FredricKeeton9: Made info.

2026-05-02T12:06:10Z

Made info.

New page

{{Short description|1939 cabinet in the Indian province of Assam}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2026}}

{{Infobox government cabinet
| date_formed = 17 November 1939
| date_dissolved = 24 December 1941
| government_head = [[Muhammed Saadulah]]
| state_head = [[Robert Reid (civil servant)|Robert Reid]]
| state_head_title = Governor
| government_head_title = Prime Minister
| political_parties = *'''[[Assam Valley Party]]'''
*'''[[All-India Muslim League]]'''
| predecessor = [[First Bordoloi ministry (Assam Province)|Bordoloi I]]
| successor = [[Governor's Rule]]
| image = Syed Saadulla.jpg
}}

The '''Second Saadulah provincial government''' was the Cabinet of [[Assam Province]] headed by [[Chief Minister of Assam|Prime Minister of Assam]] [[Muhammed Saadulah]] from 1939 to 1941.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saadulah government |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/50847/10/10_chapter%201.pdf}}</ref>

== History ==
Following the resignation of the [[First Bordoloi provincial government|Bordoloi government]], [[Muhammed Saadulah]] formed a coalition government. The previous government had resigned in objection to the [[World War II|Second World War]], but Saadulah was a support of the British.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Baruah |first=Amlan |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Assam_State_Gazetteer/xy5uAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Assam State Gazetteer |last2=Choudhury |first2=S. B. Roy |date=1999 |publisher=Editor-in-Chief, District Gazetteers, Government of Assam |language=en}}</ref>

In December 1941, Congress leaders including Bordoloi were released from prison and became determined to remove Saadulah from his position.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Saigal |first=Sima |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Second_World_War_and_North_East_Indi/vYNlEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=The Second World War and North East India: Shadows of Yesteryears |date=2022-04-11 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-56363-4 |language=en}}</ref>

In protest against a government circular for the participation of students in a War Fund Exhibition,<ref name=":0" /> around 2500 students<ref name=":1" /> of Cotton College staged a protest at Guwahati Judge Field on 6 December. Police attacked students with a ''[[Baton charge|lathi]]'' charge.<ref name=":0" /> Numerous schools and colleges were on three-day sympathy strikes in Assam, as well as in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]].<ref name=":1" /> Education Minister [[Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri]] resigned on 9 December<ref name=":1" /> in protest against the police action.<ref name=":0" />

Before his resignation, Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri had entered into a secret pact with Bordoloi in which Congress would support Chaudhuri in a forming a stable government but would be neutral in matters related to the war effort. Another condition in the agreement was that the executive officers responsible for the ''lathi'' charge would be suspended. [[Assam Pradesh Congress Committee|President of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee]] Muhammad Tayabulla opposed Bordoloi in this agreement, having voiced his disapproval of Chaudhuri's association with the War front, but Bordoloi persisted.<ref name=":1" />

On 9 December, the same day as Chaudhuri's resignation, five independent members (allied to Congress) tabled motions of no-confidence against the Saadulah government, and three of the motions were moved. Saadulah was determined to continue on, but with more legislators leaving him, he was left with no option but to resign.<ref name=":1" /> Saadulah announced the resignation of his cabinet on 12 December.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=Suresh K. |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Documents_on_North_East_India_Assam_1936/LxqMU0dv2O4C?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Documents on North-East India: Assam (1936-1957) |date=2006 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=978-81-8324-090-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Governor [[Robert Reid (civil servant)|Robert Reid]] met Bordoloi on 18 December<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rao |first=V. Venkata |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Century_of_Government_and_Politics_in/wm9DAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Rohini%20Kumar%20Chaudhuri%20governor%20war |title=A Century of Government and Politics in North East India, 1874-1980: Assam |last2=Hazarika |first2=Niru |date=1983 |publisher=S. Chand |language=en}}</ref> and asked him to form a government, but Bordoloi stated that he was unable to do so and voiced his support for Chaudhuri,<ref name=":1" /> and Bordoloi also made it clear that his support for the war would be limited".<ref name=":2" /> Reid was not supportive of this suggestion; he later had a discussion with Chaudhuri which made it "indisputably clear" to him that a ministry reliant on the support of Congress would be unstable, most prominently when a matter of war was concerned.<ref name=":2" />

Reid instead contemplated reinstalling Saadulah but Saadulah was unable to command a majority. He also explored forming an "all-party" government whose focus would be for the purpose of and during the war, but was unsuccessful.<ref name=":2" /> Consequently, with Reid having explored numerous other possibilities, Governor's rule was declared on 25 December.<ref name=":1" />

Chauduri felt that he could have formed his ministry, but it would have relied on the support of Congress. Both Reid and his successor [[Andrew Clow]] refused to accept a ministry which would have been formed on its support from a party which did not support the war effort.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Menon |first=Vapal Pangunni |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Transfer_of_Power_in_India/gk3WCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Transfer of Power in India |date=2015-12-08 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-7937-3 |language=en}}</ref>

== Ministers (1941) ==

=== Cabinet ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Name
!Portfolios
|-
|[[Muhammed Saadulah]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Indian_Information_Series/8ThQAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Indian Information Series |date=1941 |publisher=Bureau of the public information of the government of India. |language=en}}</ref>
Prime Minister
|
* Home
|-
| colspan="2" |'''Cabinet Ministers'''
|-
|[[Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri]]
|
* Education
* Prisons
|-
|[[Munawwar Ali]]
|
* Agriculture
* Veterinary
|-
|Hirendra Chandra Chakravarty
|
* Medical
* Public health
|-
|Muddabbir Hussain Chaudhuri
|
* Judicial
* Local self-government
|-
|Mahendra Nath Saikia
|
* Excise
|-
|[[Abdul Matin Chaudhury]]
|
* Public Works
* Labour
|-
|Sayidur Rahman
|
* Finance
* Revenue
* Legislation
|-
|Mavis Dunn
|
* Registration
* Industries
* Cooperative
|-
|[[Rupnath Brahma]]
|
* Forest
|}

=== Parliamentary secretaries ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Name
!Portfolios
|-
|B.K.J. Sarwan
|
* Labour
|-
|Benjamin Ch. Momin
|
* Hills tribal
|-
|Kalachand Roy
|
* Scheduled caste
|-
|Dhirsing Deuri
|
* Plains tribal
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Template:Assam ministries}}
[[Category:1939 establishments in India]]
[[Category:Assam ministries]]

Second Saadulah ministry - Revision history

FredricKeeton9: Made info.