My classmate is pissing me off so so hard.
He put a post saying that he yearned to go back to the Assam he knew as a child, without the growing Hindu- Muslim divide and identify politics. Great, I agree, not the problem.
The problem arises, when in the same breath, he also wants to go back to some sort of a golden Assam, where the important thing was if you were a Khilonjiya, an Axomiya, where it was your language and ethnicity that decided if you should be able to make decisions for the state.
And what does that even mean? I don't like religious discrimination, but linguistic and ethnic is fine? It's not the game you mind, it's the parties. Tweak that and suddenly it's right?
The north east has so many states because of this very reason. Because some people refused to give recognition and power to people of other tribes and languages. It's because of this attitude that even today parts of Assam itself are demanding separation. One must remember that Assam too has diverse people in it. You cannot simply ignore the rest of non Assamese population.
Guwahati and by extension, Assam, are filled with people from all over Northeast. You cannot simply ignore them in administration and exclude them from power. And even people of Assam, who are not necessarily Assamese, can still trace their ancestors back down several generations.
Identity politics based on your language is still identity politics. And I understand that tribal identity has to be protected, but it's so clearly not about that. Language and religion cannot be your basis for decision making power.
