[Assam] From the Sentinel -Letters to the Editor 17/05/2010

Tue May 18 05:56:40 PDT 2010

In this respect Rituraj Kalita has written an unique Poem in Assamese in the
last issue of Notun Podatik. I've translated it here in my blog:
http://sushantakar40.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-post.html

Please read.
Sushanta Kar
On 18 May 2010 18:11, UTTAM BORTHAKUR <uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in> wrote:

> >>>>>Martin Luther King had rightly said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat
> to justice everywhere.” To my mind a true human rights activist should
> be a humanist and should voice against injustice anywhere and to
> anyone irrespective of any community, class, sex, religion etc, and
> not take side which borders on radicalism.
>
> ****** True. We cannot have best of both the worlds. We should not take pot
> shots at people trying to settle in Orang National Park, because they are
> Muslims, on the plea that they are "SUSPECTED" Bangladeshis. ( They are
> encroachers; that's a different issue; to be dealt with by law in the same
> manner as a middle class well connected Brahmin like me having friends
> among
> politicians, intellectuals, police and the army). Under what law they have
> been identified as Bangladeshis. Is not it Xenophobia? Similarly, Assamese
> language was sought to be imposed on the Bodos and due representation was
> not given to them, when in fact an assimilation process was already on,
> bringing upon a backlash.Now, the jingoist cry foul, like a toddler
> complaining to the mother.
>
> Human right is for all: Dhemaji children killed by bomb blasts; Bihari
> workers gunned down by the ULFA; Bodo girls raped by Assam Police during
> the
> movement for Roman Scripts; Muslims/ Adivasis killed by BLT/ NDFB; Ranjan
> Daimary, Maoists, ULFA, Dantewada victims, Bangladeshis, who have crossed
> the border in search of livelihood, everybody...... we cannot discriminate.
>
> Here, Srijut Mukul Mahanta's favourite refrain would be apt (though unlike
> him I do not believe that his MMS will or can liberate anyone): Liberate
> us,
> we will liberate you!
>
>
>
>
> *Jyotirmoy Sharma* jyotirmoy.sharma at gmail.com
> <assam%
> 40assamnet.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BAssam%5D%20From%20the%20Sentinel%20-Letters%20to%20the%20Editor%2017/05/2010&In-Reply-To=%3CAANLkTik-TC8Uzb1--jDgM2-uYjsv8rVRayfOmQlBezQm%40mail.gmail.com%3E
> >
> *Tue May 18 16:38:08 IST 2010*
>
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Who is Chauvinistic?
>
> It is unfortunate that Bodo Women Justice Forum (BWJF) president
> Anjali Daimary is trying to give a communal colour to the entire
> episode of the arrest of her brother Ranjan Daimary, the chairman of
> banned NDFB who is the prime accused in the October 30, 2008 serial
> bomb blasts case and other heinous crimes including the Bhimajuli
> massacre of innocent non-Bodos. It is understandable if she was acting
> as a sister, but it is indeed reprehensible that she chooses to do so
> in the capacity of a ‘human rights activist’ representing a ‘justice
> forum’.
>
> It is surprising that Anjali Daimary voices her grave concerns only
> when the human rights of members of one particular community are
> affected, but shies away from upholding the very same rights when it
> affects people other than her own. The clashes between Bodos and
> Muslims and between Bodos and Adivasis led to the displacement of
> thousands of people in Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon districts in 1993,
> 1996 and 1998, and in Barpeta district in 1994, which led to the
> displacement of more than 3 lakh people belonging to Bodo, Muslim and
> Adivasi communities. Majority of these people (primarily Muslims and
> Adivasis) are languishing in temporary camps, and their children are
> growing up without basic education and health care. These human
> tragedies involve larger humanitarian issues, but Ms Daimary has
> refrained from voicing concerns and demanding justice for these
> people. Is it because they are non-Bodos? Will she be vocal enough to
> ask the Congress-BPF government to make the Justice Haque Committee
> Report on the Bodo-Muslim clash public and demand justice for
> thousands of the displaced people?
>
> She talks of Assamese chauvinism, but she has failed to voice out even
> once in regard to Bodo chauvinism and discrimination meted out towards
> non-Bodo indigenous communities such as the Koch-Rajbongshis, Rabhas,
> Kalitas, Asomiya Musalmans etc in the BTAD area in regard to their
> land rights, employment opportunity, safeguarding their identity,
> political representation etc, even though racial discrimination
> against them continues unabated. Has she ever questioned as to why the
> Koch-Rajbongshi community, with a population almost equal to, if not
> more than, the Bodos in BTAD does not even have one representative in
> the executive council. Is it not Bodo chauvinism?
>
> What is also interesting to note is that Anjali Daimary is blaming the
> very government, in which BPF, a political party of the Bodo people,
> is not only the main coalition partner of the Congress, but has
> sizeable clout. What stops her from voicing or exercising pressure on
> the BPF to withdraw from the government?
>
> Martin Luther King had rightly said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat
> to justice everywhere.” To my mind a true human rights activist should
> be a humanist and should voice against injustice anywhere and to
> anyone irrespective of any community, class, sex, religion etc, and
> not take side which borders on radicalism.
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>

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