[Assam] Telegraph Coverage of the Petition

[Chan Mahanta]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070104/asp/northeast/story_7215910.asp


NRIs move Gogoi on 'Asom'
A STAFF REPORTER

Guwahati, Jan. 3: The debate triggered by an Assembly resolution to 
change the name of the state to Asom has forced a group of Assamese 
people from across the globe to rally together to "save the name of 
Assam."

In a petition to chief minister Tarun Gogoi yesterday, the group 
appealed against a change in nomenclature, supporting its contention 
with historical documents.

The group includes the president of Asam Sahitya Sabha, four past 
presidents of the literary body and several non-resident Assamese 
people from the country and abroad.

Expressing "strong opposition" to the proposal, the petitioners said 
the resolution was "unwarranted and undemocratic" as it was adopted 
without any debate in spite of requests from the Opposition.

"The state's name is not something that should be changed in as 
casual a fashion as it has been done, without a thorough and informed 
public discussion and debate. It was never a mandate of the people. 
Even the Opposition's demand for a debate was summarily cut off in a 
highly undemocratic fashion," the document, signed by 139 
petitioners, said.

"The legislature did not give a credible set of reasons for the 
change from the internationally-recognised name Assam to Asom. In 
these days of globalisation, to dilute Assam's international name 
recognition is entirely counter-productive," the group alleged.

The suggestion that Assam was a foreign word coined by the British 
was countered by the group. They furnished documentary evidence to 
prove that the name was in use long before the British annexation of 
the state.

"Even in the Ahom Buronjis, we find that the Mughals used the name 
Ashyam for the state. The name appears in various historical 
documents from the Mughal period and in Dutch chronicles dating to 
the pre-British period. Persian publications like the Akbarnama 
(1542-1605), Padshah-Namah (1627-1647), Alamgir-Namah (1657-1667) and 
Tarikh-i-Mulk-i-Asham mention Asahmais. On the other hand, we do not 
find the name Asom anywhere in documents from the pre-British days," 
the appeal said.

Quoting several historians, the group stressed on a strong indigenous 
connection for the name Assam, claiming that it has been in use for 
the last 800 years.

"The word Assam offers a wider international recognition for the 
state. It is easier to identify the state from such associations as 
Assam tea, Assam oil or even Assam silk," said one of the signatories 
of the petition, Rajen Barua, who now lives in Texas.

The petitioners appealed to Gogoi to revoke the resolution passed in 
the Assembly. If that was not possible, the group said an advisory 
committee, comprising eminent citizens, academics, historians, 
linguists and other members of the Assamese diaspora should be formed 
to decide whether it was the public's prerogative to alter the name 
of the state.
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