Jorhat Central Club, a socio-cultural organization took an important initiative by instituting an annual award in the name of two freedom fighters, Bahadur Gaonburah and Formud Ali respectively on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti this year.
The first edition of the Bahadur Gaonburah Memorial Award was conferred on senior journalist and author, Teresa Rehman and the first Formud Ali Memorial Award was given to bamboo craftsman, Mohan Saikia. The award aims to honour people from different walks of life for their contribution to the society and the nation at large.
Both Bahadur Gaonburah and Formud Ali were close associates of Maniram Dewan. During the First War of Indian Independence, Bahadur was entrusted by Dewan with the task of mobilizing support among the masses. He was also involved in arranging arms and ammunition to carry out an armed revolt in Assam along with the disgruntled soldiers of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the British army. Dewan along with Piyoli Baruah was arrested and they were publicly executed by hanging at Jorhat jail on 26 February 1858. Bahadur was put on trial for treason along with Dewan and others by the British in Jorhat in 1858 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Bahadur along with his associates Dutiram Barua, Farmud Ali, Binoy Laskar, and Gopen Roy was among the initial batch of two hundred-odd rebels who were deported to the islands in a ship named 'Bernaje' (1859).
The construction of the prison started in 1896 and was completed in 1906. The name, "cellular jail", derived from the solitary cells which prevented any prisoner from communicating with any other. The locks of the prison cells were designed in such a way that the inmate would never be able to reach the latch of the lock. Solitary confinement was implemented as the British government of India wanted to ensure that political prisoners and revolutionaries be isolated from one another. It is also a story of the brave defiance of India’s youth.
Jorhat Central Club, set up in 1929, plans to set up a small museum in memory of these two freedom fighters with their documents and photographs etc. The names of these two freedom fighters are engraved on the walls of the Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Earlier, Bhupen Hazarika had immortalised these two freedom fighters in his soul-stirring song, 'Ramzanore Roza Gol'. “The imprisonment at the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is one of the worst possible punishment meted out by the British in order to punish the freedom fighters. We want to keep their legacy alive for future generations to cherish,” says Toufiqul Hussain, secretary of the Club.