Sunday, January 26, 2014

Three snapshots of Anarchism- Student Agitation, Engineering College and Aam Aadmi Party etc


 (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.

 You can contact Kamaljit at kamaljitmedhi1975@gmail.com

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