[Assam] ULFA : Demand for full autonomy of Assam

[Ram Sarangapani]

>Would it not be a total Alice-in -Wonderland to expect the people of Assam
>to behave responsibly all of a sudden only after full autonomy is achieved?
>Can you boast of a single city in Assam which is clean and filled with
>amenities which is purely a state subject in which Delhi can't and does not
>poke its nose?
>Wouldn't it be foolishness to expect someone to run before being able to
>walk?

I couldn't agree more. In the past, I have always expressed (in these
columns) that state autonomy would be a good thing for Indian states. But,
alongwith such new found liberties also come new found responsibilities.

Such calls for full autonomy merely amount to yet another round of
'feel-good' stuff.

--Ram







On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 10:40 PM, kamal deka <kjit.deka at gmail.com> wrote:

>  One of the oft-repeated urban myths that sometimes pops-up in conversation
> even among many educated, well meaning Assamese is that India as a nation
> is
> a British creation. The argument goes roughly as follows – India is an
> artificial entity.  It was only the British that created the idea of India
> as a single nation and unified it into a political state.  Note that the
> concept of nationhood is based on the idea shared by a set of people that
> they constitute a nation. This idea or feeling may be based on common ties
> of a people based on their culture, common descent, language, religion or
> other such attributes. The state constitutes a group of people inhabiting a
> specific territory and living according to a common legal and political
> authority. The modern nation-state, as it exists today, *is a new
> development for the entire world*, and not just for India. Medieval Europe,
> for instance, was divided politically into many small principalities, the
> boundaries and sovereignties of which changed frequently.
>
>  Similarly, Africa and South America mostly constitute of state boundaries
> carved up by colonial rule.  In short, if we take the legitimacy of current
> nation-states on the basis of centuries of common continuous political rule
> over the same geographical boundary and inhabited by the same people, then
> practically no country on the planet meets this criteria. Simply put,
> shifting nature of political kingdoms and their boundaries over the
> centuries legitimize virtually no country in its present form.
>
> Turning my attention towards autonomy demand,let me raise the following
> questions.
> Would it not be a total Alice-in -Wonderland to expect the people of Assam
> to behave responsibly all of a sudden only after full autonomy is achieved?
> Can you boast of a single city in Assam which is clean and filled with
> amenities which is purely a state subject in which Delhi can't and does not
> poke its nose?
> Wouldn't it be foolishness to expect someone to run before being able to
> walk?
> KJ Deka
>
> On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 1:16 AM, ULFA Pro-talk <ulfa.protalk at gmail.c
>
> > Dear Sir,
> >
> > Historically and socially, Assam have no affinity with India and
> > nationalism in the north-east had a different context altogether. The
> > Assamese very strongly resented the British occupation of the Ahom
> > territory. Between 1828 to 1857 Assamese led by the erstwhile prince's
> > revolted thrice. The Assamese having lost all their earlier battles and
> the
> > prayer and petitions having failed, decided to join Indian National
> > Congress(INC). The congress never considered northeast within the
> national
> > scene. The Assamese joined the INC volunteerly and the INC entered the
> > plains of Assam only on invitation. The hills remain unconnected and
> > unaffected by the slogan.
> >
> > Indian independence infact did not mean freedom and liberty for the
> > Assamese people. It was mere transfer of power without a break with the
> > imperial past. The Indian stepped into the shoes of alien whether in the
> > administration, industry, trade or commerce. Despite being the largest
> > producer of Tea, Oil Assam remains one of the poorest and industrially
> > backward regions. The colonial mode of exploitation still very much
> prevails
> > in Assam making it into a colonial hinterland. In the last 61 years of
> > Indian independence, the problem of illegal immigrants has been
> deliberately
> > neglected and encouraging infiltration of foreign nationals by indian
> > political leaders irrespective of any political party for their vested
> > interests. In the next 20 years, the Assamese community will be reduced
> to a
> > minority and the foreign nationals will become socially and politically
> > dominant. Therefore, we strongly beleive that a full regional autonomy
> with
> > regional federalism will ensure the protection of socio-economic and
> > political rights of self-determination of the indigenous and ethnic
> people.
> > For your information, in response to our menifesto and with confidence
> and
> > co-operation of indigenous and ethnic people we are in the process
> > of forming a broad based common platform in order to achieve long-term
> > solutions to the various issues along with the serious issue of foreign
> > nationals.
> >
> > Finally, we would once again request you to kindly go through our
> menifesto
> > carefully.
> >
> > Thanking you,
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jiten Dutta
> > General Secretary
> > ULFA ( Protalk )
> >
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