A wave of demonstrative patriotism, capped by a 12-km march with a 3.5-km-long Tricolour, drowned separatist voices in Assam and elsewhere in the Northeast on Wednesday.
The region had approached the country’s 72nd Independence Day under the shadow of guns with an umbrella organisation of extremists, led by the hostile-again Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland, threatening to disrupt the celebrations. Members of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent, a constituent of the umbrella group, protested “India’s occupation of Assam” with blackened flags in Eastern Nagaland, a term used for Naga-inhabited areas of Myanmar.
A couple of black flags were also unfurled in Assam, including one at Milanjyoti ME School in Udalguri district. But these were promptly pulled down before official functions. The day was marked by public participation on a scale not witnessed in the last 30 years.
Hoisting the Tricolour was unthinkable in western Assam’s Baksa, one of the four districts under Bodoland Territorial Council, a couple of years ago because of the National Democratic Front of Boroland’s terror run. But the people of Uparkhuti village in the district wanted to show the world they were no longer living in fear.
‘Celebration of peace’
At 11 a.m., some 2,200 people of the area celebrated their ‘freedom’ by marching 12 km holding a 3.5-km flag aloft. Half a dozen tailors in the area had taken a fortnight to stitch the flag. “Peace has returned to these parts after ages and there was no better way of celebrating it,” said Pavan Oli, secretary of the local Sunrise Youth Club that organised the march.
A similar rally was carried out in southern Assam’s Silchar, though the length of the flag was 72 metres.
But hundreds of people in Guwahati were disappointed when a private firm assigned by the Guwahati Smart City Limited authority failed to hoist a 120x80 ft flag on a 312 ft pole atop the Gandhi Mandap hillock in the city. The State’s Industry and Commerce department had financed the project worth ₹2.91 crore.
Homage to 2004 victims
Victims of terror in Assam chose the day to remind extremist groups of their “barbarism” with reference to the killing of 18 people, including 13 schoolchildren, in north-eastern Assam’s Dhemaji on August 15, 2004. The ULFA had owned up to triggering a blast at the I-Day celebration ground that day.
“We lit lamps in the memory of those killed by terrorists that day. But their souls will rest in peace only if justice is delivered,” said Indranil Kalita, organising secretary of Santrasbadir Dwara Nirjatita Pariyal Mancha (forum of terrorist-tormented families).
New Arunachal districts
Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu on Wednesday said his government had decided to create three new districts — Pakke-Kessang, Lepa Rada and Shi-Yomi — in order to take governance to the people’s doorsteps. The State has 23 districts now. “Our state has the largest area in the northeast, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The creation of new districts would go a long way in developing towns and headquarters and address remoteness issues,” he said.
He also said the government has been emphasising on more youth from the State joining the armed forces. The establishment of a Sainik School, to start later this year, will be a step in this direction, he said.
