For decades, the state of Assam has
witnessed the politics of sub-nationalism which usually spins around the
promises to safeguard the cultural aspects of the state. New political entities
evolved into the fray on this issue but the promises remained unfulfilled.
These political groups have enjoyed the veto power to rule and represent Assam
on this issue but sadly, the situation instead of getting improved became
worse. In the name of protecting the cultural aspects of Assam, these political
entities had continued to provide political patronage to illegal Bangladeshi
infiltrators (mostly Muslims as they offer appeasement value to their political
career). However, this changed in 2016 after BJP clnichéd power in Assam which
has taken away the right of these political groups to amplify the
sub-nationalist issues of Assam. One must remember that this sense of
sub-nationalism did nothing substantial to preserve the cultural aspects of
Assam, instead, it gave birth to secessionists movements in the state. This had
pushed Assam towards massive insurgency and instability which eventually
alienated Assam from the mainstream. The common people who had suffered from
all these knew this very well and so people of Assam had switched from the
fallacious notion of sub-nationalism to nationalism. The idea of nationalism
went in the right track and the region now is witnessing minimal insurgency and
maximum economic progress connecting the region to the mainstream. The most
notable aspect to look upon is that radicalization is a serious issue in Assam
which sub-nationalists like AASU and other organizations fail to realize and
this particularly should not be only seen as a threat to the demography of
Assam. This radical idea is a threat to the culture of Assam which now has reached
in the active state. The jihadist forces who receive foreign fundings are now
active in Assam as they have a significant population backing them to which
most of them are illegal infiltrators. The sub-nationalists forces of Assam
seem not ready to deal with this threat as they think that Assam has nothing to
do with religious demography instead they believe that preserving regional
demography is more important. However, they miss the fact that regional
demography had altered due to the outsourced illegal infiltrators to whom most
are the believers of radical Islamist supremacists. Today ten of 33 districts
have become Muslim-majority and three more will become by 2025. If the regional
sub-nationalists believe that there is nothing wrong with this then they are
deliberately putting a blind eye on this blunder. Can today anyone from
Assamese community win elections on these electoral constituencies? The answer
is a big NO. Even Hindu Bengalis can’t manage to win those constituencies as
the electoral control of the whole demography is now with radical Islamists who
form a decisive population in those constituencies. The flag bearers of Anti-CAA protests must try
to understand that the notion of maintaining the majority status of Assamese
language demographically can't prevent Assam from the negative influence of
jihadist forces who are making profound roots in Assam. In a state like Assam,
the status of Hindus as dominant force needs to be preserved first to
neutralize the negative influence of jihadists in the state which is already
surging. If one can’t stay Hindu in Assam, then one can’t stay Assamese too
because it is the tolerant nature of Hinduism which allow every culture to
flourish but if it is becomes politically and socially hijacked by political ideas
who believe in radical Islamist supremacy thoughts then another Kashmir like
scenario is inevitable. The Army chief of India had mentioned this in 2018 that
how a local political party of Assam is growing faster with the changing
religious demography in Assam which is significant threat to the security and
peace of Assam.
The demand of sub-nationalist forces like
AASU to protect Assam by injecting inner line permit could turn into a
disastrous one for the economic progress of this region. We can't simply keep
this region closed just because we want to preserve the ethnic population from
mixing with others. A region can't
progress by just keeping itself ethnically dominant with their languages and
cultures, instead, it requires people from other parts to come and invest which
will bring employment to the local population too. This process will bring a
Cosmo population mixed with different languages, cultures, and ideas which is
inevitable but trying to preserve culture based on the idea of preserving the
dominant used language demographically will close new economic avenues for this
region which will again take the region back to the sub-nationalist ideas which
will push back Assam from the mainstream. Opposing the language imposed by
illegal infiltrators is perfectly fine but opposing the language of other
states to be used in Assam fearing that it would demographically change the
language is not a valid idea.
Since, 2016 when BJP was voted into power,
these sub-nationalists group who don't recognise the threat of radical
Islamists in Assam are losing their plot of identity-based politics to the
hands of nationalist politics of BJP and
for many of them, the anti-CAA protests are like a political opportunity to
revive their lost plot in Assam.
But Assam can’t afford to again switch back
to sub-nationalist politics which will give power push to Jihadist and
secessionist forces in Assam whose outcome could be terrible for the state.
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