Twist in Asom’s murderous cycle

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DATELINE Guwahati/Wasbir Hussain
Twist in Asom’s murderous cycle
I am not one bit surprised by the latest carnage in Asom. This murderous cycle has come to hit the State at regular intervals and may blacken its image again. Moreover, statistics do not bother me because that does not reflect the magnitude of the riots or its impact. For the record, close to 60 people have died in the recent clashes between Bodo tribes-people and Muslim settlers in Udalguri and Darrang districts, almost 150,000 displaced from their homes in thirty of more villages and around 700 houses set ablaze. The trauma of those affected cannot be imagined or understood by many of us, and the biggest casualty, as always in such incidents, is that one thing called trust that is so essential to co-exist in this world.What amazed me this time round were certain twists in the story. I found it a bit peculiar because I have myself covered such mayhem between Bodos and Muslim settlers in 1993, 1994, 1995, and the Bodo-Santhal riots thereafter. The first thing that struck me was that a section of the media, including a few so-called national television channels, sought to describe it as a clash between Bodos and Bangladeshi migrants. If that was so, it would mean that it was a clash between Indians and Bangladeshis in Indian soil. The authorities, if that was the case, would have had two tasks in hand: to quell the riots and round up the Bangladeshi migrants and throw them out of our borders.That was not the case. The rioting in northern Asom was between Bodos and Muslim settlers who trace their origins to erstwhile East Bengal, East Pakistan and now Bangladesh. The key question to ask is whether these Muslim settlers had migrated to India (Asom in this case) after March 25, 1971, the cut-off date set in the Assam Accord to detect and expel illegal Bangladeshi migrants. It is possible that some of the Muslim settlers who clashed with the Bodos in the latest orgy of violence may have entered Asom from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971. Such people must be detected and expelled without any second thought. But what about those settlers who had been living here after migrating (from wherever) before the cut off date? Signatories of the Assam Accord like the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the government would do well to clarify things and set at rest the doubts about the citizenship of this section of people, the settlers.Pressure on land, the vital question of identity and murky local politics have always been behind such group clashes in western and northern Asom. But, the focus must certainly be on addressing the question of identity. Unless that is done, a section of migrant settlers would always be exposed to dangerous external influences or turn radicals themselves. I still don’t think that radical Islamist ideology has come to establish a grip among Muslims in Asom, indigenous or otherwise. But, considering the lack of education and an uncertain future over the citizenship issue, migrant Muslim settlers would be prone to be influenced by radical thoughts that can even translate into undesirable action. The government as well as the key players in Asom’s society ought to take note of this fact.The second thing that set me thinking was the disclosure by the State Government as well as the leaders running the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) that the rebel National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) had fuelled and escalated the violence. BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary went on record to say on television that NDFB militants have tried to cash in on the situation by targeting the Muslim settlers. He said they were moving about with weapons. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi backed his political ally, Mohilary, saying, “We are investigating reports that some NDFB men are involved. If the charges come true, we may even review our ceasefire with the group.” The NDFB, of course, denied the charges. “The NDFB is tolerant to all communities, including Muslims. The charges against us are totally baseless,” NDFB spokesman S. Sanjarang said in a statement.The Government could possibly think that the NDFB was actually engaged in ‘ethnic cleansing’ to rid the area of the settlers so that they could gain control of the land or villages vacated by them. I won’t like to give the NDFB a clean chit, but what puzzles me is the timing. Would the NDFB engage in such a pogrom when it has just set the process of peace talks rolling after being on a ceasefire mode for more than three years? Insurgent as well as mainstream politics in this country is always unpredictable, and observers like us often find it hard to grasp!I cannot but highlight the point that needs to be noted in this context: it is this that Mohilary and his colleagues in the Bodo Council are aware that if the NDFB is to clinch a peace deal with New Delhi in the coming days, they will lay a claim to the same politico-administrative space that the former Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) rebels are now occupying in the Bodo heartland. Now, that will be a tough concession to make for a group headed by Mohilary who has tasted the strapping of power just five years ago, in 2003, when they ended their violent campaign after signing the Bodo Accord with the Centre. I am not adding another twist to the story. I am just dropping a broad hint! sourcE: sentinel assam