[Assam] Forwarding: Upamanyu Hazarika's Thoughts

[mc mahant]

Why not everybody participates-- inside assamnet?
mm



Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 22:23:09 -0800From: utpalb21 at yahoo.comSubject: RE: [Assam] Forwarding: Upamanyu Hazarika's ThoughtsTo: mikemahant at hotmail.comCC: uhazarika at chlawoffices.com




Dear Mr Mahant,
 
I have forwarded it to Mr Hazarika. His email id has been given at the bottom of the post. You can directly send your views to him too.
 
with regards,
 
Utpal Borpujari

--- On Tue, 9/12/08, mc mahant <mikemahant at hotmail.com> wrote:
From: mc mahant <mikemahant at hotmail.com>Subject: RE: [Assam] Forwarding: Upamanyu Hazarika's ThoughtsTo: utpalb21 at yahoo.comDate: Tuesday, 9 December, 2008, 9:44 PM-------------------------------------------
  I wanted to highlight my view on this .  Please see attachment for effects.
mm

 
 

> Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 05:06:23 -0800
> From: utpalb21 at yahoo.com
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Subject: [Assam] Forwarding: Upamanyu Hazarika's Thoughts
> 
> 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
>  
> 
> 
> 
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> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
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