All Readers of Assamonline, I deliberately waited for long after Shantikam Hazarika wrote his piece about the Assam Movement, with reference to the recently much publicized, Nellie massacre by some journalsis and their types, commemorating the massacre, as if it were as great as the persecuition and brutal killing of the innocent and hardworking Jews, under orderts of a crazy dictator called Hitler.While the Nellie massacre deserves to be condemned by one and all, irresective of caste, creed, religion or communities, I do not find any justification, in trying to fuel communal tension, in this trouble- torn, strategically located State, by glorifying a Massacre for which, the entire blame cannot be pinpointed to any Student Group or the AAGSP, which had searded the historic Assam Movement or Agitation on Foreigners' Issue, the ultimate result of which was the Assam accord of 1985.
Only the publication of the Tiwari Commission Report, which, the Asom Government has held up so far, from public view, would give certain clear picture about the culprits involved in the Massacre.The moot question remains- who had provoked the plain and simple tribal people- the Tiwas (Lalungs) in particular, to attack the Muslims of Nellie, in the most crude but seemingly organised move? Were the agents provocateur the agents of the then Hiteswar Saikia Government, who had taken the final weapon of the mean 'divide and rule' policy to crush the Assam Movement, by creating a 'Nellie' or were they the 'fifth columnists' among the movement leaders, who were purchased by some external agency, the then State Government / Central Government and their known agencies, for giving a final blow to the mass uprising called the Assam Movewment? Or, was there the factor of foreign element- the Bangladeshi factor resonsible for provoking the tribals living around Nellie, by their over as well as covert actions, to cause the Massacre, which an agency like the ISI would always be too willing to, mastermind, under their avowed objective of 'bleeding India by a thousand cuts'? As for the Assam Movement, it was simply unprecedented in recent decades, which was recognized globally as a peaceful; mas - uprising against the Government, demanding expulsion of millions of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and erstwhile East Pakistan, after India's independence, which had (and still has) threatened the sociuo- economic, cultural, linguistic and religious existence of the ethnic people of Assam broadly called the Asomiyas, includsing the Asomiya Musalman.In the course of the long six year movement, more than 800 ethnic youths of Assam lost their lives, which we find hardly bothers the 'journalists class' grieving (is it celebrating?) the silver jubilee of the gruesome Massacre! There are many lessons which one might draw from the Assam Movement, the foremost being that, do not blindly trust the leaders, without being 100 percent confifdent of their credibility as mature, pains- taking, incorruptible character. Shantikam Hazarika deserves to be apreciated for coming out with his sentiments and blatant views on the subject. It is shocking that, other 'Asom- premis' have least bothered to even debate on the matter, barring only three persons, whose views I have seen on this portal. J.P.Rajkhowa.
