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| DR LAKSHMI NARAYAN 'SUDHANSHU' (15 DECEMBER 1906- 17 APRIL 1974) |
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| KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY (31 DECEMBER 1898-3 JUNE 1974) |
Dr Laxmi Narayan Sudhanshu was born on 15 December
1906 in an aristocratic family at Rupaspur Purnia. He was intelligent since childhood
and had a knack for reading and writing. Keeping this in mind, his father Shri Dhanpat
Singh got him enrolled in the school at Purnia. Later he was sent off to Bhagalpur
for secondary education. He completed his higher education at Banaras Hindu
University. From the very beginning, he was interested in literature. Many of
his works were published during college life.
After completing his studies Dr Lakshmi Narayan
Sudhanshu joined the college at Deoghar as a teacher and later on was elevated to
the post of Principal of the Govardhan Sahitya Mahavidyalaya under Hindi
Vidyapeeth, Deoghar in the thirties. Dr Sudhanshu later joined the Congress and
became active in the Quit India Movement of 1942. He was elected to the Bihar
Legislative Assembly in 1946. He became the President of the Bihar Pradesh
Congress Committee in 1950. However, Dr Lakshmi Narayan Sudhanshu was primarily
an educationist and a litterateur and even during the freedom struggle and
thereafter as a member of Assembly and later on as Speaker of Bihar Vidhan
Sabha his love for literature remained intact as he continued to contribute to the
field of Hindi literature.
Krishna Ballabh Babu began his literary career as the
Chotanagpur correspondent of the Calcutta based 'Amrit Bazar Patrika' during his
student life. Later Krishna Ballabh Babu started publication of a magazine
named 'Chhotanagpur Darpan' from Hazaribagh which continued for many years.
Similarly, Dr Laxmi Narayan Sudhanshu started the publication of a weekly
named 'Rashtra-Vani' in 1939. From 1952 to 1956, Dr Sudhanshu started the
publication of the monthly literary magazine 'Avantika' in Hindi. In 1955, he
established a cultural organization in Purnea called the Kala Bhavan, where
cultural and literary programs were organized regularly. In 1961, Dr Sudhanshu
was nominated as the President of Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad. In the 1962
elections, Dr Sudhanshu won the Assembly elections from Dhamdaha on a Congress
ticket and was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Bihar Legislative
Assembly. As the Speaker of the House Dr Sudhanshu played an important role in upholding
the dignity of the House and always carried out his responsibility impartially.
During the proceedings of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, there were many
occasions when he succeeded in checking the rancour among members and normalizing
the atmosphere with his eloquence and literary acumen. He always took care that
there should be no disturbance during the proceedings of the House. Dr Sudhanshu
used to go out of his way to seek the cooperation of members of the House to maintain
the dignity of the house and often used his literary acumen to lighten the
tense atmosphere from blowing out of proportion.
During this period i.e. 1962-1967 Dr Sudhanshu
came in contact with Krishna Ballabh Sahay. Their love for literature and their
association with various newspapers and periodicals over the years brought these
two stalwarts near. Krishna Ballabh Sahay took over as the Chief Minister of
Bihar in 1963. Dr Sudhanshu was the Speaker of the House. This was a unique moment
in the history of the Bihar Legislative Assembly when the Chief Minister of the
State was a scholar of the English language and the Speaker was a scholar of
the Hindi language. During debates, Krishna Ballabh Babu used to quote extensively
the couplets by renowned Hindi poets such as Tulsidas, Bihari, Surdas, as well
as English litterateurs such as William Shakespeare and William Wordsworth with
equal ease and eloquence. Dr Sudhanshu often joined him in such debates in a
scholarly manner.
There is an interesting incident when Dr Sudhanshu
corrected K. B. Sahay’s Hindi. The Bihar Appropriation Bill 1965 was being
debated in the House and Krishna Ballabh Babu was speaking in Hindi while throwing
light on the importance of the Panchayat System. Putting his point before the
House, Krishna Ballabh Babu said- 'In my opinion, the meaning of Panchayati
Raj is to awaken the people's power in the countryside. The welfare of the
local people can be done only through Panchayat Raj. For example, in Ranchi,
the tribal population is 60-65% but there are only ten wells for them. We have
to see that justice is done to tribals and backward castes and this is possible
through Panchayati Raj. If we do something wrong then we are criticized so it
is our responsibility to do justice to them’.
Dr Laxmi Narayan Sudhanshu was taken aback to hear
'if we do wrong things' and could not stop himself from interrupting Krishna
Ballabh Sahay. He intervened to correct K.B. Sahay- ‘The Hon’ble Chief
Minister should not say 'we do something wrong'. Instead, you
should say 'when we make mistakes.' (‘आप ऐसा नहीं
कहें कि ‘हम गलत काम करते हैं’। आप यह
कहें कि ‘जब हमसे गलती होती है।’)
Krishna Ballabh Babu thanked the Speaker for
correcting his Hindi-'Hon’ble Speaker Sir, I am not a Hindi scholar, so there
may be a few mistakes in my language. I thank you for correcting me. What you
say is correct’. K. B. Sahay then went ahead to complete his speech-‘There are
Harijans and Adivasis in our state. The government has to see that justice is
done to all. Therefore Panchayati Raj has been established in four districts
and gradually it will be implemented in more districts’.
Dr Laxmi Narayan Sudhanshu was a man of few words.
He used to be precise in his address and his style of oratory was such that the
members used to get convinced by his directives. Thus Dr Sudhanshu was able to
conduct the House smoothly without any adjournment. A similar incident happened
on 2nd February 1966. Krishna Ballabh Babu was presenting the ‘Report
of the Annual Financial Statement of the State of Bihar for 1966-67’ in the
House and he was reading out from the printed report. The Report is an account
of the activities and achievements of various Ministries of the Government and the
report is replete with statistical figures highlighting the government’s achievements.
Naturally, members find such speeches quite boring. To break the monotony, some
members broke into a conversation in a hush-hush tone. Dr Laxmi Narayan
Sudhanshu was presiding over the House. He drew the attention of the members
towards the dignity of the House and appealed to them to pay attention to the
speech- 'Members are requested to maintain peace. If Members do not consider it
necessary to listen to the printed speech, even then it is necessary to maintain
silence’.
To break the monotony, Krishna Ballabh Babu sought
the Speaker’s permission to speak without referring to the printed text- 'Hon’ble,
Sir, if you so permit, I can also speak extempore without referring to the
printed text because even I find it difficult to read out from a printed text'.
The House was amazed at this request. Was it humanly possible to remember all
the facts and figures of such a vast report? This meant that Krishna Ballabh
Babu had not only read the entire report but had memorized every single figure
in it- such was the level of intelligence of K. B. Sahay.
Even Dr Laxmi Narayan Sudhanshu was left surprised
at the Chief Minister’s request. Since convention did not allow such
relaxation, therefore the Hon’ble Speaker rejected Krishna Ballabh Babu's
proposal citing the convention–'The practice of reading printed speech is followed,
so you are requested to read out of the printed speech only'.
Taking a jibe at the Hon'ble Speaker’s decision,
Kapil Dev Singh, the Praja Socialist Party MLA from Burhee commented that 'compared
to the printed speech, the extempore speech of Hon'ble Chief Minister Krishna
Ballabh Babu is better'. Krishna Ballabh Babu reassured Kapil Dev Singh that-'You
will get many opportunities to hear me speak extempore during this budget
session'. In fact, to listen to the fluent style in which Krishna Ballabh Babu spoke
and occasionally quoted lines from poems of Hindi and English poets was always
a pleasant and learning experience for the House.
During his Chief Ministership, when Krishna
Ballabh Babu visited Purnia, he participated in the programs of 'Kala Bhavan'.
In a photograph taken on the occasion, Krishna Ballabh Babu and Dr Sudhanshu
can be seen interacting with each other in a happy mood, indicating the intense
literary understanding between them.
Krishna Ballabh Babu lost the assembly election in
1967. He resumed the publication of 'Chhotanagpur Darpan' from Hazaribagh. Even
though Krishna Ballabh Babu had lost the election, he remained in touch with Dr
Sudhanshu and they used to discuss issues of common interest including
literature. In 1969, Dr Sudhanshu was nominated as the President of Bihar Hindi
Granth Academy. During their lifetime, Dr Sudhanshu and Krishna Ballabh Babu
were associated with many educational institutions. Purnea College, Deoghar
Vidyapeeth and Govardhan Sahitya Mahavidyalaya were some of the institutions of
which Dr Sudhanshu was a founding member. Similarly, Krishna Ballabh Babu strived
for the promotion of education. He established many schools and colleges in
Chotanagpur, some of which were also named after him. Krishna Ballabh Babu was
re-elected to the Bihar Legislative Council on 27 May 1974. But Dr Sudhanshu
did not live to hear this good news. He died on 17th April 1974. Krishna
Ballabh Babu also died in a highly controversial motor car accident on 3 June
the same year. Thus within a span of a couple of months, Bihar lost two of its
illustrious sons who made a mark in the field of literature and were also freedom-fighter,
educationists and a leader.
[Credits: (i) National Archives, New Delhi, (ii)
Documents of the proceedings of the Bihar Legislative Assembly)
