I am someone who had the opportunity of listening to Indian leaders as
well as State leaders for many years and occasionally had even been required
to take notes (verbatim or otherwise). I had occasion to listen to many
foreign diplomats, journalists, ex-Princeses, academics, etc
etc as a Parliamentary Fellow for about year in New Delhi. As
Editor of the Debates of the Assam Legislative Assembly for several years, I
also had to check on their utterances in four languages to
ensure what they said were printworthy. However, I do regret that
the hand-compositors then didn't follow my corrections most of the time; they
thought they knew better. That is a bitter story and my consequent
avulsion to a government manipulated in the interest of a few Secretariat
clerks (Read assistants for it). I'm not alone; even Nirod Chaudhury did not
escape a similar victimisation.
It is about Hiteswar Saikia I want to say. He was a lecturer at college
before he became a leader. Normally this cadre of leaders are good
speakers because of their natural or acquired facility in communication
both in Englilsh and Assamese or any other languages for that matter. I
can assure you, Mridul, Hiteswa Saikia, passed muster. He moved his
eyelids in a somewhat abnormal way which didn't matter really. They may
not be orators or fast English language speakers like the average South
Indians. In the past the Assam Government usually deputed those IAS officers
whose delivery was good to hold meetings with officials of the Union
Ministry.
I didn't know that Gopinath Bordoloi was a good Hindi speaker. That
must have helped him enormously in participating in the vital discussions
before the Sixth Schedule became law. I heard him speak in Assamese but not a
great deal. I think it was in the book Mission with Mountbatten, the
author said that he once sat next to the Assam's Chief Minister Gopinath
Bordoloi at an official dinner and found the lattter
totally uncommunicative. The reason is not far to see. In one
confidential report my ex-boss in Assam Oil Company, wrote to an English
director of the Company that one of the Cabinet Member of Assam was a village
boy not being able to converse in English. Nothing of the sort. In all
probablity that Minister did not follow what my boss said to him in a meeting.
I was a student of St Edmund's College at Shillong. One day one of the
brothers entered the classroom and talked a few words to the Bengali
professor who was taking his English class. I was surprised to find that
the professor was unable to follow what the missionary was saying!
Among the past Chief Ministers whom I had the privilege of hearing
speak, late Bimala Prasad Chaliha was incomparable. Both his Assamese
and English were flawless. What people didn't know about him is that he was a
great intellectual as well as an astute businessman. He spoke
slowly but effectively. Communication helps form opinions. Late Fakhruddin
Ahmed was not a brilliant speaker in spite of being a student in
England but he was good with his Urdu especially in table talk. When
a group of Urdu/Hindi speaking MPs visited Assam and met Ahmed, one
of the visitors shouted: Look here, this Assamese Minister is one of us,
he is not different from us in any way!
Mahatma Gandhi was certainly a good speaker as vouchafed by the foreign
visitors. He had to be. He was a successful Barrister-at-law and an editor of
an English language newspaper. Jinnah was also a Barrsiter-at-law of repute
but his greatness was thrust upon him while Mahatma Gandhi's lived the life of
a humanitarian.
Ability to speak in any language effectively is an essential virtue for
the ambitious in any discipline. But one can do without it. Late
Keshab Gogoi who was a Cabinet Minister during two ministries and Chief
Minister for a short period, was a man of very few words. He was a
successful criminal lawyer professionally. Asked how he succeeded in his
profession where primacy to the spoken word is paramount, he replied that
he concentrated on what was relevant and crucial.
Ordinary public speaking and oratory do not go together. Late Mr Rathin
Sen, an MLA from Cachar who became a Deputy Speaker in the Assam Legislative
Assembly was an orator. He was a man who could incite a crowd to set
fire to a public building by his fiery speeches. I didn't see him do that but
I saw him doing something similar by his unpremeditated speech on one
occasion.
He became famous after he delivered a scathing speech
during the Official Language debate in the State Legislature. The almighty
Bengali press deified him. But the ability to speak a language fluently
could be dangerous at times.
Bhuban
