Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi was the first man from the entire north-eastern region of the country to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award. The recognition, however, came half a century after his demise in August 1950.
Bordoloi was born on June 6,1890. His father was a medical practitioner. He took advantage of his father’s profession to understand the social needs of his many patients. He tried to share with them the feelings of their travails and suffering with sympathy. He was admitted to the Cotton Collegiate in Guwahati and passed the entrance examination at the University of Calcutta in 1907.
As a young boy, Bordoloi saw the British Empire celebrate the golden jubilee of Empress Victoria with much pomp and splendour.
At that time, Sir Surendranath Banerjee, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, Rabindranath Tagore, J.C. Bose and a few others were towering personalities in Bengal. Bordoloi was deeply influenced by them and learnt
much from being in close proximity to them. He was a brilliant student of history. And the course of events around him as a student in Calcutta seemed similar to the drama and action of his textbooks.
It was under Bordoloi’s courageous and competent leader-ship that the entire people of Assam were able to save themselves, in a completely non-violent movement. After Independence when Assam became a constituent state it had none of the required infrastructure like medical, veterinary, engineering, agricultural colleges and other institutions. Within a span of Bordoloi’s chief ministership, he fulfilled all these needs.
Not only did he succeed in uniting all the tribes, sections and sectors of people in the struggles of their existence, but helped them in achieving their immediate goals—there by giving them self-confidence and self-respect. In all spheres of development, including sports, music and performing arts he laid the basic foundations. He also laid the foundation of work culture and popular initiative in all. When he was not saddled with governmental res-ponsibilities, Bordoloi volunteered to serve as a school teacher and college professor and became the founder principal of a private college which is still highly regarded in Guwahati. He was a true Congressman of the Gandhian school.
He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1998.
