First of all, I must admit that I love reading and writing stories. Particularly, I love to write stories on Northeast India, a place to which I belong, in the hope of creating a positive impact on society.
Geographically, culturally, socially and politically, the Northeast region is fascinating and has beauty in everything. It captivates me. It is one of the most culturally diverse regions of the world, inhabited by more than 200 indigenous and tribal communities. It is no surprise that this region has captured the imaginations of anthropologists and researchers from India and across the globe. For the people of the Northeast, to be born in such a beautiful place is indeed nature’s great gift. It’s a land of myriad stories, happenings and socio-political struggles – a wondered landscape. These realities, often historical in nature, always give me the energy to write more stories around it on digital media.
The stories of the Northeast are always captivating and interesting, but they are also deeply troubling at times. It is one of the most neglected regions in the country, where the literacy rate even in recent times, is lower than the national literacy rate. Since India’s independence in 1947, successive Assam governments, mostly controlled by the Assamese Brahmin ruling elites, have failed to bring any tangible development in Bodoland.
The governments, both at Dispur and Delhi, have been continuously showing a keen interest in suppressing the language of political autonomy along with suppressing the democratic and constitutional rights of the Northeast’s largest ethnic Bodo community.
In the past 70 years, like other socio-politically marginalised communities across the globe, the Bodo tribe, also known as the ‘autochthons’ in Assam, have been demanding for a separate Bodo homeland to be carved out of Assam.
In the academic and political discourse, it is widely acknowledged that the Bodos were one of the first groups who spread the language of democracy and territorial rights during the British rule in Northeast India. Some forces attempt to hide this fact as they are more interested in demonising the present Bodo agitation as a ‘secessionist movement’. Even in recent times, this political struggle continues to create situations which are violent and troubling, leaving a deep physical and psychological impact on people’s minds. A sustainable political settlement, however, is yet to be reached.
Violence by both state and non-state actors and communal agencies in the civil society have significantly contributed in escalating the tumultuous situations in Bodoland. Social fabrics have been devastated to an unimaginable position due to frequent ethnic confrontations. Houses have been burnt in villages. Hundreds have died living their political dreams, while the paramilitary forces killed many for unknown reasons.
Like many people in the region, I am witness to this fragile socio-political theatre. The scars of the harsh realities in Assam’s districts concentrated with tribal communities (like Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri, Bongaigaon, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Goalpara) are still visible. This is only the tip of the iceberg. The absence of state responsibilities and negligence in bringing about socio-political, economic, cultural and linguistic justice is noticeable everywhere in the Northeast. How often do we get to hear and see these cruel facts in media? I think the obvious answer is a big no.
Many media houses which designate themselves as the ‘national media’ do not have full-time journalists working in the Northeast. Their over-dependence on part-time reporters, freelancers and independent writers and lack of interest on issues of the region can hardly be justified. What surprises us is that even the regional media sometimes depend on national news agencies such as PTI, UNI, ANI, etc., to cover the news, even though they are much closer to the place.
In such a dramatic scenario, news often gets buried no matter how big and important they are. And, we are simply left to wonder. Aren’t these events news-worthy in the corporate media language? What does it take to break the national headlines?
The reconstructed realities in mainstream media and journals on issues of the region often do not encourage healthy debate and discourse. At times, they are even subject to brutal misjudgement and misinterpretation of facts meant to enhance one’s personal interests.
In certain quarters, many would silently agree that it is this simple reason which has contributed immensely to the misconceptions about the region, people and political happenings. What is rather baffling is that the harsh socio-political situations disturb only a few citizens, intellectuals and media persons. The rest of the stakeholders in the region prefer to remain silent and have developed a sophisticated culture of perpetual waiting that ‘somebody is going to do something’.
The army of storytellers and writers in the Northeast region are negligible which can be countable on fingertips. As a concerned citizen, this is one of the reasons which took me to media school in Delhi in 2007. I never regret my decision to enter into the area of journalism. I must say it’s a powerful medium through which we can seriously create positive social impact. The emergence of new information and communication technology has enabled and empowered everyone. The question is how and why we use it.
Digital platforms like Youth Ki Awaaz have widened this frontier of storytelling, giving a dynamic space to like-minded individuals who love to write and express their opinions for the betterment of society. I feel fortunate that I am part of this growing media ecosystem that respects and promote diversity of expression.
When technology is on everyone’s hand, people in Northeast India need to be brave enough to tell their own stories because we have seen, lived and experienced situations that many haven’t. It is a fertile ground to be a mercenary of truth.