[Assam] Sanjoy Ghose lives on in Majuli memory

[Pradip Kumar Datta]

        Sanjoy Ghose lives on in Majuli memory
    A STAFF REPORTER  TELEGRAPHINDIA      Guwahati, July 4: He is, in all probability, a mere footnote in government records. But residents of Majuli still remember Sanjoy Ghose, his work and how he was snatched from them a decade ago.
  Today, on the 10th anniversary of the social worker’s abduction from the island, hundreds gathered at Kamalabari Girls’ ME School to pay tribute to the man who showed them the way to self-dependence. 
  Educated in Oxford, Ghose was the general secretary of AVARD-NE, an organisation that had entered Majuli for an anti-erosion project but went on to become a friend, philosopher and guide for the islanders. Ulfa militants abducted Ghose on this day in 1997 and killed him that very night, though it was not until months of drama that the outfit admitted it.
  Ghose’s body was, however, never found. The CBI concluded that his body, cut into pieces and stashed in a gunnybag, was dumped into the Brahmaputra. Ulfa’s explanation for targeting Ghose was that he allegedly worked for the Research and Analysis Wing.
  Although residents of Majuli still remember the good work done by Ghose and his colleagues, the movement spearheaded by him has long died. The Sanjay Ghose Memorial Trust Society was formed in 2000 to continue the work left unfinished by the social worker but funds never came. Even the bronze statue of Ghose that the trust had planned to erect at Kamalabari has yet to see the light of day.
  “We are unable to go ahead with our plans for want of funds and lack of connections with the outside world. We have to remain satisfied with a memorial meeting on this day every year,” the general secretary of the trust, Kishor Mohon Pal, told The Telegraph from Majuli. 
  Today’s function was again a simple affair with Ghose’s admirers paying floral tributes and speakers recalling his contributions to the island. 
  “Without Sanjoy Ghose around and with no help coming from the government, we are helpless,” another member of the trust said. 
  Apart from a statue, the trust had planned to build an auditorium in Kamalabari in Ghose’s name and resume the rural development and erosion-control projects of AVARD-NE. 
  Under Ghose’s supervision, the NGO had planted trees along the banks of the Brahmaputra in Majuli to stop the river from eroding more land. Pal said he and his colleagues would contact Ghose’s wife Sumita to help the trust “through her connections”. 

 
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