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Memories of Another day

Memories of Another day
While my Parents Pulin babu and Basanti devi were living

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Gujarat as a Pilot Project of Hindu Nation is Over Exposed,Now the Project is shifted and Extended in Assam as RSS had always been Active behind Anti Muslim Anti Refugee Campaign there since sixties!

Gujarat as a Pilot Project of Hindu Nation is  Over Exposed,Now the Project is shifted and Extended in Assam as RSS had always been Active behind Anti Muslim Anti Refugee Campaign there since sixties!

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - Eight HUNDRED FORTY Eight

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Assam Riots is a part of the game of economic ethnic cleansing of the Excluded Communities ie SC, ST, OBC and Minorities, the Ninety Percent of Indian Population and the riots have to be continued and even escalated as the game Goes on!

After a calm of ten days fresh violence broke out in parts of lower Assam claiming five lives and pushing the overall toll to 61 today.Three bodies bearing bullet wounds were found in Chirang and two from Kokrajhar district, where one person is reported missing, police said.Over 50 people were killed and more than four lakh displaced in recent violence in Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Chirang districts. Refugee camps are still 'home' for most of the displaced, who took shelter there to save their lives during the riots.For more than a decade, the local community (Bodos) and illegal immigrants (Bangladeshi Muslims) have been fighting and spilling blood on the issue of ownership of land.In October 1993, 50 people lost their lives in Bongaigaon district in a similar ethnic clash. Time and again the issue keeps cropping up leaving behind a trail of bloodbath.The state is already in a vulnerable situation with economy in tatters and militancy continuing unabated. The recent riots have only added to the woes.There will be the usual game of getting as much mileage from the dead and the displaced. There will be a lot of talk of Assam becoming another Bangladesh or even Pakistan, with careless fear mongering thrown in for good measure. There will be others who will sell the absurd fiction that almost no illegal migrants from Bangladesh exist in Assam.


Gujarat as a Pilot Project of Hindu nation is  Over Exposed,Now the Project is shifted in Assam as RSS had always been Active behind Anti Muslim Anti Refugee Campaign there since sixties!

US attempt to export Democracy worsens the situation in India and all over South asia. it had to be worser. The rise of Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East and Africa with the banner of Arab spring coincides with Civil Society Hindutva Uprise with the brand Equity of Anti Corruption Campaign. It is nothing but relaunched anti reservation Anti constitution Movement supported and sponsored by Corporate India and Corporate Media. The  Political Hegemony has opted for Hinduva just because it mobilises the Excluded, excommunicated Communities ie SC, ST and OBC with Hindu Identity and convert them Foot soldiers of Hindutva as witnessed in Gujarat. Hence, the deprived and discriminated, excluded and excommunicated are diverted from the way of equality, social justice and material empowerment. The Polaristion is to get power for Hindu Nationalism in 2014 Loksabha Elections for which Sangh Pariwar is so much so die hard that it may opt for a Non BJP Prime Minister, too, as LK Adwani has hinted. On the line of congress, Sangh Pariwar is also experimenting with Soft hindutva with which Congress Ruling Dynasty ruled India hitherto and it also helped BJP leader Atal Bihari Bajpayee to become the Prime Minister of India in recent past. But apart from political equation, Sangh Pariwar practices Agrresive Hinduva as it had always been and even supported Mrs Indira gandhi during sikh Genocide during eighties.

I had written and spoken earlier that the Assam Riots issue is not a hindu Muslim conflict case as media reports suggest.Recent Violence is targeted against Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).The Third Party representing the Sangh Parivar and Hindutva lobby is invoking communal polarisation Hinduising the tribals on the one hand, while Anti tribal elements active in the area are trying their best to scrap the BTC as the social tension always prevailed in the Bodo region since eighties, since they rose against the State Power demanding autonomy and land rights. I had been insisting that the aborigin humanscape is under monopolistic Corporate aggression countrywide and the State has waged  a war against the indigenous aborigin communities to extract natural resources, minerals and land which is quite impossible without violation of Fifth and sixth Schedule of the Constitution,Civic and Human Rights altogether and scrapping all autonomous local bodies.It is notable that Corporate Imperialism zionist and blind nationalist hindutva are aligned globally to sustain Manusmrity rule to Enhance Open market economy. this is the phenomenon of Assam Riots which may not be stopped until BTC is scrapped and the Corporate India takes over the area as it happened all over in MP, Chhattishgargh, Orrissa, Jharkhand and other tribal areas countrywide.Kandhla, the biggest SEZ was created with descheduling the Scheduled  Tribe Area and converting the tribals as OBC. Mind you, land transfer to Non Tribal is prohibited in Scheduled Tribe Areas.If BTC is scraped it would open the floodgate to scrapping and descheduling the autonomous scheduled tribal areas countrywide in the best intrest of Corporate Imperialism, Corporate India and MNCs.Even GTA would have to be scrapped sooner or later.

Mind you, Citizenship Amendment Act and the illegal, unconstitutional Unique Identity Card project have been innovated by the Corporate India controlled and RSS Guided Political Manusmriti Apartheid Hegemony to target Muslims, Slum dwellers, roaming communities and Refugees is general and specifically the tribal people , most of whose villages are not recorded as revenue village.These tools have been created by All Party Parliamentary Consensus and were jointly executed by Congress and BJP. A nationwide deportation drive is launched to grab land and property of Muslims, tribal people , Slum Dwellers and Refugees. But we could not mobilise either the Secular forces or the indigenous aborigine Humanscape against this draconian violation of Human and Civil rights. Mind you, Assam Anti Foreigner Movement ie Anti Muslim and Anti Refugee Movement played the catalyst for Citizenship Amendment Act as well as Unique Identity Project. More over, Government of India , never did adopt a comprehensive refugee policy as far as the refugees from erstwhile Pakistan is concerned. Neither the state governments inflicted by continuous refugee influx nor the federal government ever did recognise them as partition victims. They had always the planning of deportation, Just the deportation was suspended. On the base of Assam agitation, not only Refugee registration was stopped in 1971 by GO but this date line was considered as cut off year in agreement with ASSU and AGP. Moreover, the department of refugee and rehabilitation withered away while internal displacement continued as an epidemic, always the victims were the aborigine and indigenous communities allon the name of development. As mainstream Population never did resist it. This always created reorganisation and disintegration of Demography in favour of the Political hegemony concerned which in return used the refugees as mobile vote bank without addressing their problems. The Minorities, the Tribal people and the refuges had always been on recieving end, the victims. Sacchar Commitee Report exposed the Politics of Minority but no such report is avialable about the tribal people or the refugees.

The Assam Agitation (or Assam Movement) was a popular movement against undocumented migrants in Assam between 1979 and 1985. It is regarded as one of the most vibrant democratic mass movements of independent India. The movement, led by All Assam Students Union and the 'All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad', set an agitational program to compel the government to identify and expel the illegal immigrants. The agitational programs were largely non-violent, but there were incidents of acute violence, like the Nellie massacre. The agitational program ended in 1985 following the Assam Accord that was signed between the agitation leaders and the Government of India.

The agitation leaders formed a political party, Asom Gana Parishad, which came to power in the state of Assam in the Assembly elections of 1985 and later in 1996.


Then there is the OBC phenomenon, which has been satisfied to be co opted in Hindutva system at the cost of SCm, ST and Minority communities.They consist of half of the population. They are SHUDRA in accordance with Manusmriti but none of the OBC communities including the Kayasth and Baidya do consider themselves as Shudra and thus create the burying ground for them. Specifically in the  Himalayan Zone, most of the communities are aborigine and indigenous or simply Shudra but they consider themselves as caste Hindus . Thus, Uttarakhand and himachal are considered as Devbhumi, Caste Hindu states contrary to the real genetical facts. It created havoc all over the Himalayan zone which is ticking like a suspended atomic explosion of Natural disaster just for Corporate Exploitation indiscriminate of natural resources killing Environment and Ecology under Hindutav Blind nationalism mind control. Uttarakhand was created basically with the mobilisation of Environments and Ecology movement and ironically, fifth and sixth schedules implementation out of question , even the forest Act which ensures land and livelihood rights in forest area, is not implemented in Uttrakhand. I quoted Uttarakhand and Himachal as these states are not segregated facially while are segregated Geographically as much as are Kashmir and Entire North East.OBC communities have all the leaders as chief ministers but they have not got the reservation in job or education despite the Mandal commission report. In most of the states, OBC communities are not recognised and worser, the OBC quota is clubbed with Minority quota as quota based on religion is illegal. It is just a political arrangement to agitate the OBC communities and feel deprived. OBC head Count is suspended despite Parliamentary Consensus. Half of the Population has no Identity and  is gald to be branded as Caste Hindu and powr sharing by its politically previlleged creamy layer while deprived of reservation, pequal opportunities, social justice. planning and budgetary allocatons. Worst is the case as the OBC leaders re the flagbearers of Hindutva, be it Narendra Modi, vasundhra Raje sindhia, Sushil Modi, Uma Bharati, Vinay katiyar and so on. Almost most of the wholetimers of Hindutva  as well as Sangh parivar belong to OBC. Interstingly, Anna, the head of Civil society against Corruption is OBC and anna Brigade opting for Political Party, the matle has to be taken by yet another OBC, Baba Ramdev. Anti Communal Combat in India is near impossible as Hindutva forces succeded unprecedented to convert SC, ST and OBC communities and even a handsome chunk of converted minorites the foot soldiers of Hindutav which is based on Constant Hate campign targeted against Non Hidus.

Last day only, I had an opportunity to address a selected audience in the Alumini Hall in the Jadavpur University Campus where Maoism and Civil Society movement was on focus.I explained that if the rights of the aborigine and indigenous communities are recognised and they get autonomy under fifth and sixth schedule of the Constitution, there is no scope of maoist movement. If land reforms accomplished, there would not be any Extremist agitation. But the Polity and economy is based on exclusion. Budget is all about forgone taxes for the capitalists for which we have to get debt from abroad and then never pay the debt, just paying the interest. Deficit Budget is the result of this alchemy. Then, no fiscal policy is adopted and Reserve Bank is used for monetary Exercise keeping in mind the interest of Corporate India, MNCs and Foreign Capital Inflow. Management of Economy is nothing but the recycling of Black Money. The Civil society has to say nothing against militarisation of state and Finance management and Policy making as well as governance by Extra Constitutional elements. The Majority demography is deprived of democratic space and representation.

Assam Problem roots in this phenomenon. We have to keep in mind the Armed Forces Special Power Act which is immulgated way back in 1958 and Kashmir and entire North East are ruled with the draconian provisions of  AFPSA.  AFPSA is immulgated all over the indigenous aborigines Humanscape countrywide specifically in Central India with various code names like Operation Green Hunt, Operation Godavry, Operation Lalgargh and so on as a part of War against the Non Hindu Tribal People. Neither Civil Society nor the Political parties or the secular democratic frces could launch a nationwide movement against AFSPA  just because Aborigin indigenous humanscape is segregated and mainstream India is inflicted with blind Hindu Nationalism which denies the very existence of Indigenous and aborigine people as well as minorities and refugees in India!

Ram Puniyaniji and Mr Asagar Ali Engineer have also exposed the Hindutva design. But the mainstream media is trying its best to intensify Anti Muslim Anti refugee Campaign to flare up further trouble. It has also a political agenda which belies under the Gujarat Experiment. In Gujarat, Hinduisation of the state has helped Corporate India most and Corporate India and Corporate Media leave no stone unturned to project Narendra Modi as the Face of the Future Prime Minister. The interest of corporate Imperialism is exposed well in the cover stories published in American media rejecting Dr Manmohan and Congress and favouring Nrendra Modi and BJP, the Political Organ of Hindu nationalist Sangh Parivar Pushing hard for Economic Ethnic Cleansing.

Chirang Superintendent of Police Kumar Sanjiv Krishna said the three - father and his two sons - had left the camp for displaced persons at Kawatika village of Chirang district yesterday and their bodies were found today. "They left the camp without informing anybody and without any security. Since then they were untraced. Today we found their bodies at Borlangshu village at Chirang district," he said.

"Indefinite curfew has been launched and the army is conducting regular flag march in the district," Assam IGP (Law and Order) L R Bishnoi told PTI here.

He said there were some stray incidents, but the situation was brought under control after the police decided to fix permanent security pickets in the recent-violence hit districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri.

IGP of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council (BTAD) S N Singh said 112 fixed security pickets in the three worst-affected districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri would be set up and the process had been started.

These fixed pickets would be manned by CRPF personnel and their main task would be to ensure that the displaced persons returned home, Singh said. Night curfew continues in Kokrajhar and Chirang, which are part of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts, and Dhubri which is outside it.

In Baksa district, as also in lower Assam, three people were seriously injured today when a bomb exploded at Goreshwar, the police said. The explosion, suspected to be carried out by anti-talk ULFA militants, took place when the three brought down a packet hanging from a tree between Harijori and Bagdoba areas in the district, seriously injuring them.

Police said additional security pickets have been posted there to prevent untoward incidents as the anti-talk faction generally calls bandh every year in the run-up to Independence day function.


Meanwhie,Vishya Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working president Dr Pravin Togadia, who made visits to relief camps in Kokrajhar and surrounding areas, blamed the Bangladeshis for the riots which led to lakhs of local ethnic people, Hindus and non-Muslims losing their near and dear ones in the recent violence in Lower Assam.

Talking to media persons here at Kokrajhar, Togadia also added that these Bangladeshis have terror links with ISI, HuJI, IM and other proscribed organizations which are intent on subjugating India even by joining hands with jehadi Rohinga Muslims who have already parked themselves in various States of the country demanding refugee status.

He claimed that the recent violence in BTAD area caused maximum damage to the tribal people whose houses were destroyed by the Bangladeshis. These immigrants have, in the past 15 years, launched numerous systematic ethnic cleansing drives and encroached large tracts of land as a result of which Karbi, Khasi, Jaintiya, Bodo, Dimasa and other 50 such tribes have been facing loss of livelihood. But these infiltrators get government protection leaving the ethnic population of this country to fend for itself.

He termed this violence as a national shame as the ethnic tribes and Hindu citizens of the country have been forced to live in relief camps while the migrants are grabbing the relief materials and money.

"No aid or facility should be extended to any Bangladeshi as they are responsible for the ethnic cleansing of the citizens of this country. They should be immediately deposed," he said and also claimed that Muslim MPs, MLAs and other politicians and government officials are actively helping the Bangladeshi migrants in India.

Togadia demanded that no one should be settled in any village until the National Citizenship Registry is updated. He also added that since 1947, Hindus in Bangladesh have been facing ethnic cleansing and so refugee status should not be extended to any Bangladeshi Muslim.

Moreover, he also demanded that Rs 7 lakh should be pais as ex-gratia to the kin of deceased family and Rs 3 lakh to those injured in the riot.

He also cautioned that Assam and most other States of Northeast are fact becoming like Jammu & Kashmir where drastic demographic changes were seen and the Indians have become minority.

Ram Puniyani says end of propaganda politics can help people understand actual problems!We have to agree with Puniayaniji. But the question remains unanswered how to consolidate Anti Communal Anti Hindutva Combat as the Left and Democratic forces, almost all of them already aligned with open Market economy and lives on hindutva!

Puniyani writes:

PRIME MINISTER Manmohan Singh has called the recent violence in Assam a blot to the nation. Fifty three people have died and almost four lakh people have been rendered homeless in the clashes that occurred last week in Khokrajhar and Chirang districts, between Bodos and 'illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators', majority of whom happen to be Muslims. There was some inexcusable delay in deploying the army in the area, which resulted in worsening of the situation. That the riots occurred just around the sowing season in what is the rice country of Assam is a worrying sign. Traumatised people are now crowding 250 ill-equipped relief camps set up by the government.

But this isn't the first time such violence has hit Assam. The strife between ethnic groups and Muslims, who are labeled as 'Bangladeshi immigrants', has been going on for several decades. In 2003, the Bodo Territorial Autonomous Districts were formed following a peace treaty between Bodo activists and the government. The districts included Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalgiri. Estimates put the percentage of Bodos in these districts between 22 and 29. The rest are Tribals and Muslims. Despite being in minority, Bodos, with full powers in the region, initiated policies which have kept non-Bodos largely out of the social framework. Over the years, local disputes have been painted as problems between legal citizens and illegal immigrants with parochial politicking under 'Assam for Assamese'.

The first major catastrophe in this occurred in the 80s, when the All Assam Students Union (AASU) demanded exclusion of Bangladeshi immigrants from the electoral rolls. In 1983, at least 2,000 people were killed in Nellie, near Guwahati. Those killed were Muslims, said to be illegal migrants and occupants of land that belonged to Lalung tribals. Tribhuban Das Tiwary Commission was constituted into the Nellie massacre, but the AASU, now Assam Gana Parishad (AGP), after coming to power dropped all the criminal cases against the culprits and the report of the Commission was never made public. A decade later occurred another series of violence, the victims of which are still living in relief camps. Last week's carnage was preceded by a rumour that people from Bangladesh have brought in a huge cache of armaments and it soon got triggered into violence that left lakhs with nothing.

Perhaps the real problem lies in the stressed land and job scenario due to a rising population. Lopsided development has put employment under pressure all over the country. In Mumbai, Shiv Sena presents it as a non-Marathis vs marathi issue. In Assam, the problem is deflected by making it an India vs Bangladeshi immigrants issue. Politics aggravates things in Assam by bringing in the foreigner angle, when actually Bangla speakers have made up a sizeable chunk of the state population for over a century.

In the early 20th century, Assam was grossly underpopulated and generated little revenue. The neighbouring Bengal, on the other hand, was overpopulated, which resulted in frequent famines. To counter the problem, the British resorted to 'human plantation' encouraging people from Bengal to migrate to Assam. But to maintain the core policy of 'divide and rule', the immigrants and the natives were kept in separate areas. This migration of Bangla speaking Muslims went on for several decades and by 1930s, the Muslims comprised a sizeable chunk of Assamese population. Post partition, divided Bengal became East Pakistan and then Bangladesh, but even then both Hindus and Muslims continued migrating to Assam.

The question here is how is this immigration is looked at. Why are Nepalese immigrants to India never looked down upon or demonised here? Why even the Hindus coming from Bangladesh are treated as immigrants, while Bangladeshi Muslims are seen as infiltrators and a threat to our security?

THE PROPAGANDA by communal forces about so call infiltration by Bangledeshis has assumed alarming proportions. It has been the backdrop of many agitations in Assam. Surely the basic issue of lack of development in Assam has been deflected by political groups as the issue of displacement of locals from their lands by infiltrators. Right from Nellie to the present violence, in which displacement is the most dominant factor, the infiltrator propaganda has prepared the ground for carnage.

What is required today is to disarm the criminals, to rehabilitate the refugees and to ensure that they return to their homes for the sowing season. If this is not met, surely a bigger disaster of food deprivation is staring at us. We also need to debunk the myth of 'infiltrators' for good. The word has been misued for far too long. And lastly the wounded psyche of communities needs to be healed through a process of dialogue and justice.

Ram Puniyani is a communal harmony activist based in Mumbai. The opinions expressed are his own.
ram.puniyani@gmail.com


ASSAM AND BODO -MUSLIM CLASHES – REASONS AND ANALYSIS

- By dr. asghar ali engineer.

August 1-15, 2012.

Much has been written in newspapers by now about the disaster that occurred in lower Assam Kokrajhar and three other districts. About 58 persons have died since 6th July though main clashes occurred from 19th July onwards and now some kind of uneasy situation prevails. More than 4 lakh have become refugees living in 27 different camps of which 3 lakh are Muslims. Newspapers generally narrate events and hardly analyze or give reasons on the basis of in-depth study.

Chief Minister Mr. Gogoi was angry when someone said Assam is burning Assam is indeed burning. The conflict there is much wider than Bodo-Muslim clashes in Kokrajhar or in BTC (Bodo Territorial Council). Assam communal riots are one, among many other manifestations of this conflict. There will be no peace in Assam unless the false propaganda about migration of Bangla Deshi Muslims is resolved.

AASU movement of eighties and its concomitant bloodshed in Neli in 1983 was its first manifestation. In Neli it was between Bengali speaking Muslims (branded as Bangla Deshis) and Lalung tribe and in these riots more than 3,000 Muslims were killed. They were all killed in the name of Bangla Deshis and there was terrible fear among Assamese Muslims too. When I went for investigation no Assamese Muslim was prepared to speak due to fear.

In 2008 too there were clashes between Muslims and Bodos clashed and around 55 persons were killed. Most of these Muslims described as Bangla Deshi are quite old migrants from British period. In Neli Bengali Muslims had told me that they had migrated in early thirties or even before and most of them were brought to till char lands of Assam. They are quite hard working and Assamese Ahoms and hill tribe Lalung are easy going and are not willing to work hard on char lands. Unfortunately in Neli though almost 3,000 people were killed, these riots have been totally forgotten. Even no official inquiry was also held as if no major disaster had taken place.

The rightwing BJP had added much fuel in propagating that Bangla Deshi Muslims are migrating in large numbers giving highly exaggerated figures without any basis. Today there is widespread network of RSS since eighties and it has been systematically working there to create cleavage between Hindus and Muslims though historically there has been communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims and in creating this harmony Shakr Deo on one hand, and, Azan Fakir, on the other have played very important role.

This harmony does not suit BJP for its Hindutva politics and hence it has picked up Bangla Deshi issue to divide Hindus and Muslims. It is because for BJP it is not easy to attack Assamese Muslims due to historical harmony but easy to create division in the name of Bangla Deshi Muslims. It is not to deny that there are Bengali speaking Muslims in Assam and that few Bengali speaking Muslims have migrated in recent times too both from Bangla Desh and other areas like West Bengal.

But most of them are from British time and there is no scientific collection of data to show how many have recently migrated from Bangla Desh. There is no national register too. After all it is propaganda and propaganda is based, at best, on half truth and only succeeds in creating confusion and division among people. And the allegation that the Congress is allowing Bangla Deshi Muslims to migrate to convert them into its vote-bank has naturally powerful appeal among anti-Congress forces.

Assam will be on turmoil until this issue is resolved and it is not only Bangla Desh people or Bengali speaking Muslims who are migrating to Assam but many others like Biharis are also migrating who are Hindi speaking. Marwaris from Rajasthan have also migrated and control trade in all parts of North East. But the propaganda machinery is in full swing talking about Bangla Deshi Muslims thanks to certain political design.

Another cause of these clashes is creating of BODO TERRITORIAL COUNCIL in an area where Bodos are only 29 per cent and rest are non-Bodos including Bengali speaking Muslims settled there since the British period and the British had brought them there for cultivation of jute more than 100 years ago. The Central Government did this to buy peace with militant Bodos who are demanding Bodo state in Assam.

How can one create Bodo Territorial Council and give them powers for development and other matters when they are just 29 per cent. All non-Bodo people feel aggrieved and want the Council to be repealed. They feel they are not getting due share in development. The Bodos, on the other hand, want to increase their number in that area so that they become the majority and creation of Bodo Territorial Council could be justified.

Another thing which is the cause of this turmoil is that Bodo militants who were supposed to surrender arms never did so and these militants roam around freely with their guns. The flow of arms has never stopped and government has never taken steps to disarm these Bodos, mainly for political reasons. The ruling alliance has Bodo National Front as its constituent and the Chief Minister does not want to displease the Bodos.

What happened in Kokrajhar district began with 4 Bodo youth who came on motor cycle on 6th July with guns and killed two Muslims and ran away. Nothing was done by the district administration as both Deputy Commissioner and Collector were Bodos. Subsequently unknown people (assumed to be Begali Muslims) killed four ex-militant Bodos and Kokrajhar was on fire. It is now that the Dy. Commissioner and District Magistrate have been removed (of which District Magistrate has been suspended).

If that action had been taken in time much bloodshed and destruction could have been avoided. However, Chief Minister remained silent spectator and did not take stern action. Of course after killing and destruction spread Chief Minister asked for central help and requested for military deployment which was delayed and things went out of control. It, however, must be said that Prime Minister Shri. Manmohan Singh urged upon the Chief Minister to take effective steps to stop this madness. He also made it a point to visit the affected areas though Mr. Gogoi did not bother to visit when people were being killed and their homes destroyed.

It must be borne in mind that this is not the first or last rioting in Assam or in Kokrajhar for that matter. If proper steps are not taken much more killing and destruction can follow. The first urgent step to be taken is to disarm Bodo militant youth. Lie in other areas of conflict arms are freely flowing and Bodo youth are seen roaming freely with guns and threatening non-Bodos in the area, particularly Muslims.

They are also extorting money from non-Bodos and if they do not pay they walk away with their animals and poultry. This has become great irritant for the people in that area. Disarming them is an urgent measure but it is anybody's guess whether Government will be able to take this step as Bodos are part of ruling political alliance but there is no other way also.

Secondly, some solution has to be found to the problem of Bodo Territorial Council as Bodos are no more than one-third of the population in that area (even less than that). This probably can be done by increasing share of non-Bodo people in the Council. It was an unjust measure on the part of Central Government to give all powers and majority representation to a minority at the cost of majority non-Bodo people. Besides Muslims there are other people too like Koch Rajbongshis, Santhals and Adibashis though Muslims constitute majority of non-Bodo people. Either the February 2003 agreement about Territorial Council should be annulled or increased share should be given to non-Bodos according to their population.

Thirdly the exaggerated propaganda about Bangla Deshi Muslims should stop and all facts about it kept before the nation through scientific data. This has become a major irritant not only in Assam but also in other parts of India.

These are some of the measures which must be taken urgently to defuse the situation. It should not be treated merely as a law and order problem but a political one and political solution has to be found. Some Bodo leaders are making highly irresponsible statements and unfortunately the National Council of Churches of India (NCCI) General Secretary Mr. Roger Gaikwad has also played to the gallery by saying that Bangla Deshi Muslims have occupied 10,000 square kms of territory has been occupied by these (Bangla Deshi) migrants. It is very unfortunate and irresponsible statement. It is result of general propaganda going on about Bangla Deshi Muslims.

It is unfortunate that next door in Myanmar Rohingya Muslims are being killed under the same excuse by the Military Government and here in India Bengali Muslims are being killed though we are a democracy. Only difference is that here Central Government, especially Manmohan Singh has taken some urgent steps to put out fire and to render financial relief by announcing a Rs.300 crore package and Myanmar Military dictatorship is mercilessly destroying Rohingya Muslims and justifying it.

Migration cannot be stopped altogether but it should not be allowed to be politically exploited by highly exaggerating the figures. In order to maintain peace one has to use political wisdom and ensure stability for the linguistic and ethnic others who have been living here for more than a century.  
http://www.csss-isla.com/arch-Aug-1-15-2012.htm


Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar has exposed the third party identity and phenomenon in his report`As calm descends, Kokrajhar groups see hidden hand behind violence' published in the Hidu. please read this report which is very relevant to understand the crisis!

In Kokrajhar and neighbouring districts of Assam, almost every person is able to recount incidents of communal and ethnic violence. Ever since the struggle of the Bodos for a separate homeland began in the mid-1980s, the western parts of the State have witnessed several clashes between the Bodos and other communities.

Through the Bodo Accord of 1993 and then through the constitution of the Bodoland Territory Areas District (BTAD) in 2003, attempts were made to bring some semblance of order in the region. The Bodos were given control over the BTAD through the constitution of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

Social tensions have, however, prevailed as issues of land rights, migration, ethnicity and religion have been used by vested groups to fan acrimony and stir up violence. This time it was no different. As the ethnic-communal tensions between Bodos and Muslims flared, many rushed to pin the blame on one or the other.

But on the ground no one cared to listen to argument and reason to know if this time too, as in the past, the violence was spontaneous or orchestrated by a third party.

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Kokrajhar following the Bodo-Muslim violence in three of the four districts of BTAD and the adjoining district of Dhubri, BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary made a representation to him accusing the Oboro Suraksha Samiti of fomenting trouble in the area as part of the conspiracy of forces which wanted to scuttle the plans for a separate Bodoland State and which were keen on dissolution of the Council. Dr. Singh declared that an impartial enquiry would be conducted and "if the conflict has been instigated, the guilty must be punished."

What few noticed was that earlier, on May 24, Mr. Mohilary had accused Congress BTC member Kalilur Rehman of creating communal tension in Goreswar. He had also criticised Mr. Rehman, who represents the Turibari constituency, as "playing a destructive role" in seeking "to divide Bodos and non-Bodos."

Observing that Mr. Rehman was the main person behind the formation of the Oboro Suraksha Samiti, Mr. Mohilary had noted that he would be urging the State Congress leadership to expel him.

The Congress government in the State led by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi did not catch the import of the message quickly and the situation worsened. The killing of two Muslims on July 6, followed by another murderous assault on Mohibul Islam of the All Bodoland Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) and Abdul Siddique Sheikh of the All Assam Minority Students' Union in Kokrajhar on July 19 and the killing of four Bodo youths in retaliation the following day, led to a chain of attacks and counter-attacks.

Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner Donald Gilfellon had on July 21 described the four Bodo youth as "reformed militants." The local Army had stated that these youth, who were riding motorcycles and were armed, were former cadre of the Bodo Liberation Tigers which had been absorbed into the mainstream after the 2003 accord. They had actually surrendered their weapons to the police and were being escorted out in a vehicle when a mob forced them out of the vehicle and lynched them.

The Muslim residents were agitated because of random killings by similar motorcycle-borne youth, which have been the bane of the region for several years now. Last year, in the wake of some such killings in Kokrajhar, the Superintendent of Police actually imposed a ban on the use of helmets by two-wheeler riders.

Rather than being defiant, almost all the major Bodo leaders — Deputy Chairman of the BTC Kampa Borgoyri, U.G. Brahma of the Bodoland Peoples' Progressive Front and president of the All Bodo Students Union Pramod Boro — that The Hindu spoke to stated that the involvement of Bodos in the killings of the Muslim student activists had not been established and yet they were being targeted.

However, Moinul Haq, founder-president of the All Bodoland Minority Students' Union, whose brother Mohibul Haq was among the two shot on July 19, squarely blamed the Bodo groups for the attack.

Asked why the non-Bodo forces have been seeking dissolution of the Bodoland Territorial Council, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal accused the BTC administration of involvement in the Bodo-Muslim violence and alleged that this was being done to "make the non-Bodo population less than 50 per cent of the total population of BTC controlled areas."

Mr. Ajmal insisted Bodo militants were also involved by the administration in the ethnic violence and demanded the seizure of all legal and illegal arms from the BTC area to curb more killings.

The AIUDF said the Bodos constitute just 29 per cent of the population in the BTAD, which comprises Kokrajhar, Chirang and Baksa — that witnessed violence — as also Udalaguri district, but want dominant control over the entire region.

Leaders of non-Bodo groups such as Rajbongshi, Adivasis and Bengalis are also sceptical of the real intention of the BTC.

They nevertheless do not rule out an economic aspect to the whole problem.

"On the face of it, full Statehood for the region would mean more funds for the development of this area, which has already gained ever since the BTAD was carved out in 2003 following the Bodo accord and its administration was handed over to the BTC under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. But it should be ensured that all communities gain and no one is discriminated against," said social worker Bijoy Krishna Roy.

Many of the non-Muslim, non-Bodos are also concerned that the constitution of a full State would compromise their security.

Right now the police and security forces are controlled from Guwahati and ethnic communities which have had confrontations with Bodos in the past are not comfortable with the idea of the local police being entirely controlled by them.

On the other hand, they also agree that full Statehood would mean greater development of the region as has been witnessed since 2003. It would also bring Central funds straight into the region and enable it to collect taxes from all vehicles bound for the 'Seven Sister States'.

In the present instance, these non-Bodo groups blame the State government for not acting quickly and thereby precipitating the crisis. "The government did not bother to look into the concern being expressed by Hagrama, who is a plain-speaking man with a good heart," said Lakhindra Rai, adviser of the All BTAD Koch Rajbongshi Sanmiloni. The Rajbongshis constitute about 15 per cent of the BTAD population.

The Rajbongshis, who in the late 1980s and early 1990s had their own set of problems with the Bodos, also agree that over the past six months a concerted attempt was being made by some non-Bodo groups to incite other communities against the Bodos.

Mr. Rai said: "This area of Kokrajhar has a history of sporadic incidents of firing by one group on the other and both Bodos and Muslims have fallen prey in the past." This time, he acknowledged that while the Bodos kept insisting that the attacks on Muslims were not their handiwork, no one listened to them.

He also insisted that the manner in which the four Bodo youths were hacked to death and their heads smashed with stones triggered the bloodbath. The Adivasis in the area, who again comprise nearly a sixth of the population and had waged a long and bloody struggle against the Bodo groups in the 1990s, also insist that the need of the hour is to provide security to the displaced people, ensure speedy rehabilitation and development, and give land rights to all non-Bodos.

Santhal leader Durga Hazda, who was chairman of the Bisra Commando Force and who still heads the 600-odd armed cadres of the force, recalled how the Adivasi-Bodo clashes had started with the dumping of the bodies of some Nepali girls from Bhutan in the Adivasi areas and the resultant anger being used to target the community.

With the creation of a separate Bodoland not being in the interest of the Assam government, as it would mean lesser administrative and financial control in the hands of Guwahati, Mr. Hazda said the killings now too should be seen in the light of who actually gained from them.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3728315.ece


The Telegraph Edit is focusing the crisis and it showcases how critical the situation is!

REGISTERS OF IMPRECISION by Malini Sur

The violence in Kokrajhar, Assam, its recurrence in the Bodo autonomous regions and other areas of lower Assam, and its tangible markers (the numbers of the dead, wounded and displaced) cause alarm. As new statistics surface, humanitarian intervention speeds up. Those supporting the autonomy of the Bodos and their displacement, the cause of the Muslims of Bengali origin and "Bangladeshi" immigrants, and those concerned about Assam's predicament within India and along its borders with Bangladesh — everyone demands precise explanations. Who arrived when in these areas? Who displaced whom? Who killed? Who watched and witnessed? Who incited? Who fled? Facilitating reconciliatory dialogues, many observers indicate, is especially critical.

Dominant discourses polarize debates — such as Bodo versus Bengali immigrants, the Assamese versus the Bodos, Indians versus Bangladeshis, and ethnic versus communal. In the rich agrarian, forested and mineral-rich landscape known as northeast India, which shares a complicated internal boundary with India and external boundaries with its neighbouring states, questions regarding the making of identities and boundaries have no easy answers. Equally complicated are the boundaries within that draw lines among the Bodos, the Assamese, the settlers and many others. It is then not the who or what that is entirely tangible and marked out, such as the authentic claims of the Bodos regarding their troubled existence and loss of land, but the blurry history of movement and settlement — registers of imprecision — that partly explain such violence.

Like the 1983 massacre at Nellie in Assam, the violence at Kokrajhar is likely to reveal a maze of competing social relations over land. These equations are a product of more than a century of contentious land politics and the marginalization of the province of Assam, and more recently, debatable border-making in northeast India. Sovereignty and sub-nationalism, autonomy and immigration, and marginalization and the loss of resources and life have frequently shaded into one another in this region. Indeed, the violence at Kokrajhar is not exceptional. However, just as this conflict signals the predicament of the Bodos, the settlers of Bengali origin and the immigrants, and that of Assam in general, it equally transcends Assam's boundaries.

Postcolonial South Asia is replete with examples of struggle over territoriality and space. Questions of land, together with control over produce and resources, were integral to state-building after the hurried Partition of India in 1947, a process that often witnessed the coercive appending of smaller territories. State-building and the marking of new borders ensured that peoples' relationship to land were replaced with a uniform attachment and belonging to land as national territory. The history of postcolonial South Asia and of all the fragments that form states, then, is as much a history of national territories and citizenship as the history of hurried assemblages marked by ambiguous locations and fuzzy identities. Even today, State surveillance and census, or the registration of citizens and foreigners, do not lend certitude to citizenship or illegality. If postcolonial South Asia created citizens, it equally slotted others as suspects — never complete citizens, but not quite illegal foreigners either. And it is these registers of imprecision that one needs to acknowledge with the incidents in Kokrajhar, Nellie and elsewhere in South Asia that constantly place and displace borders.

While territoriality remains pivotal to the formation of states and regions in South Asia, we are confronted repeatedly with its incompleteness. Ad hoc borders, hurried and coercive assemblages, are reflected in the bitter struggle over identities. In the late 1990s, when the Bodos had not achieved autonomous regions, the borders between India and Assam were decided in cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Many Bodo scholars feared returning to Assam during vacation, even as their friends and colleagues from other parts of India happily vacated hostels. They feared violence, harassment and loss of life in the hands of security forces deployed to control the demand for Bodoland. Today the borders of violence are more local and marked. The Bodos' fears of being harmed and displaced, of the loss of life and guns and the fears of Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam and elsewhere have led to the fears of the Bengali settlers and immigrants. Fear remains central and cyclical to narratives of recognition and expulsions, of the loss of life, of material and emotional displacement.

So, the losses at Kokrajhar are a reminder. First and most important, they draw attention to the troubled existence of the people living in Assam — the Assamese, the Bodos, settlers of Bengali origin, immigrants and others — and their struggles over land and recognition. Second, the violence at Kokrajhar reminds us that borders and border-making are complicated whether fenced or unfenced. As a region that is cut off and appended to mainland India, northeast India's predicament is at once tied to the neighbouring Bangladesh and reflects its complicated internal boundaries within and with India.

While the catastrophe brings to the surface questions of authenticity and of homelands, these notions are played out in the underlying tensions that rupture the mundane. These ruptures are as much products of a century of conflicts revolving around the demarcation of settlement zones and the phases of contentious mobility between competing provinces, zones and states as everyday modes of border governance. Thus, the citizen and the suspect live with barricades, check points, frisking and interrogation in northeast India. Third, while the threat of violence is never out of context in this region, the guns and barricades signal the region's need for protection while equally indicating that this political space cannot be trusted completely. Finally, the violence at Kokrajhar reminds us that the register of precision — the tangibility of figures, the numbers of who belong and who do not, and the mapping of troubled zones — underlies the registers of imprecision. Marking and mapping, giving meaning to and claiming authenticity, simultaneously create ambiguous locations and displacements: who is who, who belongs where, who incites and who kills. Walls are central to our lives, walls that keep away and draw closer, haunting us as spectators and interventionists.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120802/jsp/opinion/story_15803324.jsp#.UB6UY6Bmm9s


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