Hi C:
I changed the subject right back. "The Minority Assamese" smacks of a
persecution complex based on ethnic,linguistic or cultural identity. For
people like you or I, world-citizens, that would be a rather unbecoming
complaint. We ought to pursue more relevant and concrete issues.
No I don't think 'Answers for Chitta ' is at all personal. We have had
many such
discourses in assamnet in the past. But if it still bothers you, you are
welcome to change it to something different. But let us not get into such
things as Assamese ethnic persecution complex. We, the caste- Assamese, have
little room to complain about that, if you know what I mean.
Allow me to clarify a few of your misconceptions, before we get back to
your questions. And I will continue to resort to cutting and pasting the
questions
to post my response, so that the reader, if there is any, can follow the
context; in spite of your fears about it appearing too argumentative. I have
no problems with that, if YOU don't.
>Bottom line is Mahanta da just because of I am based
>in Perth or you know my family or my immediate background ,
*** I don't know anything about you or yours. I don't need to. And I never
would have asked the question, had you NOT prefaced your questions with:
But not all of them-not the ones I know of.* As far as my
relatives,*
* friends, parents,brothers, numerous cousins spread all*
* over Assam are concerned (and if you consider them "my own*
* people"),freedom from India is not much of an issue for them.*
I don't take issue with your bringing your kin into the equation. They are
the people we know and understand most. However, when you or I extend the
lessons learnt from that to apply all over Assam, or to the vast majority of
Assam as you do, then we must examine the validity of the premise. Whether
what you and your kin represent is the NORM for the rest of Assam?
Do you still see my inquiry therefore an illogical or irrelevant one,
designed to obfuscate as you insinuate?
Now, should you not feel trapped by this request, you can do it , without
divulging specific personal details, like:
Grandparents from Lower Assam, rural, subsistence farmers
with adequate arable land ( or landless sharecroppers, or scions
of Zamindars, or school teacher in British Assam -- so on and so
forth)
Father, one of six siblings, local high school topper, MSc GU,
IAS. Mother, daughter of High Ct clerk. Or Father BSc, Xorobhwg
College,
Local High School teacher, mother daughter of local Mahajan.
Grew up in thatched hut, but now have poka-ghor, owns a motor
scooter.
So on and so forth.
I worked hard, studies at distant High School with a Christian
Saint's
name, three stars at HS, IIT-Mumbai in Comp. Science, now at
Perth.
Three Siblings--a doctor, a college teacher and a businessman.
Twenty two cousins ( by last count), spanning from aspiring IAS to
AEC Engineer to Wineshop Owner to rice-farmers to a black-sheep in
the
ULFA. So on and so forth.
Not very hard, is it? But it will give US some clues to why you are
COMFORTABLE with the status quo of Assam governance under Indian controls.
It will also tell us whether the lessons learned from YOUR kins'
circumstances could be applied to the rest of Assam that you so effortlessly
did, as a premise to your questions.
*** You brought up a whole lot of other issues too that I could have a
field day answering :-). But time is short. So let me take a stab at your
re-phrased ACE question, even though to address it in isolation, without
attempting to understand what 'independence' means is at best a silly
endeavor. But I know why it bothers you to delve into the issues associated
with 'independence'. Unfortunately such attempts by Assam's intelligentsia
or its well wishers to avoid looking at the real issues underlying the
demand or wish for independence would not lead to a solution. It will merely
help perpetuate the conflict that besets Assam. The choice is yours. You can
run from the issues all you want, but you cannot hide. So I hope you as a
well wisher of Assam, who has seen better, would want to apply the lessons
learnt, to contribute towards betterment of Assam's lot instead of helping
perpetuate what is killing it.
> Because this was the crux of my
>question! WHERE is the cry for independence in Assam?
For one, it appears to me that ULFA raises it. Did I misread it?
I know, I know --- but THEY don't represent Assam's aspirations right?
Unlike your kin do :-)?
You may be right. Who am I to question that?
So why don't YOU raise your voice to put an end to that debate, by calling
for a free and fair referendum after a period of unfettered and informed
public debate and discussion? With the highly revered Election Commission
with its stellar record at hand to guarantee the fairness of an outcome,
what seems to be the problem :-)?
More later.
m-da
At 2:31 AM -0800 2/9/07, chittaranjan pathak wrote:
Hello Mahanta da
I changed the subject matter to "The Minority
Assamese" as "Answer to Chitta" was sounding too
personal and intent is also to attract more audience
including those who have "failed" before me as every
one would like to be satiated by your reply (the final
one). This is another thing that many people would any
way open a mail from Chan Mahanta to read it
surreptitiously.
Thanks for your attempt to reply and for opening on to
me a deluge of thoughts and questions in an attempt to
drown me, whilst I had only one very specific question
like "Gabbar Singh's kitne aadmi the" for you.
The question was whether you believe or not that you
are in minority league?
Yes of course-I did not expect short crisp reply. But
like a sorcerer you were trying to lead me away from
my quest with your wizardry of words. Still I will
steer clear and lead you to my specific query. I will
also resort to cut, paste and dissect style reply you
so often apply to counter thoughts and ideas that you
don't prescribe to, though I don't find it comfortable
as it looks too argumentative. (Now Mahanta da-do not
respond to this-otherwise it will just get
protracted).
**Is it an uniquely Assamese condition? That your
people and mine, are so uniquely apathetic that they
will soon forget thus perhaps are deserving of what
they get?
We all know guilty going unpunished is not at all
uniquely Assamese condition. You can bomb the
parliament of India and still escape hang man's noose.
I admit situation is very bad in India.
But I for the time being agree with your tacit
reasoning in the question you posed that it is an
Indian ill. But will it go away if Assam is free from
India? Because USA (United States of Assam) will run
under the same constrains and set up as those of India
which resulted that pathetic condition at the very
first place.
But don't you think this lax attitude has proved to be
beneficial to some of the indigenous people of our
state also? Because you can bomb, kill, extort but
still get condoned to lead a comfortable life with an
allowance to keep your AK-47 if you attend one of
those surrender ceremonies and if your committed all
those crimes purportedly for a cause for autonomy or
secession. You surely will agree!! I will come to that
later.
**Now we are in complicated territory, getting ahead
of ourselves. To understand these issues we will have
to take a few steps back and take a look at a larger
context :
Mahanta da here you are digressing. All I wanted to
know was who are "your people" who are yearning for
freedom? Any answer like all Assamese people, all
Assamese speaking people, people from Brahmaputra
valley, people who have never seen Dispur-any thing
would have been satisfying. But you skipped –because I
think you are facing difficulty in finding them.
**So WHY independence then? What is wrong with Indian
rule -- that you, your kin and your friends are
comfortable with, and I will have to guess, prospered
from?
Tricky-I will tackle this in two parts.
**So WHY independence then?
Here you got it wrong Mahanta da? I caught your
Googly. I have to stop you here because you are basing
your logic on the premise that it is a GIVEN that
there is cry for independence in Assam. I replace your
WHY with WHERE. Because this was the crux of my
question! WHERE is the cry for independence in Assam?
Where Mahanta da? Which section? Which community?
Which portion of Assam-lets go to most backward
district of Assam-Dhemaji? Baska? Chirang? Or in
Bodoland where Mr Mohilary has revealed his grand plan
of having nothing to do with Assam and Assamese in
next 20 years? You have to be specific here Mahanta
da. You will have to answer my 95% poll result query,
then only you can go from where to why.
**What is wrong with Indian rule -- that you, your kin
and your friends are comfortable with, and I will have
to guess, prospered from?
You guessed it wrong-Mahanta da. Just because I come
from Guwahati or Bongaigaon does not mean everything
is fine with every one I know of. Most of my childhood
friends and numerous of my cousins are far from
prosperous and are still struggling. May be you would
not have hazarded a guess about my kith and kin's
prosperity had my title been Pegu or Padum instead of
Pathak. Time is changing Mahanta da-don't go by
surnames in Assam nowadays.
**Now we are in even more complicated territory. And
here it will be helpful to know a little more about
you, your kins' and friends' circumstances. I am not
seeking personal info. Just give us a general
introduction, about you, your parents, your
grand-parents. We will have to look at this data in
relation to the overall condition of the people of
Assam and see if you are typical or the exception.
This was interesting-you can be funny sometimes. How
can I give you "impersonal" introduction about my
parents, grandparents? I will give my introduction to
you separately Mahanta da. And don't be surprised if I
am related to you-knowing fully well how small
different Assamese communities are.
But for the purpose of this debate, I think you don't
need to look at my "family data". I told you on my
earlier post that you can discount my "ongohi bongohi"
to be true representative of Assamese people. At this
stage let us not give them any benefit of doubt and
let them all be classed as privileged exception not
meriting to be representative of people of
Assam-discounting the fact that many my cousins are
without any job whose standard weapon to ward off
embarrassment is "business kori asu" reply; numerous
of my cousins and families from lower Assam are
subjected to all kinds of subtle harassment and
disadvantages in their newly carved out home territory
of BTC districts for not being on winning side and
discounting the ….I will stop here least it becomes
too personal and sounds parochial.
So can we get back to those people who are yearning
for independence-I do not loose track easily.
**And if you are the exception, WHAT was it that has
led to you and your kins' escape from where the rest
find themselves in. If it is hereditary traits or
sheer hard work and individual enterprise or that zeal
to pull yourselves up by the boot-straps that Indian
governance afforded you and which you would not want
to swap or lose -- for yourselves or for other
aspirants for that good life. We will need to
determine HOW you got ahead in-spite of what those
others so decry and want to change--namely Indian
governance and Indian control of Assam's future.
Frankly speaking I did not quite understand what you
wanted to say here. Least you misunderstand this as a
case of selective non receptiveness, I will
nevertheless attempt a reply. If I am off the track,
you will please save me from ridicule by rephrasing
your question.
By escape I suppose you mean this state of relative
privilege where one can take some time off to connect
to internet to talk about distant Assam?
Clarification-not all my kith and kin have made this
great escape. But neither they are decrying and
wanting to change Indian control over Assam's future
for being deprived of this. For they can not afford to
take that perilous journey having paid the price for
being so devoted to a cause during eighty's agitation.
As you said they want better education for their
children-and this they can not get inside camps in
Myanmar, Bhutan or Bangladesh.
But then they are my relatives, who might fail on data
analysis, so I reiterate, leave them aside and please
go through the 4 categories I listed on my first post.
Then please attempt a reply-preferably in "Ha" or
"Na". No I don't dread a long reply from you, we can
get to that after your short "Ha" or "Na" reply also.
Bottom line is Mahanta da just because of I am based
in Perth or you know my family or my immediate
background , it will be very difficult for you
classify all of my "kith and kin" back in Assam into a
single category as we represent all the shades and
come in huge number. In today's Assam you can not make
the mistake of classifying a guy as unprivileged or
disadvantaged just because he say he hails of from
Dhudhnoi , Bismuri or Laimekuri or just because you
don't have a clue about his linage.
I wait not for your response to all I have written but
to this this single query-whether seeing present state
of Assam and Assamese, do you consider yourself to be
part of the minority believer or not?
Once you say yes or no-we will follow up after that.
Best regards and have a nice weekend.
Chittaranjan
--- Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi Chitta:
>
> Here I will attempt to address your queries, one at
> a time.
>
> You seem to be quite conversant about the role of
> CISF. Perhaps you are an OIL or ONGC employee?
>
>
> > >But here it was a case of sheer ego boosting
> exercise.
> >CRPk dekhi uthil gaa, CISFe bule muku khaa. The
> >officer must be punished.
>
> *** What you are speaking of here is an
> environment of anarchy. When the ranks of the
> keepers of the peace and the upholder of the rule
> of law indulge in such behavior, it means only
> one thing: There is NO deterrence. They can do
> whatever they wish to--obviously with impunity,
> as thousands of episodes of fake-encounter
> killings, killings in detention, disappearance
> after arrests amply illustrate.
>
> > >But no body is going to
> >follow it up in Assam-so may be he will end up
> getting
> >secretly transferred to some oil installation in
> >Ankleswar basin. Are we in a position to do
> something
> >to force authorities punish such high handed
> arrogant
> >officials?
>
> *** Yours is a typically lament here. Let us
> examine it and its underlying assumptions and
> implications:
>
> Is it an uniquely Assamese condition? That your
> people and mine, are so uniquely apathetic that
> they will soon forget thus perhaps are deserving
> of what they get?
>
> I make the question purposely provocative,
> because I have seen it any number of times
> presented here, exactly with such implications.
> And I will follow up, after I hear from you on
> that. There is a whole lot more to it than meets
> the eye. I wished you and others were aware of
> them. But I also know how you never were
> conditioned to ask the questions and look deeper
> to get at the bottom of these things. I hope your
> participation in Assamnet will change that :-).
>
>
> > >you refuted Ram da's
> >anguished declaration that you are always the "fair
> >and balanced" by saying that your partisanship lies
> >with "my people's" aspiration of "running their
> lives
> >as they say fit".
>
> *** Not exactly. I don't buy the pithy arguments
> that we have to be 'balanced' - to distribute
> guilt all across the board since no-one is
> blameless and thus 'upai-nai aaru'. There is such
> a thing as a degree of guilt, of responsibility.
> That is why I get so sarcastic with those who
> wear the mantle of 'fair-and-balanced' to paint a
> picture of insipid greys that obliterate the
> whites and blacks of the picture. And I do not
> hesitate to point out why it could be a
> politically motivated attempt to shield the
> guilty, the responsible. That is why I make no
> apologies for my partisanship about Assam's
> rights. I don't go about waving that flag of the
> 'fair-and-balanced', instead I make the arguments
> I do to explain my stance.
>
>
>
> > >Respecting your siding and at the same time
> letting
> >you know that my heart also lies with the
> aspiration
> >of those same people for a "better life", may I ask
> >you the following small question?
>
>
> *** I know you do. I also know that even those
> who you might not agree with your stance about
> how to achieve them hold the same aspirations --
> of having a roof over their heads, three square
> meals a day, an opportunity to send their
> children to a school where they can get an
> education, a minimum amount of health care so
> that they don't have to die premature deaths from
> diseases that ought not kill any more. In that we
> are on common ground.
>
>
> > >Background
> >By my people you must be referring to Assamese
> people
> >and by "running their lives as they say fit" you
> must
> >be meaning an independent Assam. Are the Assamese
> >people really aspiring to be free or independent
> from
> >India? Yes-some are. But not all of them-not the
> ones
> >I know of. As far as my relatives, friends,
> parents,
> >brothers, numerous cousins spread all over Assam
> are
> >concerned (and if you consider them "my own
> people"),
> >freedom from India is not much of an issue for
> them.
>
>
> *** Now we are in complicated territory, getting
> ahead of ourselves. To understand these issues we
> will have to take a few steps back and take a
> look at a larger context :
>
> WHY is it that SOME in Assam want independence or
> sovereignty or the right to determine the way to
> achieve what you and the others -- all- do? Is
> independence some kind of a divine decree, a
> 'bor' which will magically transform Assam from
> its misery to that shining land?
>
> Obviously not, I am sure you will agree.
>
> So WHY independence then? What is wrong with
> Indian rule -- that you, your kin and your
> friends are comfortable with, and I will have to
> guess, prospered from?
>
> Now we are in even more complicated territory.
> And here it will be helpful to know a little more
> about you, your kins' and friends'
> circumstances. I am not seeking personal info.
> Just give us a general introduction, about you,
> your parents, your grand-parents. We will have
> to look at this data in relation to the overall
> condition of the people of Assam and see if you
> are typical or the exception. And if you are the
> exception, WHAT was it that has led to you and
> your kins' escape from where the rest find
> themselves in. If it is hereditary traits or
> sheer hard work and individual enterprise or that
> zeal to pull yourselves up by the boot-straps
> that Indian governance afforded you and which you
> would not want to swap or lose -- for yourselves
> or for other aspirants for that good life. We
> will need to determine HOW you got ahead in-spite
> of what those others so decry and want to
> change--namely Indian governance and Indian
> control of Assam's future.
>
> We will follow up on these and other points after we
> hear from you.
>
> Until then.
>
> m-da
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 2:29 AM -0800 2/7/07, chittaranjan pathak wrote:
> >Dear Shri Mahanta da
> >Warm up
> >Thanks for the insight on the unfortunate Galeki
> >incidence. Yes you are right-CISF is meant to be
> >checking security passes and stuff like oil tanker
> >permits at the industrial installation gates,
> loading
> >bays etc. It was clearly a case of overstepping
> their
> >boundaries.
> >Somebody was asking-why they are given guns? Till
> >recently many of them were having only sticks. But
> now
> >they are guarding all the vital oil/gas/nuclear
> >installations other places like Akshardham,
> >parliament, airports etc and role includes warding
> off
> >terrorist attacks also. So guns are justified and
> so
> >would have been the killing had the shots been
> aimed
> >at some saboteur climbing a high security wall of
> an
>
=== message truncated ===
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