Ten prominent personalities of Assam, including Sahitya Akademi awardees Hiren Gohain and Homen Borgohain and eminent filmmaker Jahnu Barua, have written to Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde urging him to deliberate on the prevailing “public outrage and anger in the country”.
The letter, made available to the media on Monday, stated that the government has characterised the ongoing protests as being organised by “mischievous elements” whereas the “reaction of thousands of people has earned the sympathy of all right thinking sections of the society”.
‘Not wilful violence’
“It is quite possible that there may have been certain excesses, as mentioned in some press reports, and these are to be deplored but the public discontent can hardly be dismissed as wilful violence, as is being currently done by the government,” the letter said.
Signatories to the letter include Sahitya Akademi awardee Nagen Saikia, scientist Dinesh Chandra Goswami, former Gauhati University Vice Chancellor Gajendra Nath Talukdar and ex-principals of Cotton College and Gauhati Medical College, Udayaditya Bharali and N.N. Barman respectively.
“The younger generation as admitted by all impartial observers is particularly aggrieved and agitated by certain issues that have cast a dark shadow on their lives.
“In Assam, the threat of unchecked migration from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh had been compared by the Supreme Court to a silent invasion,” it said. The letter said that at this juncture, granting citizenship to a large number of foreigners will put immense pressure on scant resources of the State.
