Freedom Fighter, Parliamentarian, Writer: How Hem Barua Always Found the Time

This article is part of a series by The Wire titled ‘The Early Parliamentarians’, exploring the lives and work of post-independence MPs who have largely been forgotten. The series looks at the institutions they helped create, the enduring ideas they left behind and the contributions they made to nation building.

A poet, an orator, a journalist, a freedom fighter and a parliamentarian, Hem Barua was a multifaceted personality. He straddled the worlds of politics, literature and education, demonstrating that politics and literature can co-exist and flourish when fuelled by an undying will to serve the people. His politics as well as his literary contributions were aimed at serving the common people.

Barua excelled as a parliamentarian. He made his mark in the Lok Sabha from 1957 to 1970 and was counted among the top ten parliamentarians by The Times of India and the Hindustan Times, alongside stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru, G.B. Pant and Hiren Mukherjee. During this period, he gave more than 850 speeches in parliament on a wide array of subjects, ranging from the Vietnam War to the damming of the Brahmaputra river. His questions were so incisive and detailed that once, Nehru complained to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha that he could only follow "the tail of it".

Barua came down heavily on corruption in politics. His masterly exposure of the workings of the oil ministry led to the resignation of the then minister, K.D. Malaviya, in 1963.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

According to his son, Anjan Barua, “His day would start around 7:30 a.m. with a cup of tea and the morning newspapers. As he read the newspapers, he would mark important news items as 'Home', 'Foreign Affairs', 'Education', 'Chemicals and Fertilisers', etc., and give the newspapers to my mother. Then he would prepare the questions to be raised in the Parliament that day. In the early stages, he would write them by hand, but later, when he bought a typewriter, he typed them himself. Then it was a quick bath, yoga, breakfast, and off to the Parliament by 10 am. Sometimes he would take a bus, but on other days, he would walk. After the morning session, Hem Barua would rush to the Parliament library and spend lunchtime there reading books. Most of the important debates occurred in the afternoon, and he would go back to the House for the debates. On most days, he would be home by 5 pm, and immediately start replying to the letters he received during the day. By 6:30 pm, he and Ma would go for a walk and return by 8 pm. We all had dinner at 9 pm while listening to the radio news. When he was an MP, he used to spend about seven months in Assam and about five months in Delhi when the Parliament was in session.”

Barua was born on April 22, 1915, in Tezpur, Assam. After finishing his schooling, he went to Calcutta and obtained an MA degree from Calcutta University. In 1941, he joined Jorhat’s J.B. College as a lecturer in Assamese and English. The job lasted just over a year, as he was arrested during the Quit India Movement and incarcerated in Jorhat jail for three years. After his release from jail, he joined B. Barua College in Guwahati, which was then a night college located in the Kamrup Academy School. He took over as principal of the college from the late Gopinath Bordoloi (the first chief minister of Assam) and continued at the helm until 1967.

He was a member of the Congress party, which he left in 1948 to join the Socialist Party led by Acharya Narendra Deva, Jayaprakash Narayan and Rammanohar Lohia. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Guwahati in 1957 as a candidate of the Praja Socialist Party. He was elected to the Lok Sabha two more times – in 1962 from Guwahati and in 1967 from Mangaldoi. In 1971, he became the editor of Assam Express, an English daily from Assam.

Education seemed to be in his bloodstream. Despite his busy schedule in Delhi, he made time to teach some staff in parliament the English language. In fact, an MP from Haryana once felt that to be effective in parliament, one had to know the English language, and he too came to Barua for English classes.

Although Barua's entry into national politics was accidental, his entry into the literary world was a result of serious dedication. As he himself said, “I am doing politics for this life and pursuing my literary interests for the next.” He was already considered one of the pioneers of modern Assamese poetry. Even after becoming an MP, he continued pursuing his literary interests.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

In 1954, his famous work The Red River and the Blue Hills was published and became an instant success. As scholar Krishna Kanta Handique wrote, "The Red River and the Blue Hills by Principal Hem Barua is a cultured introduction to Assam, well-conceived and written in a pleasant style. It gives in a succinct form much useful information on a wide variety of topics – history, literature, races, and political development. This is the kind of book one would like to recommend to anyone who desires to know something about Assam and its problems."

Barua was one of the few authors who wrote both in English and Assamese. In fact, he brought the outside world to the Assamese reader and likewise introduced Assam to the outside world. His books The Red River and The Blue Hills, Modern Assamese Poetry, Folk Songs of India, and Assamese Literature are some of the works he wrote in English. Likewise, his four travelogues introduced the Assamese reader to the outside world. His poems broke the shackles of traditional formats and encouraged a whole new generation of budding poets.

Despite his busy schedule, Barua read voraciously. He always said, “We’ve all got excuses not to read. One who loves to read will find time for it.” He was perhaps inspired by Nehru, whom he referred to as “The World’s busiest man,” and yet Nehru found time to read. As Barua later recalled, “It was 10:45 am, April 17, 1962. I presented Panditji two of my books – The Red River and the Blue Hills and Idle Hours. I felt elated when he took the books to the House floor and began reading. The House was in session, but he was engrossed in reading. A year later, on April 23, 1963, I gifted him another book of mine – The Folk Songs of India. Taking the book from my hand, he mentioned the books I had presented to him the previous year, especially Idle Hours, and began a discussion. I couldn’t hide my curiosity and asked him, 'Mr. Prime Minister, how do you remember so many things? When do you get the time to read? You are extremely busy.' To this, Nehru replied with a chuckle, 'Hem, when do you get the time to write? You are no less busy.'"

Former Rajya Sabha MP Kumar Deepak Das recalled how Nehru always gave Barua a patient ear despite the fact that he was an opposition leader and even invited him over for breakfast.

When Barua was first elected to the Lok Sabha, a friend said to him, “On the one hand, I am happy that you won the elections, but on the other hand, I am not. You will now turn your back on literary pursuits.” He proved his friend wrong, and some of his best works were written during his time in New Delhi.

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan once said to him, “I am glad that you write, Hem. Nothing ultimately lasts except your writings.” He was invited as a state guest to countries like Russia, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Israel and the United Kingdom. Based on his travel experiences, he wrote three popular travelogues: Ronga Korobir Phul, Israel, and Mekong Noi Dekhilu. In 1972, Hem Barua became the president of Asom Sahitya Sabha.

From leading movements for the oil refinery, the Brahmaputra Bridge, and the establishment of the Railway Headquarters at Guwahati to leading the Satyagraha at the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat, Hem Barua continued to write both in Assamese and English and published a large number of books and articles. He accomplished all this and more.

Barua passed away on April 9, 1977, at the age of 62.

Qurban Ali is a trilingual journalist who has covered some of modern India’s major political, social and economic developments. He has a keen interest in India’s freedom struggle and is now documenting the history of the socialist movement in the country.

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