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Assam: 2 arrested in Cachar for defacing hoardings written in Assamese
Barak Democratic Forum clarified that it was not protesting against Assamese or any other language, but against the “forceful imposition” of a particular language among the Bengali speaking people
Two members of All Bengali Youth and Students Organisation (ABYSO) of Assam have been arrested in Cachar district for defacing hoardings advertising the Central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission, written in the Assamese language .
Those arrested have been identified as Samar Das (38) and Raju Deb (37), both are residents of Silchar town. However, secretary of ABYSO, Rathindra Das said the duo was not involved in the act of smearing the hoardings. “They just extended support to the protest. Police on Tuesday initially called them to get some details but later arrested them. We are moving for bail today,” Das said.
He added that his organisation “does not support acts of disrespect to any language” and it “strongly condemned” such behaviour.
Members of the youth wing of newly formed political party, Barak Democratic Front, have been citing the amended Assam official language act to demand that all official communication including Central government hoardings are written in Bengali language instead of Assamese in the Barak valley.
The Front’s founder Pradip Dutta Roy was also summoned by Cachar police chief on Tuesday afternoon and interrogated for two hours in connection with the smearing incident. Roy later released a statement saying the front didn’t plan to smear the hoardings and it was done without his consent. He, however, lodged an FIR against the director of Jal Jeevan Mission and deputy commissioner of Cachar district for alleged violation of the language act of the state.
Roy, also a former lawyer of the Gauhati high court,alleged that the police were harassing innocent people and abusing the law. “These two persons are innocent, they just participated in a protest and were not involved in the act of defacing the hoardings. Also, the charge under IPC 425--an act with intention of destruction or damage to any public property-- is bailable and the police could have released them from the police station itself,” he said.
The Assam Official Language Act, 1960, which mandated Assamese as the official language of the state, was amended in 1961 after mass protests by Bengali speaking people, especially in the Barak Valley, led to the death of 11 people at Silchar station on May 19, 1961. The amendment provided for the use of Bengali as the administrative language in Bengali-majority Barak Valley comprising Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts.
The members of BDF argue that the protest against the hoardings was to reinforce the Assam Official Language (Amendment) Act of 1961, which was overlooked by local administration time and again.
“Silchar station is the place where 11 people laid their lives while defending their mother tongue. Installation of Assamese posters at the railway station was an intentional move to hurt sentiments of the Bengalis,” said Kalparnav Gupta from BDF youth wing.
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The senior members of Barak Democratic Forum clarified that their protest was not against Assamese or any other language, and they were only protesting against the “forceful imposition” of a particular language among the Bengali speaking people.
However, social media platforms were flooded with posts condemning BDF. Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy called the defacing incident a “conspiracy”.
“Ironical that the language issue has cropped up only days after Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sharma spent DurgaPuja with the ‘Bengalis’ of Barak Valley. Is this plain coincidence or is there a malicious intent behind it ? Smells fishy!,” Roy wrote on twitter.
Silchar MLA Dipayan Chakraborty alleged that BDF members were “anti-nationals”. “First or all, I want to know who these people are? When the entire Barak valley came on streets to protest against the violence on Hindus in Bangladesh, these people kept mum. Now, they are trying to divert the protest by provoking an unnecessary debate. I strongly condemn this,” Chakraborty said.
President of Assam Jatiya Parishad, Lurin Jyoti Gogoi sought action against the guilty and said that people from diverse backgrounds lived peacefully in Assam.
President of Assam Pradesh Congress committee, Bhupen Kumar Borah said 27 linguistic communities including Bengalis lived together in Assam and the Assamese language was used widely as a common language.
Several regional organisations including the All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Bir Lachit Sena criticised the defacing and called for the arrest of the accused.
