The disgrace of Indian Politics shines
from the State of Assam this July. More than 40 lives were lost before I came
to realize the seriousness of the situation. Thousands devoid of homes, roofs
and a village are now being held at refugee camps. Some of the oldest
inhabitants of India are now living on bread crumbs and wet canvas over head.
Just after the Rain Gods showered
fury on the people of Assam, the fury of men belittles that of the god’s. The ethnic riots that broke out in the first half of July took me down by
surprise. The riot was not the surprise, it was the complete lack of coverage
or attention it received from the country that made me raise my brows and then
bring down my fist.
The apathy of the people, the inability
of the state government, lack of concern of the central government and the shocking
uninterest of the media makes my bones itch.
The Chief Minister of Assam Tarun
Gogoi, is all too very well known in Assam for his vote bank politics. The
illegal immigrants from Bangladesh receive a fresh start from Indian soil.
Food, shelter, clothing and everything a native would receive is on the menu;
for free. The game is simple; the Congress party wants to prove its sovereignty
by extending its hand to the Bengali speaking Muslims.
Out of the 4 states that border
with Bangladesh, Assam has the highest number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
It’s also a fact that Tripura has more incidents of immigrant initiated crimes
than Assam; and that the Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants caught in Meghalaya are
sometimes sent to Assam. Meghalaya again is ruled by the congress party. One
can actually say that Assam’s tolerance to these Bengali Speaking Muslims is a
trade off for the congress and congress allies to prove their sovereign
intentions.
To make proposals of a farfetched
theory, the acceptance of Muslims into Assam over a hostile communist state of Tripura
could have got Mamta Banerjeethe the Muslim vote banks of West Bengal.
Leaving that apart and focusing
on the riot, It haunts me to see that the country is least bothered about what’s
happening in Assam. The electronic media in specific is more interested in
talking about The 13th President’s first speech, Anna Hazare’s fast,
Indian cricket team and god knows which product Samsung is going to release
next.
The Center Had not bothered to dispatch
security forces to the riot affected areas till it was inevitable to turn its
head from the fish curry on Pranab’s table. Over that, there are loathful people
like Sharad pawar who want to throw threats of destabilizing the government for
personal gains. Caught between such unruly allies, swinging knifes of economic
slowdown and a blunt Obama and Co. hell bent on driving investors away from
India, the central govt hardly has the time or priority to look at Assam.
This lack of action from the governments
in deploying security was the sole reason for the elevation of the aggression.
The innocent Bodo’s of Assam had to seek help in form of security from the Militants.
This might sound drastic, but with no help from any govt body, they had to fend
for themselves. Choosing a familiar Devil over an uncertain God is not a hard
choice. The consequences of this would be a growth in public sympathy for the militants,
Assam, or in general the north east of India has no shortage of militant groups
looking for local support. Once with the help of local public if the militants succeed
in getting control of the siliguri corridor, then we can kiss the shivalik Himalayas
of India a final goodbye. This news however will not be made public, because
most of the print and emedia is either on immigrant sympathy mode or politician
loyalty mode. Who gives as damn to the people?
My dissatisfaction with the
politicians doesn’t end there. I’m also angry at the opposition, when the
opposition leaders can pass comments at magazine covers and openly criticize for
deaths of pilgrims, then what makes then stay mum at the situation in Assam???
The Answer – BJP doesn’t have a chance
of winning an election in the north east. Except for a few distant stars of
hope, the north east has been impenetrable for the BJP. Making comments and
forcing the government to act won’t win any votes in the
congress/communist/regional party bound states of the north east. So the BJP decides
to throw small pebbles at congress and not make a real effort at getting things
done.
This episode of ethnic/communal or whatever you want to call riots
between indigenous Bodos and the refugees is a disgraceful situation for the
whole country. The truth about the ineffectiveness of the greed based political
system, the powerlessness of the common man, the crooked vote bank politics,
and the euphoric media that turns at shiny objects are all evidence of the
apathy for the North East of India.
Just what the separatists need. Proof of disownment.
Most of the police force had resigned when the riots broke out. I have heard that locals kids had to arm themselves with whatever they could to guard their homes. Troops have been deployed in Kokrajhar town yesterday. But things are hardly going to change. I will bet anything that even if they are able to stop the riot now, it will resurface someday. There needs to be a permanent solution.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... Wonder what or where would this permanent solution come from... Just for the sake of India I hope it doesn't come after we've lost one of our states to refugees or militants
ReplyDelete