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{{Short description|Indian activist}}
{{coi|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tirtheswar Hazarika
| image = Tirtheswar Hazarika Portrait.jpg
| alt = Tirtheswar Hazarika never cut his beard after the death of Mahatma Gandhi to express his dismay at his assassination
| caption =
| birth_date = 1901
| birth_place = [[Lakhimpur District]], [[Assam]], [[India]]
| death_date = 1986
| death_place = Lakhimpur District, Assam, India
| occupation = Lawyer, freedom fighter, [[Gandhian]] activist
| party = [[Indian National Congress]]
| movement = [[Indian Independence movement]]
| spouse = Mokshada Devi
| children = 7 (incl. [[Iswar Prasanna Hazarika]])
}}

'''Tirtheswar Hazarika''' ({{Langx|as|তীৰ্থেশ্বৰ হাজৰিকা}}, 1901–1986) was a freedom fighter, lawyer and [[Gandhism|Gandhian]] activist from [[North Lakhimpur]] in the [[Northeast India|Northeast]] [[India]]n state of [[Assam]]. As a follower of Gandhi and a leader of the [[Indian National Congress]], he participated in several movements associated with India's struggle for independence that were initiated or promoted by the Congress, such as the [[Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922)|Non-Cooperation Movement]], Civil Disobedience Movement, [[Quit India Movement]] and the [[Swadeshi movement|Swadeshi Movement]]. He led the movement in the greater Lakhimpur region of Assam that included, in addition to the present-day territory of [[Lakhimpur district|Lakhimpur]], other regions, such as [[Dibrugarh district|Dibrugarh]] and [[Dhemaji district|Dhemaji]]. He faced action from the British Indian government in the form of imprisonment, seizure of property and violence.

Hazarika also participated in the Assam Movement of the early 1980s.

== Personal life and family ==
Tirtheswar Hazarika was born in the year 1901 in North Lakhimpur, a town in the eastern part of what was then the [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British Indian province]] of [[Colonial Assam|Assam]]. Hazarika was a lawyer by profession, before giving up his work as a lawyer to participate in [[India's Struggle for Independence|India's struggle for independence]]. He was married to Mokshada Devi,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Kalra |first=Siddhant |date=August 18, 2017 |title="Assam still remains isolated", rues 80-year-old freedom fighter |work=[[The Quint]] |url=https://www.thequint.com/voices/blogs/80-year-old-freedom-fighter-sad-about-isolation-of-assam-in-some-other-parts-of-the-country#read-more |access-date=October 14, 2023}}</ref> with whom he had seven children. His children include [[Iswar Prasanna Hazarika]], who himself was a freedom fighter, as well as a politician and bureaucrat.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Neog |first=Dilip Kumar |title=A Voice for Assam in Parliament |publisher=Rainbow Publications |year=2014 |isbn=978-93-82624-94-3 |location=[[Guwahati]] |pages=iii-iv}}</ref>

== Participation in the Indian Independence Movement ==
Tirtheswar Hazarika was actively involved in India's struggle for independence. At the time of his birth in 1901, India was under [[British Raj|British colonial rule]]. Hazarika was deeply influenced by the ideas of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who advocated a [[Gandhism|non-violent and passive resistance]] to British rule in India. Gandhi had returned to India from present day [[South Africa]] in January 1915,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Indian Independence Movement |url=http://www.tcnj.edu/ |access-date=29 May 2014}}</ref> when Hazarika was merely 14 years old. Having read Gandhi's philosophy, young Tirtheswar Hazarika travelled more than seventy kilometers by a bicycle to meet him in Jorhat on his first visit to Assam in 1921.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Deka |first=Kanak Chandra |title=Axomor Proyato Muktizuzarur Ziwonikux (Biographies of Freedom Fighters from Assam) |publisher=Karmabir Chandranath Sarma Memorial Trust |year=1990 |location=[[Guwahati]] |pages=585 |language=Assamese}}</ref> This was during the [[Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922)|Non-Cooperation Movement]], in which Hazarika participated. Hazarika took a leading role in the movement in the undivided [[Lakhimpur district|Lakhimpur]] region,<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Ahmed |first=Farhana |date=August 15, 2023 |title=Independence Day |work=[[The Assam Tribune]] |url=https://epaper.assamtribune.com/full-page-pdf/epaper/pdf/2023/08/15/the-assam-tribune/5193 |access-date=October 15, 2023}}</ref> as a result of which, he was imprisoned for three months<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deka |first=Kanak Chandra |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.452258 |title=Asamar Prayat Mukti-yujarur Jivani Kosh (অসমৰ প্ৰয়াত মুক্তিযুঁজাৰুৰ জীৱনী-কোষ) |publisher=Karmivir Chandra Nath Sarma Birth Centenary, Guwahati |year=1990 |page=585 |language=as}}</ref> and his property was seized by the government.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=Bixisto Byoktir Buronji (History of Prominent Personalities) |publisher=[[Assam Sahitya Sabha]] |year=1997 |location=[[Dhubri]]}}</ref> During the time of the [[Quit India Movement]] that had started in 1942, Hazarika once again took a leading role. Hazarika had by then become the president of the [[Indian National Congress]]' committee in Lakhimpur,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> which at that time also included places like [[Dibrugarh]] and [[Dhemaji]], in addition to the present territory. His personal residence became the epicenter of the movement in the region, with meetings being held and rallies being started from the location.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Due to his involvement in the movement, he was imprisoned in the [[Tezpur Central Jail]] for two years, following which, he was placed under house arrest for a year.<ref name=":1" />

While he was involved in Gandhian activities, he was also influenced by some radical figures, such as [[Subhas Chandra Bose|Subhash Chandra Bose]]. Notably, he participated in processions led by Bose in [[History of Kolkata|Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]) during the Civil Disobedience Movement.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> During his participation, he also faced lathi-charge by the [[Kolkata Police|Calcutta Mounted Police]]. Despite this, as Bose's [[Indian National Army|Azad Hind Fauj]] (Indian National Army) reached the borders of Assam towards the end of the [[World War II|Second World War]] in the [[Burma campaign (1944–1945)|Japanese Thrust Towards India]], son Iswar Prasanna Hazarika reports that Tirtheswar Hazarika continued his Gandhian methods, such as spinning the [[Spinning wheel|charkha]] every morning to lend his support for the [[Swadeshi movement|Swadeshi Movement]],<ref name=":0" /> a movement that was based on the idea that economic independence from Britain ([[Self-sustainability|swawalamban]]) would lead to political independence for India ([[swaraj]]).<ref>L. M. Bhole, ''Essays on Gandhian Socio-Economics'', Shipra Publications, Delhi, 2000. Chapter 14: "Savadesi: Meaning and Contemporary Relevance".</ref>

== Participation in the Assam Movement ==
The period from 1979 to 1985 marked the historic [[Assam Movement]], which demanded the resolution of the foreigners' issue in Assam.<ref>"[T]he movement leaders demanded that the central government take steps to identify, disenfranchise, and deport illegal aliens."{{harvcol|Baruah|1986|p=1184}}</ref><ref name="Baruah">{{harvcol|Baruah|1999|p=116}}: "The citizenship status of many of the newer immigrants was ambiguous[...] The campaign also led to friction between the ethnic Assamese and some of Assam's "plains tribal" groups."</ref> Tirtheswar Hazarika lent his support to the cause. Feeling that the [[Government of India]] under [[Indira Gandhi]] was not handling the question well enough, he disassociated himself from her party and registered his protest by returning the Tamra Patra award, which he had earlier received, back to the government.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Barua |first=Prafulla |date=August 9, 1985 |title=তীৰ্থেশ্বৰ হাজৰিকা |work=[[Assam Tribune]]}}</ref> The Tamra Patra recognises the contributions of freedom fighters to India's struggle for independence.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1973 |title=Annual Report (pp. 4) |url=https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/REPORT_1972_73_12022021.pdf |website=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Tirtheswar Hazarika received the Tamra Patra from the Government of India for his contributions to the freedom struggle of India, when it was first awarded in the year 1972.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> He, however, returned it during the Assam Movement to show his support for the cause.<ref>Assam Tribune 15th Aug 2023 by Farhana Ahmed</ref> Hazarika's place of activity, the town of [[North Lakhimpur]] in Assam, has a road named after him, called the "Tirtheswar Hazarika Path". An organisation, called the Tirtheswar Hazarika Memorial Trust, works to provide health services in remote villages in Northeast India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State/UT-wise list of NGOs/VOs & projects funded under the Scheme of Intergarted Programme for Senior Citizens during last three years 2016-17 to 2018-19 |url=https://socialjustice.gov.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/gia%20ipsrc.pdf |access-date=October 15, 2023 |website=Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Ahmed |first=Farhana |date=September 15, 2010 |title=Geriatric care centre on the verge of closure |work=[[The Assam Tribune]] |url=https://assamtribune.com/geriatric-care-centre-on-the-verge-of-closure?infinitescroll=1 |access-date=October 15, 2023}}</ref> An initiative associated with it, "Biyali" (Evening), is the only geriatric care center in the state of Assam, that is based in North Lakhimpur and offers free medical services, particularly pain-related services, to the elderly people.<ref name=":4" /> It operates with help from the [[NTPC Limited|NTPC]], [[North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited|NEEPCO]] and the [[Government of Assam]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Indian activists]]
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]

Tirtheswar Hazarika - Revision history

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