As Assam burns
_/\_Shekhar_/\_
By Balbir K Punj
When Rome was burning Nero was fiddling, when Gujarat was burning the
"secularists" were holding anti-Sangh rallies in Ahmedabad, when Assam is
smouldering, Tarun Gogoi is twiddling his fingers and one doesn't know where
the "secularists" have vanished en masse. No photogenic horror a la
Qutubddin Ansari is hitting the front pages of newspapers.
No "secularist" is flying to Guwahati to salvage terrified Biharis amidst
media glamour. No "secularist" is venturing to Nalbari, Tinsukia or
Dhuliajan to find out whether the afflicted Biharis have a tent to live in.
No "secularist" is turning his blood into ink to churn out article after
article to say why Ulfa's Paresh Barua should be indicted at the
International Court of Justice for "Nazi-like racist crimes." Why are the
peaceniks and "left-liberals" not demonstrating on the streets of Dispur
unlike in Gandhinagar?
Is it because it takes more liver than the "secularists" have, in
confronting AK-56 trotting Ulfa extremists? Only Union minister of State for
Home Swami Chinmayananda, Cabinet Minister Dr C P Thakur and his deputy
Tapan Sikdar, all of the BJP, have dared to go to the disturbed State and
try douse the fires of separatism.
The "secularists" have neither visited the State nor condemned Tarun Gogoi
or the ISI or Bangladesh. And Laloo Prasad Yadav (beset for the first time
with a problem beyond "secularism") has only blamed the Centre, conveniently
keeping silent about the real culprits.
This is not the first time that the once Elysian haven of Assam is on the
simmer, nor are these assaults merely anti-Bihari. The banned United
Liberation Front of Asom has served an ultimatum on all Hindi-speaking
people to quit Assam. It is thus exploiting the volatility to shore up its
secessionist agenda for which it was meticulously tutored by the Pakistani
ISI.
In November 2000, Ulfa had mounted a similar bloody campaign of terror
against Bihari migrant labour and Marwari traders in Bongaigaon district
leaving a trail of 60 deaths in five weeks. In 1990, the Ulfa got
pitchforked into the limelight by targeting tea and oil industry executives.
The casualty figure of over 60 Bihari lives lost (and massive property
destroyed) might become obsolete by the time it appears in print. With the
Tarun Gogoi government merely twiddling its fingers and the Congress high
command in a nonchalant mode, the situation might turn worse.
But what explains the utter silence of the "secular" cabal (read Congress,
Communists and Communalists) who were holding anti-Sangh rallies every
second day in Ahmedabad during the Gujarat riots?
On the surface of it what began as a squabbling over some Group-D jobs in
the railways in Assam have snowballed into a major showdown. Some Bihari
students were prevented by local candidates from appearing in Guwahati
Railway Recruitment Test for Northeast Frontier Railway in Maligaon (Assam)
on November 9, 2003.
This might appear a grossly unfair act, but only to those not looking for a
job. As candidates appearing in competitive examinations know, outsiders
receive similar treatment in Bihar. While Bihari students appear in bank PO
or railways exams all over India, outsiders could seldom make it to an
examination centre in Bihar.
But in this particular incident candidates received grievous injuries and
when they returned home with broken limbs and swollen eyes it fomented ire
in Bihar.
On November 12, 2003 a group of people armed with lathis, stopped the 4024
Down Mahananda Express and 4055 Brahmaputra Mail and beat up Assamese
passengers.
A railway ride through Bihar is never an encouraging proposition. More
northeastern trains passing through Jamalpur, Munger and Katihar were
attacked and passengers, not necessarily Assamese but Naga, Mizo, Manipuri,
Khasi, Bengalis of Assam were looted and assaulted.
Some rape cases (officially, molestation) were also known to have taken
place. The rest is history as retaliatory strikes against not only Biharis
but all Hindi-speaking people began in Assam.
The present outbreak is symptomatic of a deeper and complicated malady.
Ashok K Singh contemplating on his home State Bihar says in 'Death of Patna'
(The Pioneer, November 15, 2003), "According to a recent study, the flight
of human capital and migration from Bihar has touched gigantic proportions:
Over 2.5 crore.
Some say the demographic migration from Bihar in the last decade and half is
second only to religious migration during Partition. The labour class
migrates because there are no employment opportunities. The middle class
migrates in search of better economic and social prospects."
Except in ancient history Bihar has seldom enjoyed a healthy image. But the
last one decade of Laloo Yadav's casteist "family-farm" government supported
by the "secular" Congress, has seen the worst deterioration in economy, law
and order, public services.
Lumpenisation has become the order of the day. The severance of resource
rich Jharkhand has lent it a heavy blow. Most jobs created by the new
economy are in specialised sectors with skilled personnel - something Bihar
is not matching up to.
There's a huge influx of Biharis to Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab as evident from
the inflating size of Chhat Pujas lately. One could only foresee the State
sliding down the indices of living standard and Bihar will continue to spawn
more of economically displaced people if RJD policies continue.
In Laloo Bertram Mills' Circus era the image of Bihar has touched rock
bottom and Biharis are being looked at with contempt everywhere as never
before. I repeat that what is happening in Assam is symptomatic and could
recrudesce anywhere else.
On the other hand, Assam is also a saga of political perfidy. In 1947 Assam
shrank because of the conceding of land territory to East Pakistan through
the infamous Sylhet-plebiscite. If the Bihari or Bengali tea-estate workers
were allowed to vote in that plebiscite, Sylhet could have been saved.
The present State of Assam has recorded the greatest decline in Hindu
population percentage of all Indian States in last century. The Hindu
population share has plummeted from 84.55 per cent in 1901 to 68.25 per cent
in 1991.
During the period, the share of Muslims has steadily risen from 15.03 to
28.43 per cent mostly due to immigration from Bangladesh. Genuine Assamese
Muslims are negligible in number and mostly well-placed professionals.
But there was another movement of migrants into Assam. This consisted of
rice cultivators from eastern Bengal (which later became East Pakistan).
This movement began around 1900, and so enormous was its impact that the
subsequent census report took extensive note of it.
According to the 1961 census, between 1930 and 1960 about six million
hectare of land in Assam was settled with immigrants other than former tea
garden labourers. This figure as the census put it, was "almost unbelievable
in its immensity." These cultivators moved in from their densely populated
lands into the wide Brahmaputra valley.
As a result of such migration the Muslim population of Assam province
increased by 109 per cent between the census of 1881 and that of 1931. It
was because of such migrations that Sylhet, the second largest district of
the province both in area and population, became predominantly Muslim and
was awarded to East Pakistan.
And, pray, what is happening today? Ulfa is spilling the blood of the
Biharis in a bid to end the final Indian mainland outpost. The space vacated
by the Biharis would be immediately occupied by infiltrators from
Bangladesh.
In 16th century when Hindus were in great cultural and demographic stress
from Islamic fundamentalists, Ahom Rajas had brought some enlivenment by
acknowledging and accepting Hinduism along with their subjects. But the
obsessive secessionist Ulfa is trying to drive them into the arms of
Pakistan's ISI. Ulfa recruits are given guerrilla warfare training in Burma,
Pakistan, and Talibani Afghanistan.
The Ulfa top brass maintains bank accounts in Bangladesh and owns plush
houses there. Even if Ulfa manages to make Assam secede from India, its
demography would force it to become a greater Bangladesh. They would go the
way of the Hindus of East Bengal who fought almost to a man against the
British but supinely accepted the de-Hinduisation after Independence and
Partition.
Bang-e-Islam or Islamic Greater Bengal encompassing East Pakistan, West
Bengal and Assam was the fond dream of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who was foisted
on Assam politics by the Congress and later became the President of India.
But the Congress' treacherous attitude to Assam was confirmed by the Illegal
Migrant Detention (Determination by Tribunal) Act which was imposed by
Indira Gandhi after her controversial victory in unpopular elections of
1983.
This Act makes the onus of proving one's foreigner identity on the
complainant, rather than on the accused in contrast to the Foreigners Act
for entire India. So while Ulfa may kill Biharis and Bengalis, it is getting
strangulated by the forces of Bang-e-Islam.
In 1999, the then Assam governor Lt-Gen (Retd) S K Sinha submitted a 42-page
report on Assam's demographic situation to President K R Narayanan. Sinha
feared that demographic aggression in Assam's lower districts like Dhubri
and Goalpara will prompt their merger with Bangladesh.
In fact, in lower Assam one could walk miles thinking it is Bangladesh and
without meeting a single Indian. The loss of lower Assam will severe the
entire landmass of northeast from the rest of India and the rich natural
resources of that region will be lost to India.
But Tarun Gogoi, then Assam Congress chief and now the Chief Minister said,
"By saying that the Muslim population in districts like Dhubri and Goalpara
may one day demand secession from India, the governor has cast aspersions on
their loyalty and commitment to the country. This is unacceptable and
unprecedented. We have in fact called for his recall."
But didn't the Congress say the same thing before Pakistan was achieved, or
didn't Nehru hand over Sheikhdom to Sheikh Abdullah with such faith? Those
who don't learn from history are condemned to and are likely repeat it.
Source: http://www.deccan.com/columnists/default.shtml