DR. SYED AUSAF SAIED VASFI delves deep into the Assam problem and holds the UPA administration at the Centre as well as the Gogoi government in the strife-torn state responsible for the ongoing violence.
For an objective study of the Assam problem, that recurs periodically, appreciation of two facts is necessary: One, since the pre-partition times, there had been a regular movement of population from what was East Bengal to Assam. Those who came were poor, uneducated rural Muslims. They came here to earn their livelihood. Muslims were always welcomed by the Hindu rich aristocracy and landlords. Behind this welcome was the solution of farm labour problem. Because of abject poverty, the Muslim immigrants did not mind doing menial jobs. For their honesty and true-to-salt behaviour, Muslims enjoyed trust and were given security jobs also. After partition, because of peculiar geography, the movement of Muslim population from neighbouring areas like West Bengal and later on Bangladesh did not stop. Almost similar was the situation, let us recall, at the Tijuana Border, when immigrants from Mexico would sneak into the US.
At domestic level, the poor even now move from states like Bihar and UP to Delhi and in many cases, settle here. This fact has been officially admitted many a time. There is little new or novel in migration. It takes place within the country as well as across the borders.
THE OTHER FACT
The other fact, in the words of the Chief Election Commissioner of India, is: “… Migration into the state (Assam) during the late 1960s and early 1970s when India fought two wars with Pakistan, in 1965 and 1971 respectively. It was during the Bangladesh operation that large number of former East Pakistani – now Bangladeshi – citizens were evacuated and housed in districts along the present Indo-Bangladesh border. This occurred in the districts of erstwhile Goalpara, including Dhubri, and in the adjacent districts of West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.
“It was estimated that between 2 and 3 million people were kept in the relief camps that were organised by the Government of India as well as by the state governments. They were kept in those camps for about 6 to 8 months. Most of these relief camps were located in large open grazing grounds, school buildings as well as other public buildings.
“After Bangladesh was established, most of these evacuees went back there. But a certain percentage of them remained in India. Even today the Indo-Bangladesh border is not properly guarded and fenced largely due to the difficult geographical conditions. There are a large number of rivers, riverine channels and drains in the area. This poses a major engineering problem for fencing and makes guarding difficult.
“Unless we use the latest technologies, as Israelis had done, the problem is going to remain and illegal immigration to the Northeast would continue. It has been alleged by knowledgeable persons that out of the 27 districts in Assam, 11 of them are going to be Muslim-majority districts once the 2011 census figures religion-wise are published by the census authorities.”
THE QUESTION
As this fact is from the proverbial horse’s mouth, it seems necessary to ask a question: Were the Muslims of Assam responsible for this migration or transplantation of Muslims from elsewhere. In one word, it was the late lamented Mrs Indira Gandhi who did this. It had nothing to do with Muslims, neither of Assam nor the rest of the country. Was it a political faux pas? Was she incapable of seeing beyond a truncated Pakistan, of course suitable for India? Whatever the case, it will be decided only by history after some decades. The then Prime Minister failed to see beyond independent Bangladesh. She could not envision what may happen after demographic changes. With the passage of time, things have reached the point of no return.
Without a dispassionate study of this fact, one cannot understand the ramifications of the planned Muslim presence in Assam. It is the government – and mark it the government headed by the Congress – that cannot shirk its moral and legal responsibility for the situation. It is really lamentable that neither the front-rank Congress leaders, nor the Saffron leadership is courageous enough to admit it. They beat behind the bush when they speak on the subject. Otherwise too all the facts behind the birth of Bangladesh are now common knowledge. What prevents the Indian architects of Bangladesh from telling a known truth?
NO LESSON
It is obvious that the Assam dispensation did not learn an iota of lesson from the similar sad happenings that rocked the state in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2008. The human tragedies in these disturbances did not cross the milestone set up by Neilli which, according to sufferers crossed the 7,000 mark.
Some naïve political commentators term these upheavals “ethnic.” We dare ask: What is ethnic about them? There happened to be communal riots, pure and simple. As sometimes happen in Bharat, the police of Assam also fail to resist their baser instincts in these conflagrations.
What brings Assam under sharper focus is that it is under the Congress-led UPA dispensation and Dr Manmohan Singh represents the state in Parliament. Except issuing strong statements and going to Assam at leisure, one finds little to pat on his back. He was sitting pretty, busy in official work when Muslims, leaving their burnt-out hearths and homes to flood the relief camps. Over 50 lost their lives. The loss of property, both officially and by the political parties, or Muslims themselves has yet to be estimated. Soon a Muslim delegation which is visiting Assam will put stark facts before the plural nation.
SOB STORIES
The unfortunate situation that prevails today in the strife-torn state is that neither the Bodos nor the Muslims are prepared to live side by side like civilized citizens. Both have sob stories to narrate in detail. The naked truth is that even today the percentage of close Hindu-Muslim neighbours is much less than that of those who live in exclusive enclaves – read ghettos in the case of Muslims.
This was and is an old and cherished dream of the Saffron. But the nation, in whose name they swear, is suffering from their muddle-headedness.
Besides killings, torching of property was the main sidelight of the disturbance. About 2 lakh people of both the communities are passing sleepless nights in relief camps. What led to this situation was the firing on two student leaders of the All Bodoland Minority Students Union and the All Assam Minority Students Union in Kokrajhar. The armed gave vent to their spleen against the defenceless. Before the too-late arrival of the military, there was a free-for-all.
As far as punishment to the guilty is concerned, the guilty number one is Mr Tarun Gogoi. As ever happens elsewhere, such guilty personnel turn into a prestigious issue for the ruling party. So has happened, and shall happen, with the chief minister who to the sufferers is biased, partisan and prejudiced. He doesn’t act fair. In this disturbance too, he did not show leadership and behaved like a mediocre. Mr Gogoi touched the zenith of mediocrity when he lambasted the press and claimed Assam was not burning.
Muslim parliamentarians of Assam have openly said that they do not repose trust in the Chief Minister. And who would repose trust in him when he has the cheek and temerity to say that only three out of 28 districts have suffered in the riots. And would you mind if you recall that exactly similar was the logic of Mr Narendra Modi soon after the Gujarat genocide of Muslims.
Whether one likes it or not, nobody, we fear, is likely to be punished for his partisan role or motivated silence on the tragedy. The immediate question relates to proper and fair distribution of relief admirably announced by the Prime Minister during his visit.
Another important point to be considered is raising the strength of Muslims in security forces in the trouble-torn state. Much before the issue of development comes the question of amity between the warring factions of the Assamese society. Let the Muslims show magnanimity and forget the past. Let them begin a new chapter.