Sahay- Dr Rajendra Prasad and Sri Krishna Sinha were
the other two.
The name of Sachchidanand
Sinha has been erased from the memory of a whole nation though he is regarded
as the 'Founder of Bihar’. The history of modern Bihar begins with
Sachchidanand Sinha whose efforts led to the creation of a separate state of
Bihar. There is an interesting anecdote
related to this. In 1893 Dr Sachchidanand Sinha was on his way back from London
after completing his studies, when a Punjabi advocate on board the same ship
asked him which native state he belonged to. ‘Bihar’- was Sachchidanand Sinha’s
brief reply. The advocate was puzzled to hear this. ‘But we do not have any
state by the name Bihar in India’? - He questioned. ‘You will find this State
in near future’- was Sinha’s cryptic reply. The Bihari youths in police service
during those days had to wear the badge of ‘Bengal Police’ which offended Sachchidanand
Sinha a lot. He took up the cause of Bihar and strongly advocated the case of a
separate state of Bihar. His concerted efforts led to the creation of a
separate State of Bihar after bifurcation of Bengal in 1912. Sachchidanand
Sinha finds the same place in Bihar as Raja Ram Mohan Roy finds in Bengal. He
was the leading light of renaissance in Bihar.
The Bengalis never
reconciled with this development and they kept sulking at the division of their
State. Hence they launched a counter agitation to reunite their state. This
agitation found strength especially in the Bengali dominated districts of
Manbhum (now Dhanbad), Singhbhum and Purnea. When the Government of India Act
was passed in 1935, the issue of division of Bengal was raked up by the
disgruntled Bengalis with regard to their locus-standi in the State of
Bihar vis-à-vis the provision of Domicile in the Act.
The Bengali Press
especially ‘The Statesman’ and ‘The Modern Review’ as well as the Bengali
intelligentsia led by noted advocate P. R. Das and supported by the then Bengal
leaders strongly raised the issue of Domicile. They even exerted pressure on
Gandhiji. This conflict between the two states came to be known as the ‘Behari-Bengali
Conflict’. Almost immediately the front-rank leaders from Bihar rallied
to oppose this move. Sachchidanand Sinha, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Anugrah Narayan
Sinha, Sri Krishna Sinha etc and the Bihar Press led by ‘The Searchlight’
and its editor Sri Murali Babu and ‘The Indian Nation’ opposed
any move to reconsider the decision vociferously. In the backdrop of this
tussle the Bihar Government was asked to submit its case before the Congress. A
decision was taken by Sri Krishna Sinha’s government to rope in eminent lawyers
of the time namely Sri Bhulabhai Desai, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Sir Govind
Rao Mandgaonkar to prepare its argument. At this point of time Sachchidanand
Sinha intervened to take up the responsibility and impressed upon Dr Rajendra
Prasad to convince Sri Krishna Sinha to leave the job to him. Accordingly the matter was handed over to
Sachchidanand Sinha. However, Sachchidanand Sinha sought certain assistance
from the Bihar Government. In a letter dated 7th September 1938,
addressed to Sri Krishna Sinha he wrote ‘I shall cheerfully bear the
burden of it and shall begin the task as soon as the two conditions are
fulfilled- (1) that you must depute immediately for a few days (not more than
five) Krishna Ballabh Sahay to come over here, to assist me in sorting out and
putting in proper form the huge lot of papers and cuttings in my possession
bearing on the various points of the subject under consideration so that we may
prepare the reply and (2) also depute two stenographers for taking dictation. I
have already given Krishna Ballabh the materials on one particular subject,
with a request that he should prepare a tabular statement on which I could
dictate a note. The work to be completed is so heavy that I stand badly in need
of Krishna Ballabh’s assistance.’
Sri Krishna Sinha had
no option but to send Krishna Ballabh Sahay to Ranchi to assist Sachchidanand
Babu. The response of the Bihar Government was prepared by Sachchidanand Babu
with assistance from K. B. Sahay. Next the issue of delivering it to Dr
Rajendra Prasad came up. His health conditions did not permit Sachchidanand
Babu to travel while Dr Rajendra Prasad was not in a position to come down to
Ranchi. Hence a person was needed to deliver the document and also clarify any
possible issues raised by Dr Rajendra Prasad. Once again the mantle of this
responsibility fell on the young shoulders of Krishna Ballabh who was entrusted
with the responsibility to deliver the document and also explain to Dr Rajendra
Prasad the content of the document and clarify his doubts, if any. Krishna
Ballabh visited Wardha and handed over the document to Dr Rajendra Prasad.
Dr Rajendra Prasad placed
the document before the Congress Working Committee meeting at New Delhi on 2nd
October 1938. The Report held that the Section 298 of the Government of India
Act, 1935 in no way preclude the Provincial Government from giving preference
with regard to the appointed Beharis as against the Non-Beharis. Babu Rajendra
Prasad, however, recommended that Rules related to Domicile and other procedure
connected with it may not be enforced mechanically.
There are numerous
such occasions as the one above, as evident from scores of letters exchanged
between Sachchidanand Sinha, Dr Rajendra Prasad and Sri Krishna Sinha, when the
services of Krishna Ballabh Sahay was sought by Sachchidanand Sinha for various
official works. Sachchidannd Sinha often sojourned in Ranchi as its climate was
considered good for health. And whenever he visited Ranchi, Sinha would
invariably call on Krishna Ballabh Sahay to discuss with him various official
matters. Though Sachchidanand Babu was far older to K. B. Sahay, both in age
and experience, he appreciated Sahay’s intelligence and acknowledged it openly.
His dependency on Krishna Ballabh Sahay increased over the years. Had he
remained alive, Sachchidanand Sinha would have extended his full support to
Krishna Ballabh Sahay in his efforts to abolish zamindari- such was the
camaraderie between these two leaders.
When the issue of
selecting ‘Jana-Gana-Mana’ as the ‘National Anthem’ came up,
Sachchidanand Babu desired that the anthem should be modified to include the
name of Bihar in it as one of the State. He wrote to Dr Rajendra Prasad about
this on 21st January 1950. This was a small example of his love for
Bihar.
Dr Sachchidanand Sinha
was the first President of the Constituent Assembly. By the time the Constitution
was ready for adoption in 1950 Sachchidanand Sinha had become quite infirm to
travel. In an unprecedented historical move, Jawahar Lal Nehru insisted that
the original document of the Constitution of India be ferried to Patna to get
the signature of Sachchidanand Sinha. Accordingly the Constitution of India
came down to Patna to get Sachchidanand Sinha’s signature on it. Sachchidanand
Sinha left for his heavenly abode on 6th March 1950.
(Courtesy: National Archives, New Delhi)
No comments:
Post a Comment