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Journalism of Courage
Given the history of ethnic violence in Assam, we run the danger of rushing to conclusions about motives and culprits. But it is not half as premature to debate the portent of the serial blasts that have shaken Guwahati, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon. The blasts have claimed more than 50 lives and injured hundreds of people in a state that was the victim of bombs and guns long before Indian cities elsewhere began to see bombs going off every second day. Much blood has flown down the Brahmaputra, spilled in clashes caused by ethnic and linguistic strife; in violent projects determined to carve up the state; through attempts to even secede from the Indian Union. The United Liberation Front of Asom Ulfa is synonymous with gore in the dictionary of terrorism. Therefore, reports that the Ulfa was perhaps behind these blasts would naturally trigger old cynicism and fears. But that is still the domain of speculation.
The visible target of the blasts has been the new direction that Assam was taking 8212; its nascent growth story. The fact that Guwahati was hit near important government buildings and busy markets drives home how this attack falls in line with what has happened to other Indian cities of late. Target the new India, target its economic rebound, target ordinary people as they go about their daily business: this seems to be the modus operandi of terrorists. But the blasts have targeted other areas in Assam too, including, for instance, Kokrajhar, which is Bodo-dominated. This should alert citizens and the establishment alike to how this seemingly new brand of terror may actually be an attempt to re-ignite ethnic fires that have not yet completely died out. Irrespective of who are responsible for Thursday8217;s blasts and what they actually expected from their act, it is apparent that Assam can all too easily totter on the brink again.
