Hi Himen-da:
Welcome to Assam Net.
Ordinarily I would not have responded to your note. But since you
addressed it to me, again, and you raise certain issues that I am
unable to understand, I decided to get drawn into it :-).
*** First off, you are entitled to your admiration of Lyngdoh.
And he may be eminently worthy of it. However your explanation for
such admiration based on the anecdote you cite here is not a
persuasive one. It merely points to your importance, as
demonstrated by the courtesy you received from him along with the hour
long interview. Lyngdoh's summoning of his IAS minions and their G.Sec
accepting your 'appeal' at his behest does NOT, in any way,
shape or form speak for or against Lyngdoh's qualities either as
an effective public servant or his intellectual abilities. It merely
underscores, once again, the nature of Indian governance in which
appearances pass for actions and are accepted as
accomplishments.
Rajen too demonstrated that this morning in citing how 'process'
is more important than results, backed up by nothing less than the
Mahatma's words, real or imagined.
*** On the matter of Lyngdoh pronouncing at his Magsaysay award
receiving address that 'democracy' has ill-served India, does not do
his intellectual standing any favors. One would have hoped that
someone of your stature would have recognized that instantly. I am
sorry to see that you missed that entirely.
*** But I do give him high marks for being able to grasp that
what is touted as 'democracy' in India, something I call
'desi-demokrasy', has not done the country much good-- actually has
harmed it, and continues to do so.Assdam has and the NE region have
been grievously hurt by it. He does have credibility on this matter
having been the high-profile and much resented
'election-commissioner', and obviously having seen its rotten
core first hand.
*** On the matter of your opinion on what you perceive to be
Assam's primary problem, that of being in danger of being swallowed
up by Bangladesh, I have a few questions and comments:
and the resources have
done nothing or are unable to do anything
in this forum.
Best regards.
Chandan
At 5:54 PM -0800 12/26/05, Himendra Thakur wrote:
To
Shri Jugal Kalita
USA
Dear Jugal,
I am worried to see that the following are missing from the Assam.org. I request you to re-insert these items so that people will not be misguided about my stand on the related writings of Shri Mukul Mahanta.
I thank you very much for having my article"Atan Buragohain Sako" published in the Assam.org. I'll now eagerly wait for any feedback or follow-up on that subject. Purpose of that article was to revive inner selfconfidence of our people by building a point of glory. Please suggest what we should do towards such a goal.
With the best wishes,
Himendra
APPENDIX #1:
To
The Editor, Assam.org
Subject: Personal attack on JM Lyngdoh in Assam.org
Dear Sir,
I am pained to see the personal attack on Shri James Michael Lyngdoh by Shri MC Mahant in Assam.org. I hope you will publish my rejoinder so that people will not go away with the idea that we the Assamese do not know evenhandedness.
I met Shri Lyngdoh in 1997 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi when he was the Principal Secretary of the President of India and Chairman of the Association of the IAS Officers of India. Representing International Society Against Dowry & Bride-Burning in India, Inc., a Boston based US nonprofit Corporation, I wanted to talk with him on a very sensitive subject of issuing an appeal to the IAS Officers of India not to take dowry in their marriage. Contrary to the traditional practice of denying and covering up the matter on behalf of other IAS Officers, Shri Lyngdoh not only granted me an hour-long interview, but also called the General Secretary of the Association of the IAS Officers to join the discussion. At his instance, the General Secretary, a senior IAS Officer from a dowry-infested area of India, agreed to issue the appeal. I was immensely impressed by the straightforward truthfulness of Shri Lyngdoh.
In his interview with the Assam Tribune, Shri Lyngdoh, a lifelong bureaucrat, said No doubt, bureaucracy in our country is worse than the politicians in matters of corruption I know many other honest bureaucrats in India who will come up with similar openness and work for the general wellbeing of the country. We dont have to give up hope.
It is extremely unfortunate that Shri MC Mahant wrote I never met a Khasi Christian caring for India's rapid strides towards Super-Power Status in the Assam.org. In our search for the truth, we should scrutinize what is being said, irrespective of who said it. Democracy is ruined by ethnic stereotyping. By his own behavior, Shri Mahant has proved that Lyngdohs remarks on some aspects of Indias democracy were right. How will Shri MC Mahant feel if someone disqualifies him by saying I never met an Assamese Hindu Mahanta caring for India's rapid strides towards Super-Power Status??
India need not race with rapid strides towards a Super-Power Status. Instead, India should lead the world with the ideology of nispriha karma (unattached work) by working for lokasangraha (wellbeing of everybody) with the force of niskama prema (causeless love) as perfected in the teachings of Bhagavadgita, Chandogya Upanishad and other ancient Indian scriptures.
With due respect,
Himendra Barthakur, Boston, USA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
APPENDIX #2:
Dear Mukul,
I completely agree with you that in Assam, we have a terrible problem, but we need not compare it with the problem of dowry, bride-burning, selective female feticide (preemptive bride-burning), son-preference, etc., in India.
It is obvious that the two problems are different. Just to illustrate my positive experience with Shri Joseph Michael Lyngdoh, I had to describe the topic of our 1997 discussion: the dowry issue. By stretching it to the Assam problem, you are creating confusion.
Assams problem is survival from being swallowed by the influx of Bangladeshi infiltrators. I have read that the headquarters and finances of ULFA are located in Bangladesh. If that is true, by repeating Join ULFA without scrutiny, you are asking people to Join Bangladesh.
I have a deep understanding and respect for the ULFA cadre for the sacrifice they made and suffering they went through in their personal life. But, I think they made a serious original mistake of wrong identification of the enemy. Reacting to the horrible atrocities committed upon the Assamese people by Indian Army in January 1980, they thought Assams enemy was India. Indira Gandhi unleashed the Army against Assamese people in 1980 after brainwashing them with articles published in Bat-Chit (the monthly journal of Indian Army ---December 1979). Indira Gandhi would do anything for political power, a point made by Shri Joseph Michael Lyngdoh in his recent press interview. She wanted to give voting power to Bangladeshi infiltrators who promised to vote for her. Indira is NOT India. ULFA must not consider India as the enemy.
Similar to Shri Lyngdohs example of what is going on in Ladakh today, years ago Bangladesh stopped all population control measures to create a population explosion which they would use to occupy neighboring land. Influx of Bangladeshi infiltrators in Assam is a civilian invasion committed by Bangladesh. Assams enemy is Bangladesh.
Kindly make this point clear in your statements. Through your good offices, I urge the ULFA cadres to declare Bangladesh as the enemy. I urge them to give up arms and work to build political forces inside India against the stealthy civilian invasion of Bangladesh, so that Bangladesh will be forced to stop their population explosion.
Other points of your note maybe discussed later.
With the best wishes for a Happy New Year,
Sincerely yours,
Himendra
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