The other day, I
stumbled upon a Facebook Update of one of my colleagues cum friends. The friend
has asked the people of North East to rise against the “mainstream Indian” or
“mainstream Assamese” with tit for tat attitude for their continued apathy
towards the indigenous people of North East (read as “Non-Mainstream Assamese).
My friend, who is prone to such emotional outbreaks, made me ponder over the
“Mainstream Assamese” and how do I fit myself into this community.
My friend’s
update reminded me to my Father’s Maternal Uncle, an unknown and unsung face,
who met a violent end during the movement for separate statehood for Bodoland .
Cladded in a pair of immaculate white Dhoti and Kurta, Father’s Uncle (We
called him “Aata” meaning Koka in lower Assam) was a true “Bhadralok”
(Gentleman). My earliest memories of him are Aata sitting long hours by the
side of Grand Mother and both submerged in family discussion. I never heard him
ever expressing displeasure or being angry. Aata used to stay in an area marred
badly by communal violence. While most of the other people fled the place, Aata
(Grandfather) stayed back believing no one would do him any harm when he had himself not committed
anything against anyone. His belief was utterly wrong. His title “Biswasi” was
enough to justify some heinous minds to commit the unthinkable.
I was very young
at that time and as usual I was burning with rage at the anonymous killer of Aata.
Passing years have soothed my rage and perhaps I will spare the killer if I
come face to face someday. I learnt to believe that more than the killer, the
system that produced the killer is required to be nailed first. For that reason
only , I become panicky, when I see educated people fail to ooze out wisdom out
of their education and fall into the trap of mob psyche. We had many who once saw
rays of hope with the armed struggle of Assam. Many of them today are obsessed
with a new Political party in India whose USP is sheer anarchism and gimmickry.
The racial
attack against the people of North East is not new. The cause is not lack of
policing which some Kejriwal wants us to believe. You can’t depute one
policeman after each and every citizen. The large Mongoloid population of North
East doesn’t share a common History and culture with the mainstream India. The
successive governments missed the important steps of national integration by
keeping people of India unaware about North East. That’s the reason Lachit or
Chilarai is not an Indian hero though their military pursuits can far outshine
many great historical warriors and household names in other parts of India. Not
many outside Assam are perhaps aware about the mighty Ahoms, who stopped the
Moghul’s reach to China through Assam. But I see a silver lining when Delhi
Minister Manish Sisodia states that North east must be included in the syllabus
of our future generation. There is no better way to make North East acceptable
to the rest of India that teaching the children about the diversity of our
country. The onus of National integration lies more on the rest of India than the people of North East.
The University
of Banglore has come out with an idea against racism which is nothing but short of rational thinking . The University wants to build a dedicated hostel for the
students of North East to protect them from racial abuses. Don’t know how such
fertile idea crop up in people’s mind ! North East must go outside the periphery
of North East the way rest of India should come to North East unlike the yearly
rituals of Republic Day parade. Efforts
to keep its people isolated, will cause
more harm than any good for sure.
When my sons
Hrishikesh and Siddhant grow up, I wish them to grow up as a good Indian Citizen
in the midst of other Indian students but never in a place exclusively reserved
for the people of North East.
You can contact Kamaljit at kamaljitmedhi1975@gmail.com
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