Hi Utpal:
I have found what I was looking for.
You wrote that you were reading my responses to
SH with a lot of interest. I feel honored,
considering that many tell me they never read
what I write or give a damn.
I will attempt to answer your questions, but NOT
as in an inquisition or interrogation, where you
ask the questions and I am required to give the
answers, while "---dont wish to join you in a
debate".
SH also refuses to debate me. I understand he has
no time for such. I like to think that you have
at least a little more time than SH, considering
you put together that exhaustive list of
questions for Rubi Bhuyan. And I have no reason
to think that you all prefer to pick on easy
targets only.
SH declared on your behalf that your
"--- purpose was a DIALOGUE, and that too of the
"sincere" variety and the best way we could have started was by
seeking answers to questions that are plaguing the minds of most
"educated", "middle class" Assamese people.
Taking his word for it, before I give any
answers, would you kindly share with us what the
primary objective of your ( and others' too, if
you share theirs) question/s was/were?
I ask, because it was not clear. I am no
journalist, just an ol' homespun observer. But I
know from observation, that dedicated and
effective journalists ask questions with an
objective in mind and keep asking, seeking until
they arrive at the objective or find the answers
that help them achieve their objective/s.
What was your objective, your AIM?
After that I propose to engage in a give and
take, ask/answer/follow-up and so forth, as in a
civil dialogue between two mature persons. I
promise not to ask anything personal or call you
names or question your intelligence or integrity,
comment on your language skills and indulge in
other such confrontational or condescending
tactics. If you wish you can appoint one or more
ombudsmen/referees of your choice monitor the
dialogue, but only for form/tenor of the
discussions--not on the subject matter/s.
Is that a fair deal?
You are also welcome to have others in your team,
perhaps no more than say two more persons. I
don't want to get into what I termed the other
day a feeding frenzy of scavengers.
I am hoping that you will not decline on account of your sixth question below:
6. Since you say you do not speak for ULFA and am NOT PRIVY to
its policy-making, would not it be
better if ULFA talks directly to all of us?
with regards,
The answer to that is this:
Let us assume that ULFA is incapable of
answering your questions, as was concluded
by many of the inquisitors. But that does
not mean these are unanswerable. I can
field those questions. We will let you
and the netters judge how well or how poorly.
You are interested , after all, in seeing
if these resolvable issues. If I can answer them
satisfactorily, and if ULFA does not have
anyone in its policy-making body capable
of dealing with them, they can always
HIRE me. I will be pleased to help them,
having proven in this forum that I am up
to it. That is the kind of work I do for a living,
as a consultant, solving other people's
problems. And in this era of globalization, where
boundaries of state is an obsolete
concept as you all declared, the fact of my being
an ex-pat ought not to be an issue.
Shall we ?
c-da
Chandan-da, I have been reading with
great curiosity your mails arising out of
Shantikam Hazarikas comments on my questions
posted to ULFA on another online group of
Assamese people. I dont wish to join you in a
debate on the exchanges you have been having
with Hazarika or others, but I would be grateful
if you let me know:
1. How you deduced that my questions to ULFA
were constructive (as you put it, So, even
though you have been evading the points I
raised, you can correct yourself, and tell us,
that Utpal's
ploy was not a constructive one).
2. I had asked ULFA some stratightforward
questions, and HAD given the reasons why I was
asking them. I am not sure if you saw / have
seen the questions while questioning the motive
behind them, because I have posted them on
another group and on this group it just took off
on the basis of Hazarikas comments. (I am also
not sure if you are a member of the other group,
since you have not participated in the debate on
the other group, though you have said in this
forum As I wrote earlier, Utpal's questions
were virtually the same as those posed to this
writer by Chittaranjan in May of this year.)
3. How did you arrive at the conclusion that the
questions were an inquisition and an
interrogator's talking points, and that it was
not designed to have a SINCERE DIALOGUE?
4. If the ULFA dispatcher might have been
farther handicapped by not being in on ULFA's
policy making or communicating team (I would
like to know how you arrived at that conclusion,
or whether you are privy to some inside
information on this, since Ruby Bhuyan is a
member of ULFAs central publicity committee, as
is mentioned in the ULFA press release emails),
s/he should
have told me that. My questions were not
directed at him/her, but at the ULFA, so s/he
could have taken some time maybe even
collecting all the questions of all varieties
(pro/anti/whatever) from more questioners and
come up with an overall response from the
leadership, the one which makes the policies. If
the ULFA dispatcher is not part of ULFAs policy
making or communication team, n that context,
there is no use in sending any question to ULFA
through Ruby Bhuyan
5. ULFA, for your kind information, did not even
attempt to reply to a single question in a
straightforward manner it just inserted some
words in different colours, adding some caustic
comments and remarks. I would have appreciated
if it had replied to my questions even if it had
been in the manner you had argued with
Chittaranjan Pathak. I am not sure if you have
seen the so-called reply before questioning my
motive.
6. Since you say you do not speak for ULFA and am NOT PRIVY to
its policy-making, would not it be better if
ULFA talks directly to all of us?
with regards,
Utpal Borpujari
I fully agree with Mrinal that for the first
time, at least one section of Assamese (those
with access to the Internet and part of this
e-group) are being able to have a direct
interaction with Ruby Bhuyan (or as Mrinal says,
a person assuming the identity of Ruby Bhuyan
since the original RB has already surrendered
quite sometime back), and through 'her', the
ULFA. So, let both sides ask questions and get
replies, without being uncivilized.
I want to ask ULFA a few questions - as an
Assamese whose extended family includes my late
grandfather Suresh Goswami (the director of 1953
film Runumi) who along with my mother's uncle
Jibeshwar Goswami for the first time had tried to
institutionalize Sattriya Dance through the
Prachin Kamrup Nritya Sangha, Lakshminath
Bezboruah from whose family my maternal
grandmother came, filmmakers Siba Prasad Thakur
(my father's cousin) and Bidyut Chakraborty
(Thakur's son-in-law), Mamoni Raisom Goswami (who
is a relative through my bhai-bowari). I am
giving all these examples to prove my 'purebred'
credentials to ULFA before asking the questions -
so that Ruby Bhuyan can reply to them without
attributing any motives. Also, I am a journalist
who have been working outside Assam for last 14
years after starting my career in Assam, with a
close tab of Assam's events, and have been done
my best to promote particularly Assamese cinema
outside Assam. I had been in touch with several
former ULFA spokespersons as a journalist in my
professional capacity. But here I am asking these
questions as a common Assamese who want to see
Assam excel in every field, without any fear that
he or she might not return home alive in the
evening.
So, here are the questions. I hope there will be
straightforward answers to my straightforward
questions:
1. In your last mail to this group, you mentioned
"By the way--Assam's West is Korotoya+ Jomuna,
North is Tibet, East is Yunnan, South is Maan".
Does this mean that in ULFA's map of Assam,
Bhutan/Arunachal Pradesh/Nagaland/Manipur/Mizoram
are all included as an integral part of Assam?
Asking because between Assam & Tibet are Bhutan &
Arunachal, between Assam & Yunnan is Arunachal,
and between Assam and 'Maan' are
Arunachal/Nagaland/Mainpur/Mizoram. And the
southern borders do not mention Bangladesh.
Can we have an image of the independent Assam that ULFA wants?
2. How does ULFA's Assam plan to run its economy?
The oil & natural gas are not going to last
forever and tea sector is facing a lot of
competition already. Please give us a detailed
plan of action, not theory.
3. What will be the place of Bodoland, Karbi
Anglong autonomous council and many other such
demands in ULFA's Assam? Has ULFA found out from
all the communities demanding autonomy whether
they want to be / would be part of ULFA's Assam?
4. How do you justify the killings of the Dhemaji
children, the scores of innocent people going to
market places in various towns and cities, bus &
train passengers all these years through bomb
blasts, etc? Is this ULFA's way of waging war
against the 'colonial' rulers of India? If you
are fighting the official machinery in an armed
struggle, you are supposed to fight the armed
forces directly, isn't it?
5. What will be the political system of ULFA's
Assam - will it be a democracy? will discordant
voices be allowed to be heard or will they be
sougth to be subjugated like some of your replies
on this forum sought to do with a lot of taunt to
people who all want good of Assam (like calling
Nayanjyoti Parasara a Bihari - even if he is one,
what difference does it make, though for the
record he is as pure an Assamese as any ULFA
cadre could claim to be; or calling Santikam
Hazarika 'the best management guru east of Suez'
or some such description)?
6. With reference to the killing of Bihari
settlers in Assam, what is the definition of
outsiders for ULFA, because many of those killed
have been residents of Assam for over 50 years,
with their children even going to Assamese medium
schools. What is the cut off date, basically?
Because it can be stretched to include the family
of Jyotiprasad Agarwalla, the late Lalan Singh
(whose forefathers had come to Assam from Bihar,
and who became a president of AASU in the early
1970s), singers like Pulak Banerjee and Banikona
Ghoshal, actress Seema Biswas, all the brahmins
and many of the kayasthas in the states who were
brought to Assam by the Ahom Kings, the saah
bagan mazdoors who were brought in by the British
from the present-day Telengana, Orissa,
Jharkhand... and many more people.
7. ULFA has banned Hindi film screenings in Assam
as it is part of 'colonial propaganda'. Does its
definition also include films made by Assamese
directors in Hindi (Jahnu Barua's 'Maine Gandhi
Ko Nahin Mara', Anshuman Barua's 'Dooor' which is
yet to be released), or even venturing into Hindi
film world by people like Zubeen Garg, Saswati
Phukan, Kalpana Patowari (who is, incidentally a
superstar singer in Bhojpuri though she is a
'purebred' Assamese), Seema Biswas and others?
Does the bad influence films also include those
by people like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani etc
which talk of common man's concerns?
8. Does ULFA's ban mean that it would seclude
Assam from 'outside' world through such
censorship, by preventing its people from
accessing any form of art form as they want,
especially in today's globalized world?
9. Is there a possibility of ULFA extending the
ban to literature, dance and other art forms from
outside? What is ULFA's cultural policy? What has
it done in all these years to inculcate in people
love for indigenous art & culture (people still
see Bollywood potboilers more than they go to see
Jahnu Barua's Hkhagorloi Bohu Door, isn't it?)? I
am particularly asking this in context of poetry
of people like Mithinga Daimary, whose writings
talk of an open world with freedom for all.
10. Would ULFA ban people from Assam from
participating in talent hunt shows (however
trivial they may be) of TV channels from 'India'
- for eg Saregamapa which Assam's Debojit Saha
won last year?
11. What are ULFA's views on mass organizations
like Axom Sahitya Sabha, AASU, AJYCP which have
all opposed its demand for independence and
opposed the killing of innocent people? What is
ULFA's opinion about public protests against the
killings of innocent people in bomb blasts,
allegedly carried out by ULFA? (Please don't
refer to the atrocities carried out by Indian
Army on innocent people and families of ULFA
cadres - we all know about that are condemn that
fully).
12. What are your views on NSCN-IM's demand for
Greater Nagalim which includes parts of Assam,
Arunachal and Manipur?
These are just a dozen. If I have more, I will send them in my next mail.
And yes, I must congratulate Rubi Bhuyan for the
sudden improvement in English - if anyone has
noticed, the language and grammar in her latest
mail was really outstanding - not like the angry
outbursts without a care for grammar in her
earlier mails.
Utpal Borpujari (New Delhi / Guwahati)
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