We have to tell our own stories. National Council Member- Tribal Intellectual Collective India. Anti-Caste. PhD in Sociology. Typos and opinions are personal
No safaris are allowed post sunset at Kaziranga. But here is a CM and Jaggi Vasudev breaking wildlife protocol brazenly, while talking about saving the Rhino. Irony.
If that's not all, Assam govt has also signed a MoU with this Vasudev to Save Soil.
Lord Save Assam
His blessings are special. His teachings, extraordinary.
Revered
@SadhguruJV
, in whose presence Kaziranga National Park opened today for tourists, has a special message to save precious Rhinos. And indeed he enjoyed the Jeep Safari.
Tourism Min Shri
@jayanta_malla
accompanied.
Housing society threatens to evacuate these NE girls from their apartment, creates chaos. Until police steps in and gives assurance ! India- this is the racist face you have ! It’s double crisis for Us, first battle with virus and then with societal virus of racism !
A Thread with **TRIGGER WARNING***
A three day hate speech conclave was organized by hate monger Yati Narsinghanand. At the event, multiple calls to k!ll minorities and attack their religious spaces were made.
#HaridwarHateAssembly
Thread 👇
Garden variety Indian liberal. Will tweet about rights all the time but god forbid workers unionise and collectivise.
Samsung is organised in South Korea too. But of course, unionization in India will wreck industrial growth. I mean seriously!
TISS has issued a press release that the Tata Trust has agreed to make resources available. So, the letter which called for termination of contracts has now been withdrawn. All of the staff asked to continue their services.
There is no legal basis for demolition of houses. Has happened in Assam, and it's happening now in UP. Bulldozing homes of 'accused' is never about justice. It's about Vengence. And the current government is making bulldozing its go-to model to bring forth Majoritarian consent.
Post olympic victory
-Don't call her Manipuri. She is Indian first.
At other times,
-Where is Manipur? Wahan pe toh log Kutta khate hai na?
Sorry but have to point this out.
When you talk about Mirabai, talk about Manipur, talk about NE,so that such questions are not faced
The expose by Wire and The Cross Current has ‘rattled’ the establishment. The Assam CM is on a tweeting spree putting out statements.
Imagine if all media houses, especially those based out of Assam, followed suit.
There is something fundamentally flawed with ‘mainstream’ Indian media’s coverage of Northeast India. The latest news about
#ManipurOnFire
is of 4 days ago. Massive rallies are taking place but little coverage. Many do not have full time reporters in the region 1/n
Palm Oil cultivation have left behind trails of massive ecological destruction, wherever it has been implemented. And the palm oil farmers he is talking about are Godrej, Patanjali and so on.
We are just a resource frontier now. Profit First. People and Ecology comes Second.
Today's Cabinet decision on National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm will be a game-changer when it comes to helping oil palm farmers and creating an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The Northeast, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands will specially benefit from this.
Imagine the pain of seeing your house ravaged by bulldozers. Helpless. Where will 800 landless families go?
Everything is justified in the name of 'Indigenous' and people don't even bat an eye. We have stopped feeling pain for each other as fellow humans in Assam. Its terrifying
Continuing our drive against illegal encroachments, I am happy and compliment district administration of Darrang and
@assampolice
for having cleared about 4500 bigha, by evicting 800 households, demolishing 4 illegal religious structures and a private instn at Sipajhar, Darrang.
The recording suggests that the
#Manipur
CM supported the use of lethally destructive ammunition – (51 mm mortar bombs)– in parts of the state last year.
The Manipur government claims the recording is ‘doctored’
A full investigation should be carried out.
“I’ve never been called a “genius” before. It’s overwhelming, but when I think of how I got here — an often rocky journey — I’m going to embrace it with gratitude”
Shailaja Paik wins the MacArthur grant !
Do NOT make it about being a 'drunk' man urinating on a poor man. Do NOT erase the identities. It is a prime example of caste depravity. Casteism corrupts the very core of human values and decency.
Anybody who calls it anything else is an ally to maintaining a casteist society
Something insidious is at play here. There is a concerted attempt to rake up divisions. And it’s being led from the very top.
All progressives, academics, activists and civil society should take note. Things are getting dangerous in Assam. We should not let it happen.
Why is a Sanghi Tiwari from UP calling for open violence against Kukis from a fake handle. The answer probably lies in the religiosity of the conflict.
Outlets from the region should stop amplifying such tweets as news without fact checks.
This guy Anurag Tiwari from UP pretending to be a Militant Myanmar Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu is writing against the Kuki Community of Manipur. The name of the account in 2018 was
@orianuragtiwari
from UP, He later changed his handle name to
@oriAnuragtiwari
, in 2019 he changed
The victim's husband repeated informed the police about the threat to their lives and even filed an FIR. But the police did not act on any of those complaints.
Complaints are ignored, No Twitter trends.
Just normalization of violence against Tribes.
Fellow Indians, you don't need to 'love' northeast, because Assam has the one-horned rhino, or Meghalaya has the wettest and cleanest village in the world. Just that we are Indians and equal citizens is enough.
We demand respect and equality, not over the top romanticisation !
This is not about the photographer. It's about the Hate that is consuming us all. Amidst dozens of police force he took the law upon himself with absolute impunity. Done anywhere else, he would be arrested immediately. Here the force tries to stop him calmly, protect him.
Some personal news. Successfully defended my thesis. Now PhD in sociology from JMI.
Picture shows the department in spring, right after my submission earlier this year.
I think all these writers have to get the basics right. Don't use the term 'Adivasis and Scheduled Tribes' interchangeably. ST is an administrative term. If the president-elect had been born in Assam, she would not have had ST status. The term Tribe itself is a colonial construct
Was trying to look for coverages of this March in Media. There is nothing much. Even from those who call themselves to be 'independent' and 'progressive'. Adivasis marching for 300 kms to protect their land and forests, not newsworthy enough ?
Privileged folks be like I quit my 'well-paying city job' and returned home to farm my acres and acres of 'ancestral land'. And then market it as a big 'sacrifice.'
Matlab Kuch bhi.
Irom Sharmila fasted for 5574 days demanding repeal of
#AFSPA
. Longest ever by any human.Civil society and the people of NER have demanded the same since decades. Thousands have died. Still no action.
To all the politicians, show some spine and speak up. Condolences not enough.
A menu like this cannot be created without social acceptance. Just google the restaurant and you can see that it's quite popular. Detention centres, Retrospective arrests, encounters, bulldozers and open bigotry all enjoy societal support.
Our society has become rotten.
Never knew India had so many secular and 'progressive' men (read Hindu) worried about women empowerment. They get particularly active when it comes to Muslim Women. Have seen some of the same secular people justify violence against Muslims, especially in my state.
Only in India, it's possible that a drug with no verifiable evidence, study reports, etc. receive prime time coverage in almost all the news channel.
We are all in a circus.
#coronilkit
Imagine an 'Axomiya' committing a crime in another state and the 'indigenous' people of that state forces the entire Assamese community living in that state to apologise.
But this kind of politics flies in Assam. 1/2
Journalists and 'critical' people are suddenly choosing to believe the government's version of events as absolute truth and are aggressively amplifying it. Suddenly the victims are being blamed for the violence. Wah ! You guys might as well as call yourself 'bhopu' of the system.
The Assam govt. has crores and crores of rupees to celebrate festivals like Namami Brahmaputra to give a 'Hindu identity' to River Brahmaputra but not enough 'resources or will' to fix the riverine transport systems.
One of Assam’s leading journalist’s son wishes to interview the new Assam CM for his YouTube channel. The father makes it happen in matter of days. The CM visits the journalist’s home. So much privilege!
Same folks will later give gyaan on ‘merit’ and ‘hard work’ !
It's sad that Northeast India could not produce a leader/Elected representative 'brave enough' to vociferously demand for Repealing AFSPA.
Many are busy parroting the same 'disturbed area' narrative of the centre.
“These women from the high-rises can only empathise with those like themselves. To them, a woman is a victim only if she comes from their own caste and class. The rest of us don’t exist for them,”Meenatai added.
Sums up perfectly!
No ‘reclaiming’ can happen without inclusion.
#Mumbai
| Bahujan Women Asked to Leave
#ReclaimTheNight
March
“Your issues are different from those raised here,” said one of the protesters. Another added, “This is an exclusive protest only for residents of the Hiranandani complex.”
@sukanyashantha
✍️
They said,
-Educated folks do not engage in caste discrimination
-Caste is only prevalent in villages.
Forget villages, the 'educated', 'enlightened' folks are taking it everywhere.
#Casteism_In_Cisco
Want to see how media spins narrative?
Exhibit A- Puts the blame on the villagers by using terms like 'Sources', 'possibility'
Exhibit B- Links unrelated fire incident with mob vandalism. Tuensang Police clarifies in the tweet below. Also highlighted yesterday by journalists.
Throughout the interview, Justice Gogoi was uncomfortable. Had no answers, digressed, or counter questioned.
An absolute must-watch. This is how interviews should be done. Great stuff
@SreenivasanJain
The assumption that leaders from Marginalized communities should bear the 'burden' of 'uplifting/emancipating/speaking' for their communities is also a reflection of our society. Others don't have to go through such a test.
This are called 'Epops' (fermenting agents) used to make rice beers in our tribe. 108 herbs are hand pounded with rice, and then moulded. The Misings, especially the older generation women know all the herbs by heart. Each herbs serve a purpose !
#Tribes
Adivasis don't have homogenous interests that the president-elect has to protect. The census data is of ST population (not Adivasi). Here, we as tribes don't write about all Adivasi communities, but we have UC folks bursting out columns and clubbing all of us as one category.
Delhi
Sunrise time- 6.50 AM
Sunset- 5.24 PM
Assam (Guwahati)
Sunrise- 5.47 AM
Sunset-4.31 PM.
Arunachal (Itanagar)
Sunrise- 5.41 AM
Sunset-4.22 PM
This is why need a separate time zone for NorthEast India.
The over the top worshipping of 'Tatas' by Axomiyas is not necessary. The Tatas have profited from Assam for decades and own about 21 tea gardens in the state. Their support in terms of healthcare and hospitals are bare minimum they can do.
It's not a GIFT.
#RituparnaPegu
was from a neighboring village. His father and My uncle are very good friends. While it pains me immensely, I would refrain from giving it a communal color and would request others also to do so. Justice for him and rehabilitation of his wife and kid is a must.
Try not to use
#RituparnaPegu
's death to further your fascist ideology. This goes for people both from Assam and to those outside of the state.
Thank you to those who are offering to help and amplifying the demand for justice !
A group of 7 young migrants from my community is taking an ardous journey from Andhra Pradesh to Assam. Seems like they have spent their savings to buy these cycles. Latest update says they have now reached Vizag.
Any helping hand would be appreciated.
A 🧵on land grabbing and renewable energy in Assam (stay with me)- On 12th May 2021, a herd of 18 elephants were found killed, allegedly by a lightning strike, at Mikir Bamuni Hills. A slew of media reports on the incident followed.
1/n
I take a deep dive into the world of Assam media and highlight how caste and ethnicity shape media narratives. With such reporting media not just continues the ‘othering’ but also refrains from discussing the much needed structural inequalities!
A young student is battling for her life in Dhemaji, Assam because a man could not take 'No' for an answer and stabbed her multiple times. A man who thought he could do anything to her just coz they were in a 'relationship'.
Assam probably still will not talk about patriarchy.
Sonam's fast is a painful reminder to all the tribal and indigenous leaders, especially those in the NE Region, of what their political myopia of allying with parties with little interest in tribal issues will cost people in the long term.
BEGINNING OF DAY 16 OF
#CLIMATEFAST
120 people sleeping outdoors under clear skies. Temperature: - 8 °C
16 days of just water n salts is finally taking a toll. Feeling quite week. But I can still drag for another 25 days n perhaps will.
I'm sure our path of truth will win
There should be a study on how many people built their academic careers by writing about oppression of marginalised communities, while practically doing nothing in action to actually change the structures.
Very few academics who actually write and work with the communities.
Do these Youtube content creaters, especially those who produce 'poverty porn' for increased views, inform the people they are interviewing that they will be profiting out of the YouTube views?
While most of Assam is busy with elections and the Home Minister's visit, thousands of people belonging to my tribe are fighting for their very survival. 1480 families of Laika and Dodhia villages have been campaign behind the Tinsukia DC's office since the last 6 days
In India, tribal people are either humble people with beautiful dance, music and culture (that need to be glorified/romanticized) or 'savages' that need to be 'civilised'. We are nothing in between.
We are reduced just to walking labels.
This memorandum submitted to the president of India alleges that the actor-director Aimee Baruah did not follow necessary legal protocols before casting a 84 day baby girl. Owing to extended exposure to cold and extreme weather, the baby girl died 4 days later.
This is criminal
This transfer is being celebrated because people still view NE India as ‘jungle’, ‘extreme’, remote places where people should go only for punishment. Delhi’s discarded get space in Arunachal.
@ANI
Brilliant MHA. This will set an example for other high headed babus. Ek ko extreme North me bheja hai aur dusre ko extreme east me. Great. Spouse posting bhi gayi haath se. Ghumao ab kutta pahado aur jungalon me.
The sheer hypocrisy of the Axomiya elites. They will eat pork and drink country liquor in the houses of the marginalized families and tribes and proudly say, "Gharat Nakhau' (we don't drink and eat pork in our homes).
And what right does he have to conduct these raids?
Once Assam silver screen Hero, Actor Pranjal Saikia has come down this time against country liquor in different parts of Darang. Today, two families were raided and warned not to indulge in such misdeeds in the future.
Had the reporter's name been something else, the response would have been completely different. Assam CM's bigotry has no limits.
I fear for the journalist as the Sanghi gang will already be unleashed on him.
Will the Bhuyan's and Bordoloi's Speak up? Probably not.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma rebuked a reporter over his religious identity after the reporter asked a question on hill cuttings in his constituency Jalukbari.
Sarma asked him whether they (Muslims) will allow them (Hindus) to live in Assam, citing "demographic change".
Probably the highest ever win margin in India? A win with more than a million votes is exemplary. Ajmal has been the MP from Dhubri since 2009.
This win deserves a much larger discourse and digging in.
A caste based society can never offer true liberation as a society. Outrages are based on one's social location, more than anything else. Solidarity offered is selective.
In Bihar, a teenaged Dalit girl was abducted, raped & brutally murdered. There are no marches, no candle light vigils, no media outrage. Sexual assault on Dalit women is considered banal, inconsequential. Outrage depends on caste & class location of the survivor / victim.
1) Saraighat Bridge - 1963
2) Kolia Bhomara- 1987
3) Naranarayan Setu- 1998
4) Bogibeel Bridge- Real Construction started in 2011.
5) Dhola Sadiya- Construction started 2011.
6) 2nd Saraighat Bridge- Construction started in 2007.
Did you know?
Till 2014, there was just ONE bridge across Brahmaputra
The river cuts North East in half. What will military do if an enemy cuts that *one* bridge?
Imagine the problems for people
Today there are 6 bridges
7th bridge being made
Liberals: Thank you Nehru!
Guwahati University scraps 6 month-long certificate courses on Mising and Rabha Languages. Wasn't mother tongues supposed to be given preferences? Earlier when I wrote about Assamese language imposition, I got a lot of hate. Can we expect progressives to oppose this?
#Assam
Today my community celebrates Ali-Aye- Ligang, marking the start of the sowing season. Thank you to everyone who took the time out to wish us.
Wish everyone a happy and prosperous harvest and a healthy year.
Just in: The Bokakhat authorities have termed
@PranabDoley19
's citizenship status as 'doubtful'. He had applied for the renewal of his passport. He contested the 2021 elections from the same constituency.
This is nothing but a targeted attack and a violation of his rights.
A brilliant young artist from my community Mino Patir has made this amazing mural of Jadav Payeng. His friends wanted me to share this so that his art gets more spread.
I personally love it too so would have shared either way
Location- A bridge near Gerukhamukh, Assam
Unionized workplaces are safer workplaces.
One problem with Indian ‘liberals’ are also that while they like values of freedom and equality, quite many of them are anti-unions.
A safe and secure workplace is everyone’s right.
Tale of two states.
1)Both Manipur and Mizoram offer refuge to Myanmar folks crossing over.
2)MEA intervenes. Ask states to stop ‘illegal influx’ (Absolutely Inhumane)
3)Mizoram speaks up and says MEA engaging in double speak. Continues support.
4)Manipur bows
#Myanmar
In Assam, a woman (koch) was forced to bury her husband (UC Sharma) alone as the local villagers refrained to touch and give wood to cremate the dead. They were angry that the man has married below his caste.
No caste in Assam? I even see Koch folks denying caste here.
Left prof in JNU had chance to fill these posts. But of course, they had to create a vacuum for others to fill. Same in Bengal. And then you cry that representation is not class politics.
Welcome to Guwahati. Smart city, and gateway to south East Asia, Biggest city in Northeast India and blah blah. Oh and it floats !
(Pic shared by a friend via WhatsApp)
Dipanjal Das (19yrs) -An army Canteen Cook
Sam Stafford (17yrs) -Matriculation Candidate
Abdul Amin (23yrs)-AASU Member
Ishwar Nayak (25yrs)-Mall Employee
Azizul Haque(45yrs) -Fuel Truck Driver
People who lost their lives in
#AntiCAAProtest
in Assam. Just repeal the goddam Act!
My parents were 9 brothers and sisters, we are 4 and we and our brothers and sisters have 1 or 2 children each.
Wanna know what changed?
Education happened ! It works !
Probably a good time to inform/remind that Bishnu Prasad Rabha was a revolutionary communist. Stop appropriating him for RW purposes !
#rabhadiwas
#Assam
The Attack on Arnab Goswami & his wife is attack on Assamese.
We will wait to see if Congress leaders of Assam condemn this attack.
We will wait to see if Anti CAA leaders of Assam, who r actually new Congress of Assam, condemns this attack on Arnab.
#SoniaGoonsAttackArnab
Assam's elite and intelligentsia once dismissed Bihu as a 'vulgar' dance form. It was revived as defining symbol of Axomiya identity much later by folks like Rabha.
Source- Dewri P. (2019),"Bishnuprasad Rava and the Rural in Assam: Inspiration and Intervention through Music", RAS
Interim champion Chungreng Koren has a request for
@PMOIndia
and reminds him about the ongoing violence in Manipur.
“This Is My Humble request. Violence is happening in manipur.
It has been almost one year. people are dying and many people are in the relief camps. There is food
Pick up any year's NCRB data and see the number of sexual violence committed daily against Dalits and Tribals.
If the movements do not talk about structural violence entrenched in caste and Brahminical patriarchy, it is just a 'window dressing'.
Of 'Independence Day', Dhemaji and Assam- For perhaps many of us who belong to Assam and other states in NE, 15th August have mostly been about bandhs, curfews, empty roads, and ‘conflicts’. But what happened in 2004 deeply scarred many in Assam. 1/n
When UC leaders or elected representatives make terrible decisions, the person get criticised. However, When the same is done by tribal leaders, the entire community gets questioned.
Speaking for indigenous people do not make you ethnofascist
Speaking for ‘migrants’ do not make you Anti-Assamese.
The discourse around Assam is portrayed as if one automatically leads to the other.
Such reductionism has created barriers for serious discussion ...!!!
It's funny how white people automatically become global experts while others from the global south are deemed as 'regional experts' or just voices from the grassroots/field.
Dibrugarh University, Assam. Miles Bronson Hostel, 3.30 AM, 10th April 2021. Monuhar Pegu was fast asleep in his room. 4 other boarders Roktopal Gogoi, Mrinal Rabha, Vishal Kumar Sharma, and Bhaskar Gogoi barged into his room, at drunken state and started abusing him. 1/n
Adivasis worship a sacred land
A Hindu king builds a temple and gets a brahmin priest
A cricketer popularises it.
Devotee footprint increase
A trust is formed and business established.
Adivasi claim to land and the temple being taken away.
Paras is just a symptom of a larger disease. The bias, racism and lack of understanding of basic geography is deeply entrenched into the Indian society. Easy to make an 'example' out of him but the issue also needs structural solutions.
#parasofficial
Only UC Hindus, clueless about the importance of cattle for tribal and rural-poor households and Assam economy can see this as some sort of 'silver lining'. The bill is anti-muslim, anti-poor and anti-tribe. No two ways about it.
The background logic is Hindutva. Nothing else.
CM
@himantabiswa
has assured people eating beef that it is prohibited in only around temples that were constructed earlier. No new temple constructed after this law will come under purview of it
#assamcowprotection