[Assam] Bandh, Government and the People - Sentinel editorial

[Chan Mahanta]

Ram,

Without having gone thru the whole piece, one thing comes to mind:

The Sentinel is expecting different results from doing the same thing 
over and over again--railing against ULFA given Bandhs and expecting 
people to ignore it.

Political scientists call it INSANITY.

c-da














At 10:12 AM -0500 4/5/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>I guess, this was a very successful bandh. Everyone came out on top -
>well, except a few, students taking exams, day/hajira laborers,
>businesses, the economy, the traders, schools, colleges, etc etc. But
>we certainly don't have to worry about them, they don't really count.
>The saviors of Assam have showered yet another blessing on Assam.
>
>Don't know why the Sentinel is so uptight about the bandh. It ought to
>have just enjoyed the day off - just like the rest of an almost mute
>populace?
>
>--Ram
>___________________________________________________________
>Bandh, Government and the People
>ULFA has remained blind to the plight of scores of widows and orphans
>whose lives are in a shambles just because they had to pay the price
>of a 'revolution' now orchestrated from Bangladesh.
>By a Staff Reporter
>GUWAHATI, April 4: The ULFA today called a 12-hour bandh in protest
>against the handling of the wives of missing ULFA leaders by the State
>police. The police had arrested the wives of the missing ULFA leaders,
>who were on a fast-unto-death to know about the whereabouts of their
>missing husbands, and confined them at the Guwahati Medical College
>and Hospital in view of their deteriorating health conditions. All
>these are 'atrocities' in the eyes of the ULFA. But the banned outfit,
>as usual, has chosen to see and exploit situations of only one kind,
>such as the case of the wives of missing rebels, and has remained
>blind to the plight of scores of widows and orphans whose lives are in
>a shambles just because they had to pay the price of a 'revolution'
>now orchestrated from Bangladesh. So the outfit created a fear
>psychosis in the minds of the general public by triggering blasts in
>Guwahati and upper Asom in the run-up to today's bandh.
>However, despite being aware of the fear factor that precedes and
>marks every bandh called by the ULFA, the Tarun Gogoi government
>remained a mute spectator to the making of that fear factor. It is as
>if the government had no clue as to how the bandh effect could be
>neutralized except for a mere circular.
>It is a fact that banking plays a vital role in the movement of people
>and their business. The government must have ensured that the banks
>operated normally under full security cover, and that the bank
>employees reached their respective offices under safe conditions. Did
>the government talk with the bank authorities, assuring them of full
>security cover during the bandh period, and then ask them to keep
>their branches open for the public so that there would be at least
>some movement of people, to begin with? That could have prompted the
>rest of the people to also come out of their homes and go about their
>business, thus defeating the very purpose of the bandh.
>Did the government ever thought it necessary to talk with the Sadau
>Asom Karmachari Parishad (SAKP) so as to ensure the presence of
>government employees in their offices after having worked on a
>convincing security arrangement? Not that we know of. The SAKP is not
>an anti-national organization to support the ULFA's bandh call. A mere
>circular, just for the sake of formality, directing that all
>government offices and services throughout the State should function
>normally during the bandh period is a big joke, given the attitude of
>the people towards bandhs - as extended holidays. Does the government
>think that such a circular can at all be effective in countering the
>ULFA fear factor in the minds of the general public? What did the
>government do to provide security to its own employees and arrange for
>their safe transportation? Did the government even think of talking
>with bus, autorickshaw and rickshaw associations so as to evolve a
>mechanism to ensure normal movement of vehicles and people under full
>security cover?
>As a matter of fact, today, during the bandh period, the ministers and
>bureaucrats must have been within the safe confines of the
>Secretariat, working hard through the day, and should have relieved
>the security personnel on VIP duty to provide security to ordinary
>citizens.
>As for the ULFA's so-called revolution, it is nothing but a
>multi-crore business house operating from Bangladesh. It overlooks the
>annexation of Asom - the outfit's actual homeland - by Bangladesh.
>Therefore, as an outfit whose voice is not its own but that of the ISI
>and Bangladeshi forces, the ULFA should not be under a wrong
>impression that the people of the State are supporting its multi-crore
>business house in the name of Asom's liberation. The fact remains that
>people are just afraid of the ULFA, given the outfit's choice of soft
>targets - even children - and the government's inability in providing
>security to ordinary citizens.
>What is the bottomline then? By not ensuring security to ordinary
>citizens and a smooth functioning of banks and other establishments,
>the government also contributed to the 'success' of today's bandh. It
>is such bandhs that not only disrupt normal life but also lead to the
>State's daily financial loss running into crores of rupees. Who is
>going to compensate for all that? Then just think about the poor daily
>wage-earners losing their meagre daily earnings during such bandhs.
>Who will compensate for them? The government or the ULFA?
>Meanwhile, when contacted, SAKP secretary Basav Kalita told The
>Sentinel that the government's directive to the district
>administration in regard to today's bandh did not make any sense. "The
>government should provide transportation facility to the employees
>coming from remote areas. Besides, security cover should be given at
>the offices in remote areas during the bandh period," Kalita said,
>adding that if the government does not take these initiatives, then
>the directive to take action against those abstaining from office does
>not make 'any sense'.
>However, Chief Secretary PC Sarma told The Sentinel: "We have taken
>all possible measures from our side. The Rhino buses were plying on
>the road. We also asked the private bus associations to continue their
>bus service during the bandh period." He also said the government
>cannot force the banks, private institutions and other establishments
>to remain open during the bandh period. He, however, said that enough
>security was provided during the day.
>
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