Dear Thakuria:
You don't have to call me 'Sir'. We are very informal here. A simple
Mahanta is adequate.
Thanks for sharing the publication,which I see is the same as was
published elsewhere. If I remember correctly, I did post a response
to that earlier.
Anyway, this is interesting in that it was published by the Organiser
, the RSS mouthpiece. I am not sure whether you re-posted it for us
because you consider being published by this journal something of an
accomplishment or just to let us know that your efforts are being
widely noticed.
Personally, I don't think very highly of the RSS. In fact, quite
poorly. And I am not the only one. I know many enlightened Indians
think of this outfit very negatively. It is an organization that has
absolutely no place in Oxomiya society. Even the US lists it as a
terrorist outfit, if I heard it in Assamnet correctly.
So, I don't know whether to applaud your being noticed or to be
disappointed with your currying favor with an outfit whose ideology
could not be more destructive to the traditional inclusive and
accepting nature of the Oxomiya people.
Best.
cm
At 2:29 PM +0000 8/27/07, Nava Thakuria wrote:
Dear Mahanta Sir,
Here is an article for your information
(http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=199&page=14).
Regards,
Nava Thakuria,
Guwahati, India
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Defying diktat to celebrate the Independence
By Nava Thakuria
If for a section of the armed outfits of the Northeast, it becomes a
ritual to impose a ban on the celebration of the Independence Day
(and the Republic Day), the counter-reactions by media persons also
emerges equally true to form and more significantly gains momentum
day by day. The journalists of the trouble torn state of Assam has
not only started disapproving such boycott calls in their media
columns, but also assembling in press club to observe the auspicious
days of India.
As the country prepared to celebrate its 61st Independence Day, four
north-east based banned armed groups namely the Kamatapur Liberation
Organisation, Manipur People's Liberation Front, Tripura People's
Democratic Front and the United Liberation Front of Assam called
upon the people of the region to 'boycott and prevent the
celebration in any manner'. In a joint statement, issued on August
10, the outfits also imposed a day-long general strike throughout
the region starting the midnight of August 14 as a 'mark of
solidarity against Indian colonial occupation and repression'.
Simultaneously with the boycott call, the militants stepped up
violence in various parts of Assam. The explosions and shootings in
different places had snatched away the lives of nearly 40 people on
the eve of the Independence Day. Other hundred were wounded in the
incidents. Most of the victims were identified as the migrant
labourers (Hindu and Hindi speaking) from Northern India. The police
blamed ULFA and its ally Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front
(KLNLF) for the transgression.
The incident invited strong condemnation. Meanwhile, a dawn to dusk
Assam Bandh was observed in protest against the killing of common
people in the State. Called by Purvottar Hindustani Sanmilan,
Bhojpuri Yuva Chatra Parishad, Bihari Yuva Manch and Kamrup Chamber
of Commerce, the 12-hour Bandh passed off peacefully on August 14.
The ULFA militants received international media headlines, while
killing nearly hundred people in the first month of the year on the
eve of the Republic Day. Four explosions took place nearer to the
Independence Day celebration ground at Gauripur (under Dhubri
district) and Bongaigaon in western Assam. The blasts at around nine
in the morning, of course, did not claim any casualties though
reportedly injuring two persons. Meanwhile, huge amounts of
explosives were recovered from Kharupetia, Mangaldoi and Sivsagar
localities.
But the violence and the diktat of militants could not prevent the
people of the region to come forward to observe the Day. The
habitants of Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and also
the presently insurgency stricken States like Manipur, Meghalaya,
Tripura (one CRPF jawan was killed there in militants' attack on
August 15) and Assam came forward and participated in the
celebration.
The journalist and citizens of Assam gathered in Guwahati Press Club
premises to mark the 61st anniversary of Indian Independence Day.
Noted litterateur Nirupama Borgohain unfurled the Tri-colour amidst
an impressive gathering. Hoisting the flag, Ms Borgohain underlined
the significance of Independence Day celebrations in today's context
and she called upon the young generations to emulate the ideals
upheld by the freedom fighters. The people should come forward
overcoming all threats issued by certain quarters to uphold the
spirit of the freedom struggle, she asserted. Earlier the veteran
journalist DN Chakrabarty led the rituals to pay tributes to the
martyrs of the freedom movement, who faced all sorts of torture of
the colonial rulers to make the country free.
The participants also carried out a procession through the main
streets of Guwahati holding the banners reading 'Uphold the dignity
of the National flag.' They also chanted slogans like Vande Mataram,
Jai Hind, Bharat Mata Ki Jai. The conscious citizens in various
parts of Guwahati in particular and Assam in general demonstrated
great zeal in upholding the cause espoused by the freedom fighters
on the occasion of the Day. They organized community celebrations
too at their respective localities with great enthusiasm and hoisted
the national Tri-colour atop their houses. Guwahati, for the first
time in the last two decades, witnessed community celebrations of
Independence Day in more than ten localities.
Signed by Nirupama Borgohain (Sahitya Academy awardee columnist), DN
Bezboruah (former President, Editors Guild of India), DN Chakrabarty
(former editor of Dainik Asom) with Ajit Patowary, Rupam Baruah,
Ranen Kumar Goswami, Hiten Mahanta, Sushanta Talukdar, Dhanjit
Kakoti, Pramod Kalita with others, the statement also stated that
the Independence Day this time added significance as it coincided
with the birth centenary celebrations of the great revolutionary
martyr Bhagat Singh.
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