A bit lopsided
Many of the things Harsh Mander in his article (“Assam’s Tragedy”, August 26) talks about, including the facts of the horrifying Nellie massacre, are actually true. But in an article which purports to lay bare the genesis of the present unrest in Assam, the concealment of other “true” facts is culpable. The unabated illegal immigration which has changed the demographic pattern of Assam and which has triggered the insecurity of the tribals finds only a cursory mention in the article.
Violence of any form is reprehensible, and the leaders of the Assam movement against aliens had disturbed the fragile social equilibrium of the border state by allowing their movement to degenerate into violence. This does not make the concern about illegal immigration any the less genuine. Of late many immigrant organisations have also shown a propensity to readily resort to violence. The article thus seems to present a lopsided picture.
Pradipta Borgohain
Guwahati
Governments at the Centre and the State should find a lasting solution by addressing the problems of Bodos and the migrants by pushing extraneous considerations to the background. With the strife, conflagration and violence becoming the order of the day in Assam, economy of the State takes a severe beating. And Assam should not become one more Jammu and Kashmir.
H.P. Murali
Bangalore
Bonding with music
Baradwaj Rangan’s report “A tear drop in the ocean” (Magazine, August 26) is emotional and soul-stirring. The Tamil culture’s strongest ingredients are music and dance which have gone into full harness in bonding the people of diaspora. Chennai and Jaffna are now bonded with music and dance and the ties are quite strong and growing.
G. Azeemoddin
Anantapur
