Activities of Department of History

Title: - Popular Talk on ‘Reading Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya’s Protipod in a Patriarchal Society’ by Tonmoyee Rani Neog, J.B. College, Jorhat
Start Date - 2021-11-18   End Date - 2021-11-18   Duration - 1 days.
Nature of the Activity: - Academic Activity
Summary: -
Popular Talk on ‘Reading Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya’s Protipod in a Patriarchal Society’ by Tonmoyee Rani Neog, J.B. College, Jorhat The programme had been inaugurated by the honorable Rector of our College, Associate Professor Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya and who in his inaugural speech specially mentioned about the laudable efforts made by the department of history in arranging such kind of academic exercises which is a great method process of giving a relook into the panoramic views of the past as well as the present . Dr.Tanmoyee Rani Neog completed her higher education from the Jawaharlal Nehru University from where she took the Post Graduation and Doctoral degrees. She is now teaching as an assistant professor in the department of history ,J.B.College ,Jorhat (autonomous) . In her speech ,Dr.Neog particularly stressed upon the novelistic discourse which is very much ideologically oriented but that could not become a barrier in highlighting the exact location of the society with varied nature of stratification . The novel 'Pratpod' written by the Jnanapith awardee Dr.Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya was based upon the story of the Digboi Oil Workers Strike of 1939 where three workers had to lose their lives due to the police firing . The characters of the novel demonstrated the secular spirit of the struggling workers and above all the attempt made by some of the workers to rise above the hierarchies in terms of caste and gender. The novel was a great departure in the history of the Assamese literature in highlighting the actual historical presentation although in a quite literary design .  The visit of the left leaning leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sajjad Jaheer and also the great efforts of unionizing the workers those numbers were around five to six thousand eventually did led to the formation of the trade union in 1939 but it also became the scene of industrial conflict .The changing social aspects of the small industrial town (Digboi) had also been narrated in the novel which was a reflection of the changing production relation.