Barak
Valley is..
·
the THIRD
largest Bengali speaking area of the country after West Bengal and Tripura
·
the pious land where 11 martyrs laid their lives in 1961 to preserve the dignity of
their mother tongue ‘Bangla’
·
the land which gave birth to Kamala
Bhattacharjee, world’s FIRST female
language martyr
·
the ONLY
territory in north eastern India which has never faced any separatist movement
or insurgency
·
an area with almost equal proportion in
population of Hindus and Muslims, and yet NO
history of any major communal conflict
·
a territory where NO one is discriminated against on the grounds of language or caste
·
Silchar, the valley’s largest urban centre, is
the ONLY district headquarter in the
entire north east to have a central university, a central government
engineering college, a medical college, a polytechnic and an airport
·
‘Amit’, the main protagonist in Rabindranath
Tagore’s ‘Shesher Kobita’ is believed to be based on APURBA CHANDA, an illustrious son of the valley
·
Barak, the river, from which the valley gets its
name, is the SECOND largest river
system of north eastern India after the mighty Brahmaputra
 |
| The river and the valley, Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia |
Barak
Valley was NEVER..
·
a place where communal tensions could be flared
up due to the stupid statements and actions of unscrupulous politicians
· territory where angry mobs beat up women, that too, in late night hours
·
a land where innocent people could be fired at
and killed in full public view
The
onus is on us, as to what we wish to turn this valley into – a hell or a
heaven...............
Interesting statistics, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteTeam Silchartoday
www.silchartoday.com
truly interesting is your so called statistics... more because your second point in the list of "never" contradicts your first point... the woman who was thrashed by an angry mob or rather whose thrashing by an angry mob was staged, was your unscrupulous politician... and she deserved that for her wrongful act, for the adultery that she had committed... matters cease to be personal, the moment they turn shocking and outrageous, and that is what provokes an outsider like me to lash on Rumi Nath... sorry, i have serious doubts about her credentials as a medical professional... i once attended her public speech to my misfortune and this is what she uttered, "Madhyamik poikkhay jader ke prothom bibhag a uttirno kora hoyechhe..." I wondered as to how come these illiterates become political leaders, and how at all they get elected... serious flaws in the system, in the attitude how it is run... she deserves those kicks and blows... doesn't matter how they come, doesn't matter whether they were choreographed or not... here only the end matters... however, it is foolish on the part of civilians to turn this into a communal riot... why should we play ourselves into the hands of politicians... i understand how this delicate situation would be exploited by our politicians... nonetheless, why don't you question her candidature as an MLA, now that her name has been changed... that speaks of our resilience... on the contrary, we have busied ourselves in killing each other, and the apple of discord gets away... i am worried about both the facets of the same coin, things should unanimously end with such politicians... no more shrewd gandhigiri please.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Your constructive criticism is most welcome. Debates can only lead to change - change in mindsets as well as perceptions.
DeleteHowever, your argument justifying the attack on Ms. Rumi Nath is grossly unfortunate. Ms. Nath is one of the most inefficient MLAs we have in the valley. The condition of her constituency - Borkhola proves that. She might be an equally incapable doctor also, though we do not have any example to prove the same. But, none of the above can ever justify the attack on her, for her second marriage. The moment she announced her second wedding and religious conversion, she should have been arrested on bigamy charges as per the Hindu Marriage Act. The Government of Assam should have expelled her from her seat of a legislator.
But attacking her and assaulting her physically only shows the moral degeneration that the society as whole has gone through. If the people of the valley were so outraged by her action, they could have resorted to a host of democratic or constitutional means to protest.Those North Easterners who stay in other parts of the country often boast that women are much safer in North East than any other part of India. If this is how we decide to punish for acts of bigamy or infidelity, what would be the difference between us and the Khap Panchayats of Haryana? If this is the yardstick of instant punishment we decide on for acts of inter faith marriage or bigamy, then we might find many more women getting beaten up in public by angry mobs.
Moreover, the people of the valley seem so powerless while dealing with politicians who are corrupt and eat away the funds meant for development. But the same mass gets so angry with the second wedding of a legislator that they beat her up in full public view? If at all there is so much anger, then please channelise it to bring to task the ministers who are looting us.
The post was only about evoking a sense of pride among the people of Barak Valley, which they seem to have lost.You are most welcome to call it Gandhigiri, but the explanation of the term 'Shrewd Gandhigiri' is kindly solicited.