Ramakrishna Mission Aalo (Along)

Sri Boken Ete meets the Hon’ble President, Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
In the course of their tour, they were naturally
taken to meet the topmost dignitary of India, the
President, who at that time happened to be Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The President met them
along with many others who had also come for the
same purpose. The President could speak to only
some of the visitors. When the time allocated for
the interview was over and the secretary signaled
Dr. Radhakrishnan about it, the later turned back,
unceremoniously, to return to his chambers, without
saying a word to these people from Arunachal
Pradesh. Mr. Boken Ete, the leader of the party, was
offended at Radhakrishnan’s behavior. He took it
as a personal affront, if not an insult to the dignity
of the entire population of Arunachal. “Tehero!
(Stop!)”, he shouted in his broken, unpolished
Hindi, remonstrating with the President for his
lack of ordinary courtesy.He continued in his usual
outspoken manner, so characteristic of the tribals,
“Tum kaise admi ho? Ham itni dur se aye hein
tumko dekhne ke liye; tum hi hamare Rashtrapati,
hamare Neta, hamare Bhagavan samajhke. Lekin
tumne ek baat bhi hamare sath nahi bola, sirph jo
angreji jante hein unke sath baatchit karke aisa hi
chale ja rahe ho, kaise admi ho tum? (What kind of
a person are you? How ill-bred and ungracious! We
have come from such a long distance, all the way
from NEFA, to meet you, the head of our state and
our great leader, regarding you as God Himself,
and you are going away without speaking a word
with us. You speak only with the people who
knew English! How shameful of you!).” All were
stunned.The President himself, was taken aback
and apologised,“You see, I am from the south, I do
not know Hindi, so I could not speak with you…”
“Oh?!” Mr. Boken rejoined,“Tum hindi nahi jante
ho, Rashtrapati hokar?! Tab hamko kyon Assami
me padhne ko, Hindi sikhne ko bolte ho? (Oh!
You are the President of India and yet you do not
know Hindi! Then why do you advise us to learn
Assamese and Hindi?)”
Those were the days when Assamese was being
popularized in those regions as the medium of
instruction, much to the resentment of the local
people. The first important encounter of these
people with Indian Government, was tragic, and
the plan of the people who organized the tour to
give a good impression of the Government had
misfired.
The second meeting turned out to be even more
disastrous.
Mr. Boken Ete meets the Hon’ble Prime Minister,
Smt Indira Gandhi
They were then taken to see the Prime Minister
Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Unlike Dr. Radhakrishnan,
she was full of warmth in welcoming them. But
she got off on the wrong foot at the very outset
by raising the topic of Assamese as the medium
of instruction, and by asking them to study Hindi
along with it, it being the national language. Mr.
Boken Ete was irritated, and angrily protested,
again in his blunt manner: “Accha! Hamako Hindi
sikhne ko bol rahe ho! Lekin tumhare bacchon ko
kyon Doon School me bheja? Kyon unko England
me bheja hai? Unko kitani hindi sikhayi hai? (Well!
You are asking us to study assamese and hindi. But
what have you done with your own children? You
sent them to Doon School, and then on to England.
Why?)”. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was aghast at his sharp
reaction, but had no answer to give. Mr. Boken’s
arguments were, indeed, unassailable.
Sri Boken Ete’s Wisdom
Immediately on return, Mr. Boken Ete started
telling people, shouting from housetops at the
top of his voice: “Angreji sikho, nahi honese tumko
kutte ki maphik dekhenge baahar jaane se! hindi
bhi sikhna, kyonki vah hamara Rashtrabhasha hai
aur uski bhi jarurat hein. Lekin angreji
us-se bhi zyaada zarurat
hai. (Learn English! Otherwise, you will be treated like a dog if
you happen to step out of your region. Learn Hindi
also because it is our national language. But English
is far more essential.)” And in his address on the
occasion of the inauguration of the Ramakrishna
Mission, he did not forget to declare publicly:
‘Ham Ramakrishna mission ko idhar hamko angreji
sikhaane ke liye le aye hein. (We have brought The
Ramakrishna Mission here to teach us English.)
This, then, is the reason why the Ramakrishna
Mission has stressed English education. And all
through these years, our school has lived by its
word, and delivered not just an English education,
but far more than what was expected of it.