[Assam] Tehelka: ULFA Chief's sis wants democracy thru elections - not guns

[Alpana B. Sarangapani]

Thanks for sending this. It is good to be able to read her comments and purpose of life of this brave woman - daughter of a brave mother. 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 

“In order to make spiritual progress you must be patient like a tree and humble like a blade of grass”
- Lakshmana
 
 
 > Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:09:09 -0800> From: jaipurschool at yahoo.com> To: assam at assamnet.org> Subject: [Assam] Tehelka: ULFA Chief's sis wants democracy thru elections - not guns> > Sister Concern> ULFA’s exiled commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah’s sister is contesting panchayat polls. She says she wants ‘development’, not a ‘sovereign Assam’> TERESA REHMAN> Tinsukia, Assam> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=Ne260108sister_concern.asp> > GO AHEAD, but be courteous and respectful to everyone.” That is the advice that Hirawati Baruah Chetia, sister of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) commander- in-chief Paresh Baruah, remembers her mother gave her as she stepped into the fray of the panchayat polls. But isn’t she contesting under the Constitution, which her brother had rejected in 1979 when he launched his “struggle” for a “Sovereign Assam”? > “I am a simple person and have come forward to serve the people,” replies Chetia. “I haven’t met my brother for the past 28 years nor have I ever sought his advice. I wouldn’t even recognise him if I saw him now. Like others, I learned that he had left India to struggle for the country from the newspapers.”> An unassuming mother of three, 44-yearold Chetia is a well-liked figure in her village, Panitola Borchapori Betoroni. Her hopes from a panchayat election win are basic — improving roads, healthcare, education, working conditions for weavers and setting up a rural library. As a social worker active with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) for the past decade, her decision to contest for the Baruaholagaon panchayat in Tinsukia district has surprised few.> But does she agree with her brother’s principles? “I don’t think I am qualified to comment on his activities. He never discussed with us the reasons why he left everything to wage his struggle. My parents also failed to understand why he had to do this because he always got what he wanted,” she says.> > > Paresh Baruah had worked as a railway porter from 1978 to 1982, and also as a labourer for Oil India at Duliajan. “He used to stay with a group of friends in a rented house while he was working. We did not know who he met then and what he used to discuss with them,” she recalls.> Chetia remembers Paresh, elder to her by four years, as a strict, nononsense, short-tempered man of few words. “I used to be very scared of him. He was very particular that I not hang around and chat with my friends after school. He would tell me to come home straight after school got out or stop going there altogether,” she says.> “We never had peace at home. One brother left home to become an insurgent and another — Dinesh — who got a job in the railways through the sports quota, was found dead after unidentified gunmen took him away on February 19, 1994. But my mother manages to remain happy as she feels both her sons have been sacrificed in the cause of the country. Of course, we miss them. But we know we can’t get them back.”> Did her family face harassment from the security forces? “Yes, they used to trouble us,” Chetia replies. “I still remember a few policemen hanging around at my wedding, hoping my brother would come.” Didn’t her parents find it difficult to find a suitable match for her, considering she was the sister of Assam’s “most-wanted militant”? She says people did not know much about her brother then as ULFA wasn’t very well known at the time. It is her children now who keep asking about their “famous” uncle.> She recalls how she and her four brothers all used to excel at sports. “You can say we had a team at home. While he was in school, Paresh was just too busy with football and volleyball. He hardly spent time at home. He used to go to Bombay, Calcutta, Punjab and Kashmir to play in tournaments. He once got a jacket for me from Kashmir, something that I still treasure.”> Chetia says Paresh had a good sense of humour and would often tease younger boys and elderly women. But his aversion for hard labour was one of his characteristic traits. “Once my mother asked him to carry rice sheaves from the field and I still remember what he said. He said he was ready to wash even the clothes worn by women but he wouldn’t carry a heavy load on his shoulders.”> SO, DOES she expect to win? Will she get votes because she is Paresh Baruah’s sister? Her response is emphatic. “No, people look at me as Hirawati Baruah Chetia and not as Paresh Baruah’s sister. People will judge me on the basis of the service I have rendered to the community. I have my own credentials.”> Bhaben Barua, a former legislator from the constituency, is all praise for her. “She is very articulate and active. I am confident she will win and we might even nominate her to the central committee of the AGP.” But Chetia doesn’t have any such ambitions. “I will contest only the panchayat polls to help my village to develop. I will not go beyond that as I am not educated enough and I have family obligations,” she says.> Chetia couldn’t study beyond Class X as her father was ill and wanted to marry off his only daughter. “I took the Board exams once but I failed. Maybe I was a dull student. My brother used to encourage me to study,” she says. But she’s happy at the way reservation has helped women to come forward to contest polls.> What does she think about the path of violence her brother has adopted? “I don’t know much about it,” she replies. “I really don’t know what he discussed with his associates and why he decided to choose this path.”> WRITER’S E-MAIL> rteresa at rediffmail.com> > > > Umesh Sharma> > Washington D.C. > > 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]> > Ed.M. - International Education Policy> Harvard Graduate School of Education,> Harvard University,> Class of 2005> > http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)> > http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)> > > > > www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )> http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/> > > > http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/> > ---------------------------------> Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox.> _______________________________________________> assam mailing list> assam at assamnet.org> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
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