Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, the great socialist thinker and freedom fighter of India became the medium to connect the Northeast

Abhishek Ranjan Singh. Today is the 55th death anniversary of India’s great socialist thinker, freedom fighter and visionary Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia. Incidentally, this year is also the 65th year of Dr. Lohia’s Urvashiyam campaign. On this occasion, let us know about some untold incidents about Urvashiyam i.e. Northeast. The British named the present Arunachal Pradesh and its adjoining Northeast as NEFA (North East Frontier Agency), which continued even after independence. Despite being part of India, special permission or permit was required to enter those areas. This system continued in independent India also. How could Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a tireless warrior fighting for civil rights, have accepted this inequality law of the British era. There was no glimpse of Indian culture and civilization from anywhere in the name NEFA given to the British, due to which they named it Urvashiyam. Urvashiyam is inspired by Apsara Urvashi, an icon of beauty. He gave this name to this area keeping in mind the natural beauty and panoramic views of the Northeast.

Dr. Lohia not only expressed concern about the rights of the citizens there, but also inspired them to go there and fight for their rights. For this, he entered there without a permit and gave arrest. On his arrest, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was asked in Parliament by the leaders of the Socialist Party, “What is the meaning of the arrest of Dr. Lohia on the issue of public interest in independent India?” To this Nehru replied, “Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia should have gone to Urvashiyam with a permit.”

After all, what was the crime committed by the people of the Northeast that they had to remain in bondage even after two decades of independence. On the question of civil liberties in Urvashiyam, Dr. Lohia first entered NEFA on November 12, 1958 without permission. He went to Tezpur, Jairampur, Tinsukia, Naugaon, Shillong, Lohit, Margarita, Barak Ghati, Dibrugarh etc. places of Lohit Division without permit and addressed public meetings. This led to his arrest and he was returned to Bairang from the border of NEFA. A year later, in November 1959, he again entered NEFA areas without a permit. Addressing many public meetings in those areas, he taught the lessons of civil liberties and civil disobedience to the people of the Northeast.

Dr. Lohia used the name Urvashiyam mainly for the north-east border areas bordering China, Bhutan and Myanmar (then Burma). In the south it was bordered by Assam and Nagaland. It was earlier called NEFA. This is present day Arunachal Pradesh. It was made a Union Territory anew in 1972 and given full statehood in 1987. In 1972, when it was being renamed again, if the then government wanted, it could have named it Urvashiyam, paying tribute to Dr. Lohia. But kept the name Arunachal Pradesh. Of course, Arunachal is a good name, but Dr. Lohia had far-reaching thinking behind naming Urvashiyam. This would have completely nullified China’s claim on Arunachal, as Dr. Lohia was the first politician to vehemently point out that Urvasium was fully annexed to India. The story of Urvashi is part of the folk culture there and the legend is also prevalent in the so-called NEFA that Rukmini, the wife of Lord Krishna, was actually from the Mishmi tribe of the same area.

It was due to the struggles of Dr. Lohia that Arunachal got freedom from the British colonial term NEFA. He fought for civil liberties as well as for those people and areas which are still considered neglected. Even after 75 years of independence, the states of the North-East are looked upon with a sense of disregard. Dr. Lohia was the first politician of that period and independent India to express affinity towards those areas. In the 65th year of Urvashiyam Abhiyan, the governments should make the map of the all-round development of the Northeast based on the dreams of Dr. Lohia.

[अध्यक्ष, डा. राममनोहर लोहिया रिसर्च फाउंडेशन]