BIJOY KRISHNA HANDIQUE

Personal Life & Political Career

Bijoy Krishna Handique (1 December 1934 – 26 July 2015) was an Indian politician who was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Jorhat constituency of Assam and was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He was the only son of Krishna Kanta Handique, a renowned Indologist. B K Handique was a senior Member of Parliament from the North Eastern Region and represented the Jorhat Lok Sabha, Assam for six consecutive terms since 1991 to 2009. He also served as a Rajya Sabha member from 1980 to 1986. He had been elected to the Assam State Assembly in 1971 from the Jorhat Town constituency.

Biography

Early life and education

Handique studied English literature at Presidency College, Calcutta (now Kolkata). He went on to complete M.A. in English from the University of Calcutta.

He attended Jorhat Government Boys’ Higher Secondary School in his formative years.

In Class VII, he joined the local Students' Congress, during India's freedom movement. There, he mobilised other students in a 'Vote for Congress' campaign, before the Assam provincial elections of 1945. He organised literary circles for talks around freedom. This was much against the wishes of his father, who then wanted him to pursue a career in academics.

He became a member of Youth Congress formally in 1961.

1962: School

In the early 1960s, Handique became concerned about the lack of an English medium school in the vast Upper Assam area. This led him to eventually establish the Hemlata Handiqui Memorial Institute [HHMI], the first English medium school in Upper Assam, in 1962. This eventually developed HHMI, which encouraged students to take up subjects as diverse as workshops on music and Shakespeare.

The task was not without its hiccups, though land for the school was purchased by Handique's family. Within months of the school starting its first classes, the Indo-China war of 1962 broke out. This created panic in Jorhat, and many teachers and students fled from the town. He assisted the Red Cross in their efforts at training and organisation.Handique donated his mother's jewellery to the war effort.

"Many people fled following the Chinese aggression and the fall of Tawang and Bomdila in the northeastern sector. There was great panic. Out first principal, J S Walters, went missing. He left without notice, taking only his bicycle with him. Due to fears of a full scale war, the school was closed for a month."

In 2012, the school celebrated its 60th anniversary. Handique composed a song for the occasion, set to tune by a former student.

Controversies

In February 2014, before the Lok Sabha elections, some sections of Assamese media carried scurrilous reports suggesting that Handique had been an inactive member of Parliament, asking "Only one question in his 22 years in Parliament." Handique responded to this, pointing out that his Parliamentary interventions amounted to nearly 1,000 pages of printed matter, as collected in A LIfe in Parliament. [better source needed] The media was then forced to print his entire rebuttal, thereby admitting to their errors.

Personal life

Handique married Swarup Rani Borgohain in 1965. He had three married daughters and two grandchildren. In retirement, He was an occasional poet and whole time environmentalist. He was deeply interested in ornithology and conservation.

Awards and accolades

Handique was conferred the Venu Menon National Animal Award for Leadership in Conservation in the year 2006, for his key role in conservation of rare birds.

Books

Handique’s debates, speeches & interventions as a Parliamentarian during the last 35 years (including one term in Rajya Sabha) have been recorded in three unedited volumes:[22]

•     A Life in Parliament: Volume 1 (Rajya Sabha 1980-1986)
•     A Life in Parliament: Volume II (Lok Sabha 1991-2004)
•     A Life in Parliament: Volume III (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha 2004-2014)

The three volumes, which run into nearly 1,000 pages, contain debates on a wide range of topics related to Assam, the Northeast and the nation.