[Assam] Forwarding: Upamanyu Hazarika's Thoughts

[utpal borpujari]

The following has been written by an acquaintance, who is a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. He is not a member of this group, but knows about it, and requested me to put it up here as he wanted to know what people think about his thoughts. His contact details are at the bottom of the piece. – Utpal Borpujari
 
WHERE DID WE START AND WHERE HAVE WE REACHED 
 
The Guwahati blasts at October 2008 were a painful denouement for those who grew up in Assam during the AASU- AAGSP movement against foreigners, which began 29 years ago. Though the blasts were a part of the nationwide series, for the people of Assam and the North East it was more than time to take a hard look at the path we have traversed over the last three decades.   
I still remember, it was a sunny November afternoon when the Brahmaputra Mail from Delhi pulled into Guwahati station with the usual 8 hour delay, returning from a children’s camp in Delhi.  Of the eight of us, who were a part of the contingent, we were surprised to find only one parent, to pick us the rest all offering Satyagraha in the movement launched by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) seeking removal of Bangladeshi migrants.  The streets were awash with people, the entire Guwahati population headed towards the Judge’s field where Satyagraha was being offered.  Those were inspiring days, Prafulla Mahanta and Bhrigu Phukan had caught the popular imagination being young, fresh and energetic.  In contrast to the run of the mill politicians, they led a phalanx of young charismatic student leaders Lalit Rajkhowa, Rekha Rani Das Boro, Bharat Narah etc.  Though contemporary references are to the
 AASU-AAGSP “agitation”, this nomenclature is actually inappropriate, because it was a movement by the entire indigenous population of Assam.  An agitation is by an affected section of the population, but the AASU/AAGSP led cause, had become a movement reflecting the anxiety of the indigenous population on a fundamental issue of identity.  It became a part of the daily existence for six long years, manifesting in all forms of peaceful protest, economic self dependence movement, inspiring the arts, music, literature. Those were heady days, the cause genuine, the means Gandhian and therefore morally elevating and even on such a day of limited newspaper circulation being the only independent media (electronic media being state controlled) the support that it drew from the rest of the country escalated it into a national cause.  However the political masters in Delhi had other designs, there were severe crackdowns, lathi charges, firings etc a
 typically colonial response, even after independence.   There was a Giani Zail Singh, the Home Minister before becoming President of India, dismissing the movement as representing a ‘microscopic minority’ echoing Lord Dufferin’s characterisation of the Congress, a century ago.  For any inhabitant of Assam and more so for the younger generation from ages seven onwards, these were inspirational times.  Inspirational because the greater cause subsumed all personal ambition, we went without continuous school for years and I do not remember going very much to school between classes eight to twelve, the only advantage that I had alongwith my other friends in school was being part of the CBSE curriculum we did not lose any academic year unlike all other students in Assam. The first disappointment and shock came with the elections of 1983, when Mr. Gandhi rammed an election down the throat of an unwilling populace.  It was an eye opener to naked
 abuse of power against Indian citizens on behalf of foreigners! compounded by the fact that when thousands upon thousands were dying in Assam, Mrs. Gandhi’s primary concern was a successful NAM Summit in Delhi and visuals of a glowing Mrs G hugging Castro for a world audience, when millions of her countrymen were subjected to atrocities in the hands of the State, remains etched in the minds of all Assamese.  This was perhaps the time when faith was broken with the Indian state and the people of Assam realized that they would not get justice.  This sparked off the extremist segment of the movement, leading to the formation of the ULFA. However, Rajiv Gandhi by concluding the Assam Accord and putting national interest above his party’s went a long way in restoring faith in the system, paving the way for an AGP government.  
While it is easy to blame others for our ills, the cause always lies within. Our leaders led by Prafulla and Bhrigu did not realise or comprehend the magnitude of their mandate.  It was for the first time in a long while after the freedom struggle that a mass movement had led to the formation of a political front and a government.  This was democracy had its highest and best because everyone in Assam became a political participant, each one contributing his mite actively to shape the destiny of the region.  Sooner, rather later after the AGP Government took office, they lost direction, leaders pursuing personal goals, turning out to be corrupt and no whisper of implementation of the Assam Accord.  The internecine war between Prafulla and Bhrigu paralysed administration and it is a amazing that such leaders, who had been distilled out of a mass movement with inspirational goals for the region, based on Gandhian values and means, should suddenly change
 colour, so soon.  Soon enough, the AGP paid lip service to the actual cause and Prafulla went around soliciting votes in migrant areas in a fez cap!  The moral authority of AGP and consequently its political authority eroded as well, paving the way for the return of the Congress in 1990.  
Mirroring the AGP was the ULFA, which had degenerated into a criminal organisation and with its base in Bangladesh.   
With this kind of leadership do the people of Assam and particularly the Assamese have anyone else to blame?  The AGP discarded its platform of uniting the indigenous population comprising the tea and the plains tribes, catering only to a narrow Assamese constituency.  The consciousness aroused by the movement and the consequent disappointment with the AGP led to the Boro’s leading their own movement for a separate State and here again the political movement also had an extremist fringe and similar political movements from other tribal communities not so large, also mushroomed.  The gains from the movement which lasted for six years between 1979 to 1985, were frittered away when the leaders of the movement were handled the reins of power, proving Abraham Lincoln’s dictum that to test a man’s character, give him power and our leaders miserably failed the test.  The people of Assam cannot therefore blame anyone else but their misfortune that
 those who were their own have let them down.  
The final wake up call has come with the Guwahati blasts in October and it is the last opportunity for the people of Assam to rally and take up the cause again.  The last 29 years have been a learning experience but most importantly the consciousness that was awakened in 1979, has been revived.  The examples of neighbouring North Eastern States in assiduously and zealously guiding their identity and independence against Bangladeshi migrants, be it Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghlaya is for all of us to see and follow.  
To take stock of where have we reached; we have an Assam Accord, the Supreme Court in the judgment of Sarbananda Sonowal where has dealt with two significant aspects. Firstly, the court has equated the large scale influx of Bangladeshis as akin to a situation of external aggression, leading to internal disturbance under the Emergency provisions of the Constitution. Secondly, it has severely castigated successive Central and State Governments for providing protection to foreigners, to the peril of the indigenous people.  The constitutional and legal regime therefore makes a clear cut case for removal of foreigners; a growing sentiment and realisation in the country that it is communal politics which has protected foreigners and terrorists last, but not the least the manner in which other North Eastern States have geared themselves to tackle this influx.  Even today the foreigners comprise 30% of the population, the rest 70 is indigenous and it is time
 to revive the indigenous platform. The people of Assam ought to learn from the Palestinians and the Jews the value of a home land, forcing all political parties to take a uniform agenda of removing foreigners.  Thirty years latter, the battle may be more difficult, but not impossible.   
 
Upamanyu Hazarika,
A 64A, Nizamuddin East,
New Delhi-110 013.
Tel: (91-11) 2435-1039/ 0623/ 3746
Fax: (91-11) 2435-0829
uhazarika at chlawoffices.com