Writer146;s Peace

Indira Goswami8217;s first meeting with the ULFA was pure chance. Thirteen years ago she went to Darrang to attend a meet. 8216;8216;I di...

Indira Goswami8217;s first meeting with the ULFA was pure chance. Thirteen years ago she went to Darrang to attend a meet. 8216;8216;I didn8217;t know the boys who organised it belonged to the ULFA. But once there, I came to know the truth.8217;8217; Since then the Assamese writer has been planning a book on the outfit.

The book may take time coming but until then Goswami has other plans. She has met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and offered to arrange talks between the Centre and the ULFA. Delhi University professor, Jnanpith winner and now peace crusader, Goswami is convinced she fits her new job description. 8216;8216;I have seen death from very close quarters since my childhood and I have never learnt to accept death and killings so easily. I understand what the death of hundreds of young men have caused to families across Assam. That is why I want this crossfire to end,8217;8217; says Indira, known to her readers as Mamoni Raisom Goswami.

8216;8216;I have no doubt in the sincerity of Paresh Barua ULFA commander-in-chief. Nor do I have any reservation about the sincerity of Manmohan Singh in finding a solution to this issue,8217;8217; she says.

Goswami, author of 20 novels and over 400 short stories, has a literary link with the ULFA as well. She says she was surprised to discover that Barua had directed all women cadres of ULFA to read her novel Mamore dhora tarowal The Rusted Sword that speaks of the plight of women workers at a construction site in Rae Bareilly.

GOSWAMI, 63, has always been haunted by the image of death. Born in the family of a satradhikar chief of an Assamese vaishnavite monastery, she married a Kannadiga engineer, Madhavan Raisom Iyengar, in 1965. Two years later he died in an accident in Kashmir.

Soon after that on a visit to Varanasi, she noticed the dismal condition of widows in the city. It shaped her novel Nilakanthi braja. Three years ago she took on the priests of Kaakhya temple, the seat of shakti worship and tantra, for continuing the practice of animal sacrifice. Chinnamastar manuhto, her novel against animal sacrifice remains a bestseller in Assam.

Superstition is her other target. Her Adhalikha dastabej An unfinished autobiography, for instance, includes an incident on how her mother almost threw her into the Brahmaputra because the family priest declared her birth inauspicious. Her unfinished story also describes a life threatened with suicidal tendencies.

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Violence of any kind has always evoked a strong reaction from Goswami. 8216;8216;I burst out in anger when Paresh Barua called up a few days after the ULFA killed 13 children on Independence Day this year. Why did you take these innocent lives, I shouted at him. Today Paresh has promised he would come for talks wherever I ask him to come.8217;8217;

The ULFA has, meanwhile, demanded that the talks include the issue of sovereignty. 8216;8216;I know the ULFA has demanded sovereignty. But what prevents a government from discussing this issue?8217;8217; retorts Goswami.

Welcoming the initiative taken by her 8216;8216;in her individual capacity8217;8217; , Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman of ULFA says they are 8216;8216;are optimistic that her efforts would help bring about a viable solution.8217;8217;

But political watchers question Goswami8217;s ability to broker peace. In its editorial, a leading newspaper in Guwahati writes: 8216;8216;Since she is not a politician, she should be careful in her steps, as Delhi is notorious for its insensitivity towards the Northeast.8217;8217;