Gopinath Bardoli was born on 6 June 1890 in Raha, Nagaon. His father was Buddheshwar Bardoli and his mother was Praneshwari Devi.
Bardoli’s father was a doctor and received his primary education in Raha. Gopinath Bardoli’s mother passed away when he was 12 years old. Gopinath Bardoloi attended Cotton Collegiate School, Guwahati and passed the Entrance Examination in 1907 with first division and enrolled in Cotton College.
He passed the IA examination in 1909 with first division from Cotton College. He passed the IA examination and went to Calcutta to study. Bardoli’s father died while he was studying at the Scottish Church College in Calcutta.
In 1911, he passed his BA with Honors in History. In 1914, Bardoli passed his MA in History with first class, then studied law and completed his studies.
He returned from Calcutta and taught at Sonaram School in 1917 and became a lawyer. He was married to Surbala, daughter of Majinda Baruah, a resident of North Guwahati.
In 1921, Bardoli joined the National Congress. He joined the movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. He was the Secretary of the District Congress during the Non-Cooperation Movement. Bardoli also joined the boycott of foreign goods.
In 1922, he was arrested by the police for joining the Non-Cooperation Movement. He spent a year in jail, during which time Bardoli spent his time studying literature and playing sports. He also wrote several valuable books and enriched the literary treasury. The biographies of Sri Ramachandra, Jesus Christ, Hazrat Muhammad, Mahatma Gandhi etc. were written in prison.
He took an active part in the Congress session in Pandu in In 1932, he became Chairman of the Local Board. At the same time, he provided drinking water, treatment, etc. for the benefit of the backward poor.
He was arrested for leading the Satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. He was arrested in 1942 for joining the Quit India Movement.
He was prematurely released from prison in 1944 due to ill health. In 1938, the Congress coalition government was formed in Assam under the leadership of Gopinath Bardoloi. At that time, all the prominent people supported Gopinath Bardoloi for the post of Prime Minister (Chief Minister) of the province. While in that post, he did many necessary works for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes by planning some good works for all the castes and tribes.
However, on the direction of the National Congress, his government resigned after one year. He was the first Chief Minister of independent Assam. After he became the Chief Minister, he released all the prisoners.
He undertook many good schemes for the improvement of Sanskrit education, Hindi education, basic education, madrassa education and technical education in Assam.
During his tenure as Chief Minister, he also took a scheme to reduce the treasury of farmers’ land. The first university in Assam, the University of Guwahati, was established in 1948 through the efforts of Gopinath Bardoloi.
He died on 5 August 1950. He was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna by the Government of India in 1999 in his honour.
This lion man will always be immortalized as a ‘popular’ among the people of Assam
There will be.