In Assam, there is this weird notion of a secular past that the Assamese mainstream media and jingoists harp on from time to time. When the Kokrajhar riots broke out in July, 2012, news channels in Guwahati justified the death of Bengali-speaking Muslims as that of Bangladeshis. Before you could call them communal, propagandist, they came up with conspiracy theories of how mosques in Dhubri were sheltering armed Islamist terrorists from Bangladesh. Talking about NDFB or other militant groups was out of question then. On Twitter and fb, you often come across comments like those being killed in BTAD are all Bangladeshis or Assam was always secular before Bangladeshis arrived. Its a different thing that killing of Muslims in BTAD has followed a similar trajectory as that of the ethnic cleansing of Santhals, Rajbongshis, etc. since the early 1990s. What the Assamese media and the Asomiya chauvinists need to realise is that Nellie happened very much in Assam and even before the demolition of Babri Masjid. Blaming your shit on Bangladesh or Bangladeshis is going to be of no help.
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 04:13:32 +0000
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