By Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA: In the Northeast, where ethnic differences divide the people especially during elections ,often leading to fierce outbreaks of violence, certain steps taken by the Asom Sahitya Sabha in recent times seeking to bring different communities closer, are indeed praiseworthy.
It is also appropriate for the Sahitya Sabha to take the lead in a bid to improve cultural ties between different groups of people In Assam, the biggest state in the region.The organisation itself is the largest cultural establishment of its kind and has a profound influence among common people as well as Assamiya voters in the Northeast as a whole. This also attests to the keen enthusiasm among the Assamiyas in their literature.
No wonder why most political parties in Assam, insist on inviting top Sabha leaders to address their mass meetings.
This time, the Sabha President Mr Basanta K. Goswami has called for warmer, more friendly ties among various communities to ensure genuine social harmony among people in Assam. For good measure, he said this during an interaction with mediapersons while on a visit to the Bengalee majority Barak Valley area. This was a clear indication that he was calling for better relations between Assamiyas and Bengalis — and not without reason. Assam too will have state Assembly elections some time in 2026. And winning Bengali Hindu votes in the state was important for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The 2026 election will also be a challenge for the ambitious Chief Minister Mr Himanta Biswa Sarma. He never conceals his distaste for the Bengali-speaking Muslims who had settled in Assam working as peasants under the British rule for ages. .
For generations, relations between Assamiya and Bengali Hindus in Assam have remained uneasy. The Assamiyas have not forgotten that during the British rule, they had to learn Bengali compulsorily in their schools, although the Assamiya language was their mother tongue, as well as the language of the majority. Bengalis point out that that it was the British who imposed it as the ruler, Bengalees are not responsible. .
The British conquered Assam from the Burmese. All major administrative decisions such as implementing the language policy of different states, was their responsibility. The Bengalis only worked as employees carrying out orders from the British. But this argument never satisfied the Assamiyas, somehow or other. .
Even before the Sahitya Sabha announced its new conciliatory approach, chief minister Sarma had declared from public meetings that Bengali Hindus were’ not a problem for Assam or he Assamiyas’. However the position of Bengali speaking Muslims was different. They were outsiders who had come from East Bengal during the British rule. But Even after 1947 and then after 1971-72, there had been a constant illegal movement/migration from East Pakistan and later, from Bangladesh. The very demography had changed in Assam. The number of Muslim-majority districts in Assam had risen from 4 to 7 in recent years. At present, Mr. Sarma said, while speaking to newsmen, the Bengali-speaking Muslims — called ‘Miya’ in short — had outnumbered native Assamiya Muslims. Overall, Muslims accounted for almost 40% of the aggregate population.
The Assam government had detected, arrested and later deported many Bangladeshis who had settled in Assam in recent years, Mr. Sarma plans to continue the drive against illegal immigrants, his stand receiving total support from the BJP-ruled Central Government.
The Sahitya Sabha, too had not called for warmer ties between the people of upper Assam (Assamiya dominated) area and the Barak valley districts(Bengali Muslim dominated) Clearly its present call for better relations and cultural exchanges among different groups is nothing short of an appeal to people to vote for the BJP. In effect, their new stand seeks to consolidate the Hindu vote for the BJP. The Sahitya Sabha did not have the Mians in mind in their appeals for unity and social harmony between upper Assam and the Barak valley districts!
On their part, the Barak Valley Cultural associations and the Bengali press supported the Asom Sahitya Sabha’s stand. In fact, according to an editorial in a Barak area Bengali daily, other organisations had called for greater unity among the people earlier than the Asom Sahitya Sabha. Organisations like Bangla Sahitya Parishad and Bangla Sahitya Sabha responded warmy to the Asom Sabha’s call.
There was a proposal, according to one report, for Asom Sabha to arrange for the translation of five Bengali books into Assamiya and for the Bengali Sahitya Sabha to translate into Bengali at least ten Assamiya books every year. Both Assamiya and Bengali writers also agreed to organise a joint membership drive shortly. (IPA Service)
