The rice paddies were almost ready for harvest, turned golden by the December sun, on the bountiful land in AssÂam바카라s Barpeta district, close to the Bhutan border. Old-timers at Uzan Barbari, one of several small hamlets that dot the landscape, still recall that fateful evening. As dusk settled on the land, a bitter cold wind was blowing in from the Himalayan foothills, sending people scurrying indoors, to the warmth of their hearths. All, except a group of youth who set out to the nearest township Bhawanipur where thousands of people had gathered to join a protest demonstration on the national highway.
Those were tumultuous times in Assam. Just months ago, the All Assam Students바카라 Union (AASU) had launched the anti-foreigners agitation which was to convulse the state for the next six years, and set the tone for staggering events in the next few decades. The exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC)바카라a controversial subject today바카라would also grow out of the same agitation many years later. The fire had just been lit in the form of a mass movement that would even trigger charges of Assamese jingoism from critics.
And it was into this raging fire jumped KharÂgeswar Talukdar, just 18 then, as he joined the protesters for what was seen as a battle to save their land and culture from 바카라lakhs바카라 of undocumented migrants swamping Assam from former East Pakistan and later Bangladesh. As police swooped down, the protesters were forced to flee. Talukdar, the second of four brothers, was detÂained by police and allegedly tortured in custody, leading to his death. Former supercop K.P.S. Gill, who was a DIG in Assam then, is accused of assÂaulting Talukdar in custody. But he later denied the charge, claiming that Talukdar fell into a roadside pond while fleeing and drowned.
바카라Will give blood, not oil바카라, scribbled with blood by Dulal Sharma in Guwahati.
Khargeswar Talukdar is officially acknowledged the first 바카라martyr바카라 of the Assam Agitation, one among 855 people recorded by the state government as martyrs of the six-year-long mass movement. 바카라I was just three when dada died바카라ŠBut growing up, I have heard stories of his bravery as well as the sacrifice by all those who died for the cause of Assam and the Assamese,바카라 says Chandrakanta, the youngest brother of KharÂgeswar, at the family home. He is now the general secretary of an organisation representing the families of those who dies in the struggle, the All Assam Martyrs바카라 Families Coordination Council. 바카라Forty years have passed since dada died, and nearly 35 years since the Assam Accord was signed. But we wonder, if their sacrifice has been worth it. The number of foreigners in the final NRC is a big shock바카라Šcan their numbers be so less?바카라 ChandraÂkanta asks.
The final NRC published on August 31 has identified just over 1.9 million as foreigners in Assam but the number has been contested by the AASU and other organisations in Assam, besides the ruling BJP, which had turned the NRC update exercise into a successful poll issue. The number of 바카라undocumented migrants바카라 in Assam has always been in the realm of speculation and conjecture, ranging from a few lakhs to more than one crore. The BJP believes that the names of genuine Indian citizens바카라mainly Hindus바카라have been excÂluded from the NRC. Critics allege a witch-hunt against Bengali-speaking people from Bangladesh.
For Amar Nath Upadhyay, the NRC is incomprehensible business. At the ripe age of 89, Upadhyay is hard of hearing but his memory remÂains as sharp as ever. And he recalls the balmy day in 1980, August 16, when his daughter Bajyanti Devi, just 19, collapsed during an antiÂ-foreigner demonstration. The event organised by the AASU in Tezpur was dramatically named 바카라Ranasinga바카라바카라the war bugle바카라marked by blowing of the conch. 바카라She was an expert in blowing the conch바카라Šshe had such lung power,바카라 Upadhyay says at his residence in Tezpur town. But after standing under a merciless sun for hours, Bajyanti collapsed and was later pronounced dead in the hospital. Doctors attributed her death to heat stroke; yet another name was added to the growing list of martyrs.
For the family, the biggest surprise came when the name of Upadhyay바카라s daughter-in-law Nirmala Devi and her two sons were left out of the NRC. Ironically, Nirmala Devi바카라s husband Rajendra Nath Upadhyay, whose name is in the list, has been engaged in the NRC update exercise. 바카라I reaÂlly don바카라t understand this. We submitted all the documents. But my wife was tagged a doubtful voter. We are sick and tired of this,바카라 Rajendra Nath says. Upadhyay senior is trying to come to terms with the 바카라NRC business바카라 but is hopeful that justice will be done at last. 바카라After all, my daughter gave her life for this land바카라Šwe are Gorkhas but we have never felt anything else but Assamese,바카라 adds Amar Nath Upadhyay, who had once unsuccessfully contested an assembly election on an Asom Gana Parishad ticket.
The AASU, which led the agitation, has categorically denounced the NRC numbers and says that the final list is an insult to the sacrifice of the martyrs. 바카라Did all those 855 bright, young people give their life in vain,바카라 says AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya. In January this year, families of the martyrs had returned the memento and citations to the Assam government to protest the government바카라s decision to introduce the CitiÂzenship Amendment Bill, which aims to distinguish migrants eligible for Indian citizenship on the basis of religion. Though the bill fell through, Union home minister Amit Shah said this week that the Centre will reintroduce the bill.
Though the AASU or other organisations were yet to react to Shah바카라s comments on the bill, Renubala Das wonders what would have been the response of her late husband Mahendra Das, one of the martyrs of the agitation. He was killed in a bomb blast that tore through a protest event in Fatasil Ambari in Guwahati in June 1982. Nearly 20 people were killed in the explosion. The perpetrators of the blast was believed to be the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a militant organisation that sparng from the agitation; some youth in Assam saw the non-violent agitation as a waste of time and had turned towÂards an armed struggle. 바카라What can I say바카라Šafter a lifetime of struggle to support my son바카라s education, I am not sure if we got what my husband died for,바카라 Renubala adds.
The agitation turned bloody on many counts. Even before Das and 19 others died, firebrand student activist Dulal Sarma used a shaving blade to cut a deep gash on his chest and with the blood that flowed scribbled on a street in Guwahati, 바카라Tez dim, tel nidiu바카라 (We will give blood, not oil). It was one of the most dramatic moments of the agitation, etched in the collective memory of the state during an oil blockade on April 23, 1980. The tarmac on which Sharma spilled his blood is now part of a memorial erected at the very spot in Guwahati.
If stones could speak, there are many stories still to be told바카라of another time, another day.
By Anupam Bordoloi in Guwahati with inputs from Abdul Gani
