[Assam] FROM ASSAM TRIBUNE - WHO IS AN ASSAMESE ?

[mayur bora]

Hi Mahanta da,

I am sure you are back from your weekend trip.
Any comments on the following piece published in The
Assam Tribune today ? Mahanta da, please refer to the
no 1 of my list about the weaknesses of Assamese. 

Bye 

Mayur
Chandigarh




EDITORIAL 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MESSAGE FOR TODAY
These things shall be! A loftier race Than e’er the
world hath known shall rise.
— John A Symonds

Who is an Assamese?
The ongoing debate over what constitutes the
‘Assamese’ identity and the refusal of the various
ethnic communities to term themselves as Assamese are
significant developments that are sure to have a
profound bearing on the directions that the Assamese
society will take in the days to come. While the
developments cannot be said to augur well for the
future of the greater Assamese society, in which we
all used to take pride, the element of irony is too
apparent to miss. The reluctance on the part of most
of the ethnic communities to be recognised as Assamese
comes at a time when the definition is being sought
for a common cause of the State and its people – that
of ensuring constitutional safeguards in view of the
unabated onslaught of Bangladeshi infiltrators. It is
now evident that we cannot stand united even when our
very existence and identity are at stake due to the
working of outside forces. Indeed, what should have
been an occasion for unifying and upholding the cause
of the State, we are creating more confusion and
aggravating our own problems. It is difficult to
understand what prevents a person from becoming a Bodo
or a Rabha and an Assamese at the same time. Are we
not Assamese and Indians at the same time? The logic
that donning the Assamese identity would adversely
affect other ethnic cultures is flawed, as it is only
the common causes that warrant an Assamese identity
for the people. Can anyone say that being Indian has
hampered the growth of Assamese culture or literature?


But since the majority of the communities have made it
clear that they would not call themselves Assamese,
and prefer to be identified as the Bodos or the Rabhas
or the Tiwas for all purposes, the job ahead for the
Asam Sahitya Sabha, which had taken upon itself the
unenviable task of finding a common ‘Assamese’
definition, would be to ensure that there is no
further fragmentation to a house already divided. The
Sabha has now suggested changing the word ‘Assamese’
(as used in Clause 6 of the Assam Accord) with the
words ‘indigenous peoples of Assam’, which seems to be
the right step under the circumstances. We only need
to look at our previous experiences with ‘forceful
unifications’, the demoralising fallouts of which are
still haunting us. However, the shift to ‘indigenous’
is also not without the potential to create another
furore, because it will exclude those people who have
settled in the State at a relatively later period. Can
we say that those who have settled here later than the
‘indigenous’ communities like Bodos or Rabhas but have
accepted Assam as their motherland and got assimilated
with its culture are ‘less indigenous’ and not
supposed to get the rights that the ‘indigenous’ will
have? 

The problem is essentially one with our mindsets than
anything else. The developments that have unfolded are
not surprising, given that the rifts within the
‘greater Assamese society’ have been widening for
quite some time now. The upsurge in ethnic
nationalism, fuelled by an overbearing concern that
the ethnic groups will not get their dues by remaining
within the confines of ‘Assamese,’ has been on the
upswing since independence. The fear and apprehension
might have had valid grounds at some point of time but
not always. Be that as it may, the job at hand for the
Sabha is to strive for unity among the various ethnic
communities which form the essence of what has been
known as the Assamese identity. If the Bodos, the
Rabhas, the Karbis, the Tiwas, the Misings and the
like are not Assamese, who will be there to be called
Assamese? In our bid to assert individual identities,
we are completely overlooking something very
significant – that Assamese is simply the collective
identity of all those who have been living in the
State and treating the land as their own. It is the
beautiful fabric that is woven from different threads
— all unique in their own way. And any attempt at
tearing the components apart would result in
destroying the whole. It is the entire family that
suffers when mistrust and suspicion grip its members.
Assam has already bled a lot due to the growing
distrust and the consequent unrest among its
inhabitants. Let us not do anything to perpetuate that
damage.



		
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