Sentinel Viewpoint

The self–immolation by a person outside the Assam Secretariat as he was protesting in a KMSS–led rally against the State government’s land patta policy on Monday is highly unfortunate and raises some pertinent questions. First, the State government ought to have taken adequate measures to avert such situation by working out a concrete strategy to deal with such mass movement. Result: a poor person had to go in for self–immolation. Two, forest lands and wetlands are a very precious environmental resource, especially in Assam known for its spellbinding biodiversity. Therefore, encroachment in such areas must be stopped. However, the government must come up with a strategy to relocate people living in such areas — as these people are mostly poor and backward. Three, the State government would do well to explain why business houses from outside the State have been allowed to acquire lands in areas that must be protected for environmental reasons. And four, what about encroachment of land by illegal Bangladeshis across the State? These aliens must also be thrown out if indigenous people are being asked to leave the lands encroached by them. Why the apparent sympathy of the government towards illegal Bangladeshis who are the greatest threat to the very identity of the indigenous people of the State? Policy must be equal for all in a democracy. There cannot be any room for discrimination in a democracy. But the million–dollar question is whether the Tarun Gogoi government has any real concern for the ethics of democracy!

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