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2 Lead story Dhiren Barua Social activist I can still remember the day of 15 th August, 1947, when the country achieved independence. We celebrated the day by blowing whistles and taking part in rallies. It was a very happy occasion and was celebrated across the state with fervour and zest. I am sure that kind of show of passion will never be repeated in Assam ever again. Even after that, for the next couple of years, we celebrated 15 th August and 26 th January but the people now are scared of the threats. Moreover, the government has not been able to explain the true significance of Independence Day to its people. The vastness of the day is limited to the boundary of the office buildings. On the day, when Manabendra Sarma was assassinated in the middle of the city, the enthusiasm to celebrate Independence Day died down. But we are not afraid of this. We are born Assamese and Indian. We will celebrate the Independence Day thwarting all threats and planning to celebrate it by organising a function at the Latasil playground. We are appealing to the government to understand the woes of the people and try to celebrate occasions like Independence Day and Republic Day by taking the public along with it. Only then will we be able to celebrate our national functions freely. GPLUS AUG 10 - AUG 16, 2013 INDEPENDENT INDEPENDENCE MrinMoyee Hazarika As the entire country gets ready to celebrate Independence Day, Assam as always, seems to be wearing a different look. Apart from the first few years post independence, the people of Assam have never been too involved in celebrating the occasion and quite a lot of us remember the days of the last couple of decades as one of bandh amid calls for boycott. People simply ‘enjoyed’ it on their television sets at home. This year, the situation looks even more confounding with the demand by various communities to divide the state into several pieces. In such a situation, how significant is the Independence Day to the people of the state? To gauge the minds and feel the emotions, we met a few people in the city, young and old, talked to them and cajoled them to share their feelings. Until and unless we find an amicable and honourable solution to the indo-assam conflict, we will continue celebrating the day of independence as a ‘black day.” Arabinda Rajkhowa ULFA, Chairman (Pro-talk) ULFA has been observing the day of Indian Independence as a day when Assam lost its independence. Until and unless we find an amicable and honourable solution to the Indo-Assam conflict, we will continue celebrating the day of independence as a ‘black day’ in future too. The common people of Assam have a desire for an independent Assam and the people of the state are exasperated with the Indian administration for the last sixty-four years. The standard of living has gone down since the days of the British, there is no security of life and property in Assam. The people cannot enjoy their life and the day of independence as well. As a leading organisation, ULFA has its own sets of beliefs and as a part of this, it calls for bandhs. Some people might not celebrate the Independence Day out of fear and some might support the cause of ULFA. We have struggled to maintain the unity, integrity and identity of Assam. We have also struggled to solve the Indo-Assam conflict. I appeal to the young generation to perform their own duties as we have performed ours. Hema Kakoty Freedom fighter I was born in 1925, amidst the struggle going on for independence of the country. My father and grandmother were involved in the struggle for independence and therefore, nothing was imposed on us. We never wore clothes woven in the mills. We wore only khadi clothes and have been wearing it until now. We were nine siblings and all of us were involved in the freedom struggle. Both my grandmother and father were Congress members and our house, situated at Saring in Sibsagar district, were packed with volunteers all the time. I met Gandhiji in 1946, when he had come to Assam. He stayed in South Sarania in our ashram, which is named after his wife Kasturba Gandhi. A year after Gandhiji’s visit to Assam, the country received independence. I can still remember the day of celebration. We went to the Judge’s filed on 15 th August and took part in the rally. As soon as we reached the ashram after the celebrations, an earthquake shook the whole state. It caused lots of destruction in Lakhimpur. Nowadays, people do not care much about Gandhiji or Khadi clothes. He is still a hugely influential and significant figure, but nobody really follows him now. People observe Independence Day inside their own homes nowadays and only a few like us go out to the streets and field to celebrate.
GPLUS AUG 10 - AUG 16, 2013 3 Lead story Samujjal Bhattacharyya AASU Advisor Assamese people have always shown respect to the Independence Day and the Republic Day. But the Assamese people are deprived from getting a true taste of these celebrations. Assam’s spirit towards the Independence Day can be compared to none and we have proved this repeatedly. Even after independence, we were almost about to be clubbed with Pakistan but because of Gopinath Bordoloi’s leadership and Gandhi’s support, we were retained as a part of India. Nehru bade farewell to Assam in 1962 but once again, because of the strong spirit of the people of Assam, we managed to stay united with India. These things cannot be forgotten. During the Assam Agitation, the people of Assam showed their love for the country by protesting to save the sovereignty and integrity of the country, to save their land from the silent intrusion of the aliens. ‘Save Assam today to save India’ was the cry and 855 people had to lose their lives. It felt as if the central government did not want Assam to feel truly independent in the true sense. From then onwards, we decided to celebrate Independence Day on our own but, in the year 1993, the government did not allow us to enter the Latasil playground and it was surrounded by police, barring us from assembling. This was the attitude of the centre towards the people of Assam. Even children respect the Independence Day but the political leadership have not been providing the atmosphere to celebrate the occasion with fervour. The government is trying to portray the day as a flag hoisting day by the Prime Minister and Chief Minister only. But these days belong to the public as well. Balendra M Chakravarty Advisor, Assam Sports Journalists Association When we were in school, we used to celebrate the day like a festival. We took part in the flag hoisting held in the school and in the sports organised to commemorate the occasion. But now, like any other parent, I do not have the courage to send my children to the school or college to celebrate Independence Day. The government cannot guarantee the security of the lives of the citizens. For the last twenty to twenty five years, apart from expressing grief after a terror attack, the government has not been able to do anything. However, I have seen that the situation is quite the opposite in the other states. People literally celebrate such occasions. I do not see people coming out of their homes here, but I am hoping that one day, people would be able to celebrate this moment of pride together. Richa Saikia Student, KC Das Commerce College Since our college does not celebrate I-Day, we too, do not have the chance to celebrate it. But, when I was in school, I used to take part in the programme organised in the school to commemorate the occasion. The Tricolour was hoisted and various other programmes were held at the school. Now I am even scared to come out on this day. The situation has worsened and even my parents do not allow me to go out to celebrate I-Day. Now, for me, it is like any other holiday since the college remains closed on I-Day, we enjoy the day by watching television. This fear should end and people should come out to celebrate the day. Ajoy Dutta Ex-MLA and social activist It is somewhat strange that this day marks the history of being free and independent, but are we really independent as a free citizen? This question requires a concrete answer. Till when will Guwahatians feel insecure on the day when we should be proud of it? When will the government make sure that the people can come out to celebrate? When will the youth be able to stand united and say Jai Hind? Independence Day celebrations in Assam have died down since 1975 when the Indira Gandhi government declared an emergency. During that period, our independence was restricted and even, the newspapers did not publish editorials. The celebrations resumed in 1977, when the Janata party formed government in Delhi. However, in the year 1978, suddenly a call to boycott surfaced and the idea of an ‘Independent Assam’ surfaced. Being an MLA of the Janata party, I had organised a procession from the Sikh temple and people belonging to various religions took part in it. Nobody responded to the call to boycott Independence Day. But from the year 1979, people got scared and the situation became worse in 1983, when the elections were forcefully imposed upon the people. The original agitation to drive out the foreigners became the agitation to drive out the Indians (non-Assamese) and people even voted in the election on the basis of communities and religion. The whole Assamese community was divided into various communities and the movement to drive the aliens out of Assam became more intense. Nobody showed interest to hoist the Indian flag. The situation has gone up to the extent that sometimes, just the chowkidar hoisted the flag just on the eve of the Independence Day. The bandh trend, both in Assam or India, started and the new generation forgets to celebrate the day. Instead, they celebrate Assam bandh and it became the new identity of ID. After the Dhemaji blast, a change occurred in the whole scenario. All the respect and fear disappeared from the minds of the people. This day does not belong to the Government only. It is our day too. After all the bloodshed and sacrificing thousands of lives (even by the Assamese), we got independence. Though, this was not what Gandhi or Netaji had envisaged. There were two aspects of the day– happiness and sorrowfulness. People decided to reject the dictate of extremist groups and started celebrating the ID on their own. Now, the fear is created by the government. They provide transportation to the people to go the venue of the celebrations, but withdraw it right after the programme gets over. Moreover, the subjects of history and geography have been removed from the course curriculum and the conspiracy to keep the young generation unaware of their past begins. This is a process of globalisation and due to this we are forgetting Lachit Barphukan, and his outstanding feats. We should celebrate the ID to pay respect to the great leaders of the country like Gandhi and other martyrs and bring forth our own sense of pride of being an Assamese.
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