TEZPUR, Oct 12 � Tezpur and its outskirts like Misamari, Balipara, Jamugurihat, etc., are still haunted by the Chinese army�s attack in the 1962 Sino-India War which approaches its 50th anniversary. The war took place for one complete month from October 21 to November 22 in 1962. Much time has elapsed and the social scenario has changed since the last half-century when the Chinese army almost reached the outskirts of Tezpur.
Even after 50 years of those ghastly days, the memories of the Chinese army�s violent behavior are still fresh in the minds of the people. According to history, the Chinese soldiers crossed the McMohan Line in Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The people of the then undivided Darrang district with its headquarters at Tezpur were evacuated and the people of Tezpur shifted to southern parts of Assam, crossing the Brahmaputra river. In mid-October of 1962, the Indian soldiers were almost evacuated from Arunachal Pradesh. On October 3, 1962, the Chinese Premier had refused to acknowledge the border line demarcated by the British Sir McMohan (presently, the McMohan line in Bumla). On October 20, 1962, around 5 am (which was confirmed by Brig JP Dalvi), the Red Chinese army attacked the Indian Garrison Force at Namka Chu (present-day Tawang) under the Kameng sector in Arunachal Pradesh.
On October 22, 1962, during the attack, Brig JP Dalvi was kept by the Chinese soldiers at Namka Chu as a prisoner of war for three days. The Indian Army was totally run over within three hours as the Indian soldiers were not ready to retaliate such an attack. Following this, the Chinese army entered almost 160 km of Tawang.
�I was a first-year student at Darrang College and did not actually understand what was going to happen since a few days back, we heard that there would be a war between China and India. Panic gripped the entire town,� recalled seasoned journalist Nitya Bora. �We were undergoing NCC training at the college field on November 5. Butaram Singh was our training head. At the end of the training, our principal, Bipin Pal Das said that we would have to combat the Chinese army with stones or bricks. There were people who really wanted to fight the Chinese. But they saw the fatigued Indian soldiers moving back to Tezpur, their determination petered away and they, too, fled the town for safety.�
He added that buses and trucks were ready at the Church Field and boats were ready at the Jahajghat, but nobody was there to drive the vehicles or the boats. Hence, people started to flee the town on foot. Bora, who belongs to Tezpur Kamarchuburi and works as a senior journalist of a Guwahati-based Assamese daily told this reporter that a rumour spread that the Chinese army had already captured Arunachal Pradesh. �Even the DC fled the town, leaving a notice to my uncle, Tilak Kakoti, a publicity officer of the then Darrang district, who announced to the public that the DC had given an order to leave the town within 24 hours.
Thousands of people gathered near the Padum Pukhuri bank. The bank was also located there and lakhs of currency notes were thrown into the Padum Pukhuri. Amid the panic, some people were seen busy collecting money from the pond.
In the morning of October, 20, 1962, the Chinese army started to shell Namka Chu with heavy artillery, leading to Chinese army�s capture of the rest of the Kameng frontier. After Bomdila, about 150 km from Tezpur, fell to the Chinese in the middle of November, panic spread across Assam. There were fears about the possibility of China taking over the whole of Assam. People continued to flee Tezpur even after the ceasefire was declared.
Around 10.30 am on November 20, Pranab Sinha, who is now 70, was standing on a road between Tezpur Central Jail and Tezpur mental hospital. Suddenly, he saw the prisoners and inmates of the mental hospital roaming the streets and raising slogans in praise of China. �I heard them shouting pro-China slogans. They might have thought they were freed because of China. There was no administration. The Deputy Commissioner had already left the town,� Sinha recalled. All the exit roads were blocked with cars, bullock-carts and people. Panicky people from the NEFA office started pouring into Tezpur. At the ferry ghat on the banks of the Brahmaputra, people gathered to move out of Tezpur. At that time, the Youth Emergency Organisation led by Hiren Chowdhury and Aswarya Kakoti, along with former Industry Minister Bijit Saikia and Tilak Kakoti and other members including Rana Borkakoti guarded vital installations as all employees had left them.
Tezpur, located on the Brahmaputra plains bordering Arunachal Pradesh, served as the Indian military base from where the soldiers marched through muddy tracks and mountainous terrains. The 4 Corps conducted the war in the Kameng frontier of Arunachal Pradesh.