The ULFA led by Paresh Baruah has claimed responsibility for the attack on Hindi-speaking people in Namrup and warned of more such attacks. This latest attack came after a few months’ lull. The Hindi speaking people are now gripped with fear psychosis. Meanwhile, this detestable act merits for condemnation in the strongest term by every civilized society. Insanity and absurdity are even better terms to describe such attacks of hapless innocent people. Violence is never an element of nationalism. Such barbarity and misadventures are counterproductive and can take away nationalistic feelings even from the hardcore patriots. Resorting to violent path will not allay fear of losing Assamese identity. We should not lose our reasoning power even in the worst of time.“The need to recognize the role of reasoning and choice in identity-based thinking is thus both exacting and extremely important,” writes Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in his book, “Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny”. Selective killings of Hindi speaking people in Assam and Manipur are not new stories. For years such barbarism is allowed to go on, thanks to the impotency of our administration. About a 100 Hindi speaking people were killed in 2000 and 2007 by ULFA militants in Assam alone. In July this year, ULFA(I) chief Paresh Baruah “has warned Hindi-speaking people living in Assam of serious consequences if they don’t apologize for raising slogans against his organization during a bandh.” This whole episode was triggered by the killing of two Hindi-speaking people in Tinsukia district that sparked widespread protests. Under the aegis of the Patriotic People’s Front of Assam (PPFA the people had carried out protest march in Guwahati on July 19. “We want to send a strong message to ULFA (I) leader Paresh Barua that they should stop its continued disruptive activities including killing of common people in Assam,” said a statement of the PPFA. Following the slogans by Hindi speaking during the July 19 protest ULFA (I) has “banned two Bhojpuri organisations in the state for daring to stand up to it”. Now, as long as our political class is moved and stimulated by vested interests and not by moral imperatives we have little hope of getting respite from this sick scenario.
