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Recent
killings of innocent Bihari people in Assam is
really very disturbing, not only because I also
belong to Bihar, but I am afraid of the mind set
of local Assamese people which is the most
dangerous thing to handle. We must think what
goes wrong with them when they intend to do
things like these. We know since so many decades
both Assamese and Biharis had been living and
working together, but now the local Assamese,
specially the younger generation, don’t want any
Hindi-speaking people in Assam. The million
dollar question is WHY..????
To find out the reason behind this changed mind
set we have to look and dig deeper. Although I
don’t have the exact data about how many
Hindi-speaking people are living currently in
Assam (remember they are attacking Hindi
speaking people, mostly from Bihar), but we know
that currently in Assam the local Assami people
have become minor in their own state. Whether
it’s a rickshaw puller or industry owner, all
jobs are mostly occupied by Hindi-speaking
people. In other words - by Biharis. There is
not a place or department where outsider
(Biharis) are not in large numbers. Local people
are feeling helpless everywhere.
Now come to the governing side. The state
government since last two three decades did
nothing for the development of Assam. Assam has
very good chances of becoming a developed state.
It has all the essentials and very rich heritage
sites. Assam could be a great destination for
tourists. And tourism could be the best and most
earning area for Assam. But unfortunately no
govt. has shown any interest for the development
of this important area. Other than tourism, so
many other areas are still waiting for a strong
political will power.
Knowing these facts, any one can simply
understand what exactly is driving these Assami
people. We also cannot ignore the involvement of
local politicians in this anti-Hindi speaking
people in Assam. Actually by doing this they
simple want to hide their failure against the
core issues. And by the result whatever is
happening seems to be obvious. By killing anyone
is not a permanent solution for any particular
issues. Assam Govt. can take an example from
Jharkhand. This state was having similar
problems. But now the Jharkhand Govt. has solved
this by reserving seats in every department for
local people. We can see in Jharkhand there is
no clash or fighting with the so-called
"outsiders".
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Comments: |
Mr.
Ray's justification or
rationalization or psychoanalysis
(take your pick) of the Biharis
being butchered in Assam is
reprehensible and it is this kind of
mindset that Assam belongs to
Assamese and Bihar belongs to
Biharis and Maharashtra belongs to Marathis (and so on) that has been
the Achilles' Heel for India for a
long time and long exploited by our
self-serving politicians. Mr. Ray is
just playing into these politicians'
hands and parroting what he has been
indoctrinated to believe.
Whatever happened to the concept of
one India, one nation Mr. Ray? Is
there a document or any reference in
the Indian Constitution that says
Bihar belongs to only Biharis and
Biharis legally own the piece of
land that constitutes Bihar? Is
there a document or any reference in
the Indian Constitution that says
Assam belongs to only Assamese and
Assamese legally own the piece of
land that constitutes Assam?
Please quit perpetuating this
ignorant but dangerous ideology that
any state belongs to a particular
group or race of people. We are
Indians and last I checked, Assam is
a part of India and if I chose to
live in Assam, there is not a living
person or group that, short of
killing me, could stop me from
living in Assam. Same goes for
Assamese living in Bihar or
Gujaratis living in Maharashtra...,
you get the picture.
I have been living in America for
over 30 years now. I have never seen
this mindset that a New Yorker is
being killed in California and a
southerner is butchered in Chicago.
This sense of 'ownership' of a state
only exists in India and in the
minds of the Indians, and you Mr.
Ray, are just perpetuating this myth
by apologizing (or whatever you want
to call it) on behalf of the
terrorist groups like ULFA.
I've also never heard that a
percentage of jobs in Texas are
reserved only for Texans (quota
system) and jobs in the Bay Area are
reserved only for the Californians.
Again, you have been the victim of
years of sustained brainwashing by
our so-called, divisive,
self-serving politicians.
If you want these killings of
Biharis in Assam stopped, first
change your way of thinking and
force others to think differently.
Until we fully appreciate the
concept of ONE INDIA ONE NATION, we
will continue to kill each other in
the name of regionalism and false
sense of 'ownership' of the state. -
Anil Kumar - Aug. 15, 2007
I
am not sure why I am rewriting on to
this topic after your (much awaited)
comment dear Anil Kumar. Why much
awaited? Because I strongly do
believe in "NEENDAK NEYARE RAKHIYE...."
I appreciate your vibrating thought
of one nation because this theme is
a dominating thread in my mind and
soul as well. Second thing I hate
the word politics, politician or
NETAJEE simply because these words
have lost their exact meaning these
days. So I don't have any political
frame of mind while writing this
article. I always remain very
cautious whenever someone inside me
forces me to write on any particular
issue regarding national or
international events, based on
ground reality. Still it may be
possible that somewhere my thought
get slipped, but certainly not in
this case. But I must confess that I
need help like this you have given
to me (indirectly) so that I can be
focused and more responsible while
writing. - Saroj Ray, New Delhi -
Aug. 16, 2007
This is in response to the article
'Reality of Assam' regarding killing
of Biharis in Assam.
Let us have the clear understanding
of the issue first. Biharis or other
non Assamese living in Assam are as
legal residents of the place as
Assamese themselves living there.
This is given. But then the issue is
not as simple. I can understand
resentment of a local populace in
case of a large scale migrant
population is swarming their land
but I do not think that an average
Assamese's resentment is resulting
in to such frequent and gruesome
killings of Hindi speaking people in
Assam. There is a much nefarious
design behind this all.
There is a planned and sinister
strategy on part of ULFA and their
foreign collaborators to strike at
Biharis which are sitting duck for
them. By doing so they are
constantly reminding authorities and
country as a whole of their presence
and capability to strike at will on
one hand and driving a wedge between
Assamese and non Assamese residents
there. Their simple calculation is
that this wedge would make their
ultimate goal of secession from
union of India easy. If we miss this
vital point then our assessment (and
response) to the problem would be
erroneous.
Hence the issue is at least two
dimensional- first how to ensure
that there is no friction between
native Assamese and migrants, and
second checking ULFA in its plans.
First and foremost thing is to
overcome strong emotions which such
provocative actions are bound to
evoke. As this would serve the
purpose only of the likes of ULFA
and none else. State govt and
leaders of the communities have to
come forward and ensure that
goodwill amongst the various
sections of the populations remain
intact.
Where ever there are strains they do
not develop to a festering sore and
prompt and proactive initiatives are
taken to not to allow the situation
to go out of hand. As far as ULFA is
concerned, they have a stated agenda
to secede from India. In fact they
object the word secession as they
consider Assam never having been
part of India! Some prominent
Assamese (including writer Indira
Goswami) tried to bring ULFA to
negotiation table to find a way for
this problem. It happened after govt
of India had successfully launched a
military offensive (operation
Bajarang) against ULFA in Assam and
their hideouts in Bhutan. ULFA used
this negotiation only to buy time to
regroup themselves and restart their
offensive against Union of India.
Govt of India needs to deal ULFA
with utmost firmness. Since ULFA's
major leaders and camps are outside
India a concerted diplomatic effort
is needed to win the co-operation
from all our neighbours who are
currently supporting ULFA directly
or indirectly.
It is really tragic to see largely
poor migrant Bihari community having
been reduced a pawn between
secessionist game played by ULFA.
Both Assam and Bihar are states full
of potentials and if a visionary and
dynamic leadership is at command
both can be shaped in to much better
places than they are today. Both
rank in the bottom band on almost
all developmental indices within
India. While India grows at 9%
overall, certainly these areas are
completely left out. There is urgent
need to make our growth stories more
inclusive.
All said and done govt of Assam is
constitutionally bound to protect
every citizen's life and property.
The track record of current govt
there is not inspiring. There is a
need to make govt of Assam more
accountable and at the same time
provided with all the assistance it
needs to fight this difficult
battle. - Abhishek Kumar, Chennai
- Aug. 20, 2007 |
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