Maximising the goodwill visit :: Cutting across political parties
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 27, 2012 -
The irony is palpable. Even as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka was in Assam to persuade the students and professionals who had fled Bangalore and other cities to return, came the news of fresh violence in Assam claiming the lives of five more persons.
Lest the focus of Delhi and Dispur is lost, let it be very clear that as long as the violence in Assam continues or is not reined in, the sense of insecurity amongst the North East people in some cities of the country will continue.
The issue of foreign migrants, in this case, Bangladeshi immigrants, is at the core of the issue and so long as Delhi and Dispur continue to treat this with velvet glove, the issue will continue to simmer.
It is perplexing why no serious attempts have been made to address the core issue of illegal migrants.
This is not to say that the fall out of the Assam violence in other parts of the country is reasonable or logical.
Far from it, what it has underlined is a deep rooted political and social conditioning, where the North East is perceived as something different from the rest of the country.
Certainly not a flattering commentary on a country which attained independence more than 65 years back. In a way, Nehru's tryst with destiny seems out of place here in this context.
The Government of Karnataka appears sincere, the visit of its Deputy Chief Minister to Gauhati and Imphal, being the underlining aspect, but it also needs to be realised that the overwhelming sense of insecurity that constrained thousands of professionals and students to return home was not based only on the SMSes and hate mails.
No doubt stray instances, but when people from a particular region are picked out on the basis of their appearance and assaulted, ridiculed and stalked then it would be enough to trigger a chain reaction, which came in the form of the mass exodus from some cities in South India.
Situation has certainly improved, but the impact on the psyche of the people is something which cannot be overcome or healed in a short span of time.
Perhaps Karnataka may need to do more than send its Deputy Chief Minister to the North East States.
What however has stood out in the visit of R Ashoka is the manner in which the visit has cut across party affiliations.
A Deputy Chief Minister from a BJP ruled State addressing the issue from the office of a Chief Minister of a Congress ruled State is something which would have been thought impossible otherwise and this underlines the core humaneness involved in the issue.
Let this value have a sobering effect on the bigger issue of the day.
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