(1)
If
you are in late thirties or in the early forties and spent your childhood in
Assam, you will have a similar experience to mine. We were small kids during those
murky days of the Student Agitation, aftershock tremors of which are still
palpable in Assam. The movement for foreigner deportation met an ignominious
end. Yet it is a fine example of how a movement initiated for a just cause can
veer off in the midst of frenzied public sentient driving the destiny of Assam
into anarchism in the next few decades.
I
have many memories of those turbulent days. The long marches chanting “Inqilaab
Zindabad” stimulated our young minds and we the kids imitated the same words
with our friends. The uncontrolled outpour of emotion splitted my own family
too and I missed the company of my Maternal Grand Parents for a long time. For
many years, I didn’t understand what made my Grandmother weep profusely with my
mother holding me tightly to her chest when they saw each other in a marriage
party.
A
mere whistle of the village defence party volunteers was enough to raise a hue
and cry and the elders rushed to the street with the traditional weapons to
protect their families against the “Razakars” who never turned up at our
hometown. But some houses did burn at my home place, Hajo. Perhaps, those were
the outcome of some smart resolution of long neighbourly feuds. In 1983, I was eight years old and the nauseatingly
stories of communal violence, I used to hear in the discussions of the elders,
imprinted a fear psychosis in my mind and continue to haunt me.
After
so much of violence, loss of lives and property, Assam finally got a paper
accord which propelled the leaders of the Students movement to the throne. Not many asked a question on what the leaders achieved for Assam with the accord and
those who raised voices were far outnumbered by the hysteric mob. But the
biggest impact of the movement was the extensive degeneration of the character
of the nation as a whole and left the Assamese society further fragmented.
(2)
A messenger delivered a small note to me
which read like this
“You
are advised to come back to hostel immediately after receiving this letter or
else appropriate action will be taken against you. Regards, Boarders of
Hostel-7”
This
was twenty years back and I was pursuing my Engineering at Assam Engineering
College, Guwahati. By then, my friends had successfully stopped all the
activities of the College in protest against the Principal for his removal.
Principal Mr. Choudhury instead of rusticating a student for committing ragging
on new boarders, gave an alternative to the student to stand outside the
College building with his fingers in the ear lobes. The student readily
accepted the offer. But the other
students got enraged by the immature act of the Principal. Some smart students
suddenly sniffed the possibility of postponing the examination and also settle
old scores against Mr. Choudhury. So a massive student protest followed for
removal of the Principal. Students held long meetings in the Union Hall
discussing strategy which only bore the lone outcome– finalization of the time
for the next meeting.
Some
students had a novel idea. They forced the Principal to put his thumb
impression on his resignation letter one day. The thumb impression was the idea
of a fertile mind so that Principal can’t deny his signature latter on. Armed with the
resignation letter, student thought that resignation of the Principal was in
their pocket and met the Vice Chancellor to submit the letter. But as expected,
VC ticked them off with a stern warning.
So
the students decided as another self inflicting move to boycott the
examination. In this mess, feeble voices of protest and reasoning like mine got
subdued. Aghast, I decided not to be a part of the tamasha and left college
hostel for home. My friends fumed at my audacity of not being a part of a noble
cause and sent me a warning letter to call me back.I had no option but to
return back.
If
you are still reading my blog and you didn’t study at Assam Engineering College
in those days, you will be curious to know the end result of the student unrest.
The college was handed over to Police and we all missed one entire semester.
The Principal ruled like a king for the remaining part of his tenure. The
plight of the leaders in our hostel who almost burned my books and mattresses was
miserable after the college reopened.
(3)
Of
late some of my friends have suddenly become avid Aam Aadmi activists. They
fill the Facebook pages with scraps, supports each and every action of the
party workers. Even if that means breaking laws by the law makers, they believe
it is required as the man heralded in the Political scene of India is the messiah
to eradicate all evils. If you ask them what is his Economic vision, Foreign
Policy, past achievement and experience, those wise men immediately turn their guns
at you and brand you as supporter of Rahul or NaMo. One of my friend staying
abroad proudly proclaims that all great movements were fought in the
street and so Mr. Kejriwal’s dharna is justified. Moreover, the concerned Minister has an IIT background. What the AAP supporters
should note that IIT background doesn’t warrant anyone a free ticket to the
heaven. Our own APJ Kalam never studied in IIT.
With
Europe already almost reaching saturation, Africa is going to be the next hot
bed of economic activities along with Asia. The continent is Oil rich and
already many Indian Oil PSUs have started business with countries like Nigeria.
We also should not forget that the father of the nation, Gandhi initiated
the concept of non- violence in the land of South Africa and we have long
fought against racial discrimination together. With one stroke of irresponsible
act of midnight raid against the African people, the AAP Minister Mr. Bharti
had done enough damage to dent the India Africa relationship. I will not be
surprised if a large scale anti India feeling in the African countries sprouts
up making billions of future Indian investment in Africa in jeopardy.
I am
not at all cross with my friends and AAP supporters nor I am a supporter of
Congress or BJP. My only support is with a strong and prosperous, unified India.
People of this country have long suffered at the hands of corrupt politicians
and system overwhelmingly hopeless. Anna Hazare’s arrival as a crusader is the
reason enough to typify the mood the nation. I had personally imposed great
hope on AAP and Arvind Kejriwal, but if the last twenty days at office is any
indication of the days to come, AAP slowly and steadily disintegrating for its
course.
The
irony of mankind is that every man is a law breaker in his sub-conscious mind.
Beneath every man, lies the desire to control things in his own way even if
that turns society plunge into anarchy. Perhaps that’s the reason; leaders of
every successful struggle had the distinctive traits not to be swayed by mob psychology.
In the history of mankind, people have fought countless issues in the streets
but a very few could see the light of the day.
More
than NaMo or Rahul, Arvind Kejriwal should guard himself from his own cronies to
keep himself firmly grounded. He doesn’t need to be the Noah’s Arc for everyone
but selective and consistent in choosing his friends. More than freebies, he
should promise of Industry for job generation. The movement against corruption
shouldn’t be frittered away by the winds of Political opportunism just like the
Student Agitation or in a smaller scale the student protest to remove the
Principal.
I am
sorry to all AAP supporters. Till now AAP fails to get my vote in 2014.
