District Profile:

Country	India
State	Assam
Division	Barak Valley
District created	01-10-1989
Headquarters	Hailakandi
Area
• Total	1,327 km2 (512 sq mi)
Elevation	21 m (69 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	659,260
• Density	497/km2 (1,290/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Hailakandian, Hailakandiya
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	788155
Telephone code	91 – (0) 3844
ISO 3166 code	IN-AS
Vehicle registration	AS-24
Most spoken language	Sylheti
Website	https://hailakandi.gov.in

 

Hailakandi  is one of the 33 districts of Assam state in north-eastern India. It makes up the Barak Valley alongside Cachar and Karimganj. These three districts were also previously part of the Greater Sylhet region before the Partition of India. It was constituted as a civil subdivision on 1 June 1869. Subsequently, it was upgraded to a district in 1989, when it was split from Cachar district. As of 2011 it was the third least populous district of Assam, after Dima Hasao and Chirang.HistoryIt was constituted as a civil subdivision on 1 June 1869. Subsequently, it was upgraded to a district in 1989. It is to be noted that according to some scholars, the name “Hailakandi” has been derived from the Sylheti word “Hailakundi”. The later history of Hailakandi is intricately linked to Abdul Matlib Mazumdar (1890–1980), Late Nagendranath Choudhury, Late (Capt.) Manmatha Choudhury, Late (Capt.) Subodh Kumar Dutta & Late Sunil Chakravorty who lead the freedom movement in the erstwhile Sub-division. Nagendranath Choudhury was a prominent Congress-leader; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru called on him in his house during his visit to Hailakandi in 1939. His brother Manmatha Choudhury was a captain in the Azad Hind Fauj formed by Subhash Chandra Bose. In 1946, when India was still under British rule, Mr. Abdul Matlib Majumder became an MLA and also Cabinet Minister of Assam. He was one of the prominent Muslim leaders of eastern India to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the partition of India on communal lines. Mazumdar along with Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (who later became the 5th President of India) became the most prominent Muslim opponents of the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan, especially in the eastern part of the country. Mazumdar took Master of Arts Degree in English literature from Dhaka University in 1921 and B.L. from Calcutta in 1924. He started legal practice at Hailakandi Bar in 1925. He rose to prominence as a lawyer serving the people of Hailakandi. The then government offered him the post of a Magistrate, which he refused. He joined the Indian National Congress in 1925. He founded the Hailakandi Congress Committee in 1937 and became its first President. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Hailakandi in 1939 and 1945 respectively at the invitation of Mazumdar to strengthen the freedom movement as well as the Congress party in southern Assam. It was Netaji who initiated establishment of contact between Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Matlib Mazumdar for gearing up nationalist Muslims against a growing Muslim League in the region. Mazumdar became the first Chairman of Hailakandi township in 1939 and in 1945 he became the first Indian Chairman of the Hailakandi Local Board, a post always held by the European tea planters.Another prominent person from Hailakandi was Late Raj Mohan Nath, a noted Engineer, whose authored many books on different subjects apart from engineering. One of his books was a text-book for the students of civil engineering in the Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur (West Bengal). Today’s “Assam-type house” is entirely his concept which gained vast popularity in the earthquake zones. One of the roads in Moscow has been named after him.