Protests in Assam

Many such pertinent questions are being raised after a simple incident that was used for manufacturing series of protests against the outsiders (if not foreigners) in the State. A group of traders, primarily from the Bengali speaking community, physically assaulted few former-rebels belonged to the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) recently in Nagaon locality of central Assam.

Initial media reporting on local news channels narrated that the ex-Ulfa youths went there asking money and then both the group ended up quarrelling and finally physical assaults. The traders were seen slapping some of the youths in CCTV footages. Few of the group also fled from the location. Finally the police arrived in the location to reduce the tension successfully.

By next day, the Ulfa leaders in Guwahati claimed that those youths went there to generate funds for flood reliefs. But the traders (read Bengalis) misbehaved them and thus they hurt the sentiment of locals (read indigenous people). Their voices were multiplied by a section of Assamese intellectuals inclusive of academician, writer, journalist, civil society activists etc through various media outlets.

The Ulfa (Independent) leader Paresh Barua, who has been hiding somewhere in China-Myanmar border jungles for years, immediately reacted to the incident and warned the traders of dire consequences.

Even the Ulfa Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who is engaged in peace talks with the Union government in New Delhi also came out with the threatening statement against the outsiders.

Then came a group of distinguished Assamese individuals led by literary critic Dr. Hiren Gohain, who asked the Bengali community of the State to come clean on the Nagaon incident. They alleged that the larger Bengali-speaking community had not condemned the incident with loud and clear voices. Indirectly they leveled the incident as a matter of Swabhiman (self-pride) for the local Assamese nationals.

By then, various Bengali organizations came out with their resentments against the Nagaon incident. They unanimously demanded stringent punishment for the culprits. Claiming that they are a part of greater Assamese culture, the organizations appealed to the people of the region to maintain long standing peace & harmony.

Assam Indigenous Forum, a newly floated organization comprising of various indigenous groups in the State, alleged that the Nagaon incident was simply invited by the provocative statements of a section of Assam BJP leaders. The forum asserted that State influential Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was leading those leaders in making irresponsible comments time and again.

Claimed to have supports from AJYCP, KMSS, All Tai Ahom Students' Union etc, the forum recently staged a protest program in front of Guwahati Raj Bhjavan and sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through Assam Governor Banowarilal Purohit. The chief convener of the forum and also Ulfa’s general secretary Anup Chetia commented that attacks on indigenous communities by non-Assamese people cannot be tolerated.

Many others joined in the chorus terming the Nagaon incident as an assault to indigenous people of the State, which was followed by a series of demonstrations primarily in eastern Assam localities. The police also arrested over ten individuals involved with the incident.

However the arrested individuals reflected that the traders’ group included few Assamese individuals as well.

By now a forum of patriotic people of the region strongly reacted to the development condemning the communal outbursts and demanded a judicial probe into the Nagaon affair to identify the real culprits.

Expressing utter dismay over the tendency of glorifying the Ulfa rebels as saviors of Assamese nationalism, the Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) urged the authority to take distinctive measures to address the crisis.

The PPFA in a statement denounced the attempt of a section of Assamese academician, writer, journalist, civil society activists etc to colour the Nagaon incident with communal flavors. The forum argued that the tendency to instigate a communal disturbance by hiding the information that the trader’s group included both the Bengali & Assamese communities should (must) be condemned by all right thinking people of the region.

“The irresponsible campaigners even made early resolutions that Hindu Bengali would never mingle with Assamese locals in the State. This is unfortunate to say the least that a group of people, who do not even have a modicum of shame, tried to mislead the common people by misrepresenting facts,” said the PPFA statement.

Appreciating the common people of the State for not listening to how these groups of instigators’ tried to indulge in misadventures to communalize the society and even glamorize the Ulfa, the forum however expressed shock that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at Dispur did not show any urgency to respond to the crisis.

The Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, also in charge of State home portfolio, even took three days to comment on the incident. In his statement, the State’s first tribal chief minister termed the Nagaon incident as unfortunate. Expressing deep dissatisfaction over the attempt of a section of people to add communal colour to the incident, Sonowal called on all communities of the State to maintain peace and harmony.

“What is very much concerning that CM Sonowal avoided using strong words against those who publicly threatened to take up arms and the few people who openly demonstrated their inclination to separatist militant leader Paresh Barua. The BJP leader must not forget that as a legislator he took the pledge for safeguarding the territorial integrity of India,” asserted the forum.