Pseudo liberal intellectuals are supporting the Congress and opposition propaganda that implementation of the CAA-NRC exercise will single out poor Indian Muslims who will be sent to detention camps for failing to produce adequate documents proving their ancestry. Not just that these fears are imaginary, they remind us of a forgotten incidence happened in 1962, under the watch of the Nehru government, where an entire community in Assam was sent to detention camps in Rajasthan for three years. Last week, while vacationing in Assam, I met one such person, who is a victim of government’s highhandedness, insensitivity and neglect for more than five decades. This story is of John Wong, who belongs to a minuscule community of Indians of Chinese origin.
Assam was on the boil due to enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The Mohanbari airport of Dibrugarh was closed for operations for three days. Airlines issued the full refund to passengers who had bookings up to 15th December. We landed in Dibrugarh in the morning of 16th Dcember and rushed to Arunachal Pradesh, which was unaffected by the protests. As the situation started to normalise, we paid a quick visit to Digboi and Margheritta on 21st December. A friend, who has spent several years in the North-East as an activist, strongly recommended us to visit Makum Junction and neighboring Chinese colony locally known as Cheena Patti. He told us that he read about a novel named “Makam” by Rita Chowdhury, which is a fictionalised historical account of the Chinese Assamese people in North-East India.
When I asked my Assamese car driver to stop at the train station, he said that he lives in Makum and there is nothing to see at the train station. Yes, there is a Cheena-Patti area but no Chinese people live there. As far as he remembered, there is only one Chinese house left. I insisted and drove to the train station as well as the lane opposite to it. However, like he said, I found nothing ‘Chinese’ over there. Later that day, as a sheer coincidence, we went to a Chinese restaurant named ‘Hong Kong’ in Tinsukia. When I found that the restaurant was established in 1970, I enquired with the staff, if it belongs to a Chinese owner. It actually did. The owner, John Wong had gone out for some work. I approached him when he returned. I told him that I had come from Mumbai and was curious about the Chinese settlement in Makum. He requested us to finish our meals and in the meanwhile came with a photo album. His tragic story tells us how an entire community was punished for no fault of theirs. It was done by the Nehru government, which is presented to us as a shining example of democracy and liberalism.
British colonial officers forcibly brought Chinese people to Assam in the 19th centiry to work in the tea plantations. They intended to break the Chinese monopoly on tea cultivation and trade, and were under an impression that every Chinese person knew how to grow tea. After realising their mistake, the Chinese were replaced by tribals like Santhals and Oraons from the present-day Jharkhand. The Chinese people stayed there and prospered in several occupations such as carpentry, saw-mills and agriculture. More people came in for jobs and trade as Burma was part of the British India and whole region was buzzing with economic activity. Wong’s grandfather came to India in 1930s and owned a saw-mill. The Chinese civil war in the first half of the 20th century and devastating earthquake in 1950 brought more people. Makum, which means a meeting point in Chinese language, became a China town. It had Chinese architecture buildings, a Chinese school, a club and other institutions. The Chinese families in Makum were well to do and were socially respected as Sahibs. As Pandit Nehru’s government laid great emphasis to strengthen the Sino-Indian relations, and gave a call ‘Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai’ , the Chinese origin people were having good times. Over a period of time, they had integrated with India and began to speak a mix of Assamese and Chinese. At one point, there were close to 2000 Chinese people in Makum.
The leadership of Pandit Nehru and Defense Minister V Krishna Menon ignored warnings from leaders like Sardar Patel to Veer Savarkar and blindly trusted the Chinese. The dream of Hindi-Chini brotherhood was shortlived as Mao’s China annexed Tibet, claimed 40000 sq miles territory in Ladakh and NEFA, and built a 179 km road through India’s Aksai Chin, connecting Xinjiang with western Tibet. India responded with a ill thought and prepared forward policy. The chapter culminated into a brief China-India war and India’s humiliating defeat in 1962.
In devastation and despair; the Nehru government found a scapegoat in the Indian community of Chinese origin. It acted swiftly and rounded up most of the members of the community in the border region on suspicion of spying for China. They were not given a chance to prove their innocence. Wong told that us that his father had a favourite wrist watch, which he used to wear all the time. When they were rounded up, his father wasn’t even allowed to pick up that watch lying on the table. They were transported to Deoli detention camp in Rajasthan, which was built in a cowshed. A few members were deported to China, in a ship sent by the Chinese government. Remaining, spent three years in the camp. John Wong was one of them. One day, they were told that they were free to go but on condition that they had to go back to China. After a month, when more than 80% people had left India, the government changed its position and allowed them to stay back in India. Wong is among the handful families that went back to Makum to start a new life. However, they found that their properties and land were encroached. A Hindi medium school was built on top of the Chinese school. Earlier, they were respected. On their return, they were suspected. They were advised to marry with Indians so that they would be trusted again. After Rita Chowdhary’s book, government set an enquiry commission. However, until the date, no compensation is given to the community for its suffering. According to Wong, today only handful persons from his community live in Dibrugargh-Tinsukia, but they vote in Indian elections without failing. They had problems in getting their names in the first NRC conducted in Assam as they were not able to take anything with them to the detention camp. However, in the second NRC, letters issued to them in the detention centers were accepted as legitimate proof of their residence. John Wong has successfully rebuilt his life. His restaurant will celebrate the Golden Jubilee next year. However, his story raises questions about the conduct of the Nehru government. Now, political leaders who claim Pandit Nehru’s legacy are running a propaganda campaign that the proposed CAA and NRC will result into transporting poor Indian Muslims to detention centers. Do they have a moral right? While traveling in the North-East you hear many such stories.
Anay Joglekar is a political commentator. Writes on national and international issues. Has authored a book on India’s Foreign Policy in the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
@anayjoglekar Twitter Handle
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