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A Saga from Northeast India

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By Bijoya Sawian

My father passed away in Shillong on a beautiful July morning with the lagostromia outside his room blazing a dazzling purple.

The days of mourning according to the tradition of his family were meticulously executed with not a detail missed for that was my mother’s wish. He was a Hindu and my mother practiced Ñiam Khasi, the indigenous faith of the Khasis of Meghalaya. They respected each other’s culture and faith and were totally committed to duty and responsibility. That was, perhaps, the basis for the joy and success in their lives.

I remember the day clearly, the day this book began. During one of the rituals, while my brother was readying to leave for Haridwar, holding the urn containing my father’s last remains, he quietly remarked, “Imagine, this is all that remains of Papa.”

Father, as Lt Gen RK Nanavatty (Retd), puts it, “was an uncommon man with a larger than life persona”. In that poignant split second, I knew my brother had made a decision.

So, that was when it all began, the biography ‘From Sylhet to Shillong, the Story of the Last IGP of Undivided Assam’.

In April 2020, soon after lockdown, Bijon asked me to work on the book. He provided me with the official details of my father’s tenures in the Army and Police. Then we started on a journey backwards to our childhood along with our siblings and cousins, aunts and numerous friends and relatives. We searched our minds and our hearts struggling to recapture moments lost in time. Our elders and his colleagues were all gone but the few who were still with us shared their memories generously. This included his aging staff who say they pray to him when in trouble and find great comfort in it. Their stories are an integral part of the book. Others read the edition which the family published to commemorate father’s 100th birth anniversary in December 2020 and wrote back to us.

I thank each one of them and I share the excerpts with you.

Sudipta Bhattacharjee, eminent journalist and adjunct professor Brainware, Kolkata, writes “Bijoya Sawian’s heart-warming book on her father, late Lala BK Dey, the last IG Police of Undivided Assam, a stalwart among men, is written in her signature style: lucid prose with meaningful reminiscences of an epic journey of a remarkable migrant family.

It charts the life of her father and his forefathers. This volume is truly a treasure trove of anecdotal delight with the narrative spanning the social and political history of the area in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries including World War II and the Partition of India.”

Mrs KPS Gill, Herminder Gill reminiscences, “My first meeting with Mr Dey was at Dergaon, during a visit by the Governor. My husband, KPS Gill, was the Additional Superintendent of Police at Dibrugarh. I was a new bride and had recently arrived in Assam after our marriage. It was here that I was introduced to Mr Dey. Our first encounter was brief and superficial, but his impact on me was immediate. Mr Dey was personable, handsome with a great sense of style and, most importantly, a thorough gentleman, considerate, courteous, tremendously at ease. Over time, we would grow much closer to him and his family, but this first impression was only to be reinforced with every meeting and interaction.

Through his life, my husband found few individuals who he frankly and openly admitted an admiration for, and Mr Dey was one among this very small number. Mr Gill often spoke about Mr Dey’s leadership, his penchant, at once, for military discipline (owing to his army background) and for compassion towards subordinates, as well as, crucially, his capacity for clear articulation of commands and the unambiguous delegation of authority.

In the years that Mr Dey was the Inspector General of Police (then the highest rank in the State Police Force), first of undivided Assam, and then of Assam, after full statehood was granted to Meghalaya in 1972, the state saw frequent and widespread disturbance, particularly as a result of the anti-outsider movement. Mr Dey came to rely increasingly on my husband to handle the most troubling of situations, and always trusted him implicitly, giving him complete independence to respond as he thought best to the crises on the ground. It was a pattern of operation that allowed two strong personalities to interact without friction, and to produce extraordinary results in very difficult times.

They also got along very well because they shared a deep interest in literature and poetry. Mr Dey was a very educated, erudite man. He was an old-world gentleman, civilized, cultured, with a great love for horses and riding. Mr Dey was also old school as far as crime and investigation were concerned. He was a stickler for the integrity of process and, as PC Sharma, another of my husband’s ASPs at that time (and who eventually retired as Director, Central Bureau of Investigation), insisted on correct reporting in crime situations. Police reports were often ambiguous, but he always insisted on short, crisp and accurate reports.

He was exceptional in his concern for the rank and file of the Force. He did a lot of work in the Police Reserves, ensuring that his men and their families were well looked after, and this, again, was a trait he shared with my husband, who always insisted that the quality of command could be judged by the welfare of the lowest ranks.”

From the world of academics, M Assaduddin, Dean and Advisor to the Vice Chancellor of Jama Milia University commented, “The book is an intimate account of a real-life hero, penned by his illustrious daughter. Lucidly written, it chronicles the life and circumstances of Lala Bimalendu Kumar Dey, the journey of his family from Sylhet to Shillong, his embracing of a new culture and language, his glorious stint in the British Indian army and his extraordinary dedication to service as the IGP of undivided Assam with its multi-ethnic and multilingual population and picturesque landscapes. It is also the story of a great family whose lineages go back to the erstwhile Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. What shines through in the author’s account of her father is the portrait of an extraordinary human being who not only embodied professional excellence and probity but touched and transformed the lives of many who came in contact with him. Bijoya Sawian’s narrative is gripping; her limpid and translucent prose and her vivid descriptions bring alive the culture, the landscape and the people.”

Amar Pratap Singh, ex-Chief of CBI, who launched the biography on December 16 at the Valley of Words International Literature Festival in Dehradun wrote, “Lala BK Dey is a legend in the Assam Police, and I heard many stories of his exploits when I spent two years on deputation with the Meghalaya Police in the latter half of the 1990s. Some of these are detailed in this book. The Northeast has had a very turbulent history, especially during the period BK Dey was the IG, and yet he spent 8 years as the top cop in this region.

While I did not know him personally, I have worked under two of the finest IPS officers who were trained by him: Mr DNS Srivastava and Mr PC Sharma, who was one of my predecessors as Director, CBI. Mr KPS Gill, who needs no introduction and was one of the finest IPS Officers, was also trained by him.

To any reader who is interested in the history and culture of the Northeast, this book is a must read. My congratulations to Bijoya for putting it all together and paying a fitting tribute to a legendary police officer.”

I am grateful to Speaking Tiger Books for this valuable publication and for choosing the title of the book.

My father was a proud Sylheti. He was seven years old when his father, a lawyer, decided to leave Sylhet and settle in Shillong. This was in 1927.

I begin this labour of love with the still being researched mystery of a child who was rescued during the Battle of Plassey in 1757…

From Sylhet to Shillong is available in the local book stores, Natraj and Book World and on Amazon.

(Bijoya Sawian is a translator and writer who lives in Shillong and Dehradun. She studied at Seng Khasi High School and Loreto Convent in Shillong, and did her Masters in English at Miranda House, Delhi, after graduating in English Literature from Lady Shri Ram College. Her works essentially deal with the life and culture of the Khasi community of North East India. The Teachings of Elders, Khasi Myths, Legends and Folktales and About One God are three of several books that she has translated from Khasi into English. Several institutes of repute, including the Sahitya Akademi and the Institute of Folklore Studies, Bhopal, have published her short stories and critical essays. Her original works in English include A Family Secret and Other Stories.)