Letter to a Fascist from a Contrarian

Dear Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma,

You sir, are a plague to the northeast region of India. The tragic loss of six precious lives in your latest border incident with Mizoram could have been avoided had you simply heeded the call for an amicable solution to the problem by your Mizoram counterpart and the Union Home Ministry. 

You see, we understand that you have played this game before, successfully at that – winning the election and whatnot. So, we are not surprised by your decision to throw the same dice twice – but there is only so much that one can connive, and there is only so much injustice that people will tolerate, and unfortunately, lightning does not strike the same place twice, not even for you [rather, it strikes the idiot that tries to wield it]. You have been utterly humiliated, and it must be quite a discomforting experience to have your Machiavellian scheme crumbling down like a house of cards. We understand the exasperation you must be going through – to be humiliated by people that you have always held in contempt. You are probably already planning your next move, all the while questioning yourself how you could have been so wrong. Now, we have heard that you are planning to raise three new battalions of commandos and that you are doubling the salary of the Assam police personnel that are deployed on the contested border.

But sir, I would like to implore you at this time to take a deep introspection rather than succumbing to anger and the desire for revenge. I know you have to keep up the ‘unwavering act’, but hear me out – now, just count to twelve and keep still…shhh, no talking either. This is the perfect opportunity for you, tragic as it may be,  to drop your arrogance and understand the fire that you are fanning. 

Take your time sir, to reflect on the immorality of manipulating a disenfranchised population along jingoistic lines for your political gain. We know what you are doing; the people you are manipulating may have been rejected by the NRC, but they are still people, not just pawns for you to manipulate. They are still human beings with inherent rights and dignity. And as an elected official, it is your job to protect such people and their rights and dignity – that is the true purpose of a secular democracy. But everything that you have done so far is in direct contradiction to this secular telos. You see, you and what you are doing are insults to the idea of secular democracy and hence, to the very idea of India itself. So please sir, introspect, meditate or visit a psychiatrist at least, to understand the tragedy that you have afflicted upon your men and your fellow human beings in general because, at this point, you are simply a nuisance to all your neighbouring states – that amounts to millions of people! Apply a simple utilitarian logic – you are wrong.

And just so you know, we see through your every ploy, and your intimidation strategy will always fall flat on your face. When your side fired the first shot, we immediately saw it for what it was – an intimidation tactic. We also understand that those poor souls would have never pulled the trigger on their own accord – it was your scheme, your decision, and now their blood is on your hands. A failure of that magnitude should behove any leader to resign from his/her post. So sir, please, hold yourself accountable for your blunders and resign from your post.

And while you are at this, please, confess the lies that you have concocted to steer the narratives in your favour. The truth is, neither Mizoram nor any of the other states that you have so arrogantly bullied have never “illegally” “encroach” or “trespassed” on your land. The actual case of the matter has always been the other way round, we know this, you know this, and the entire northeast region knows this. You simply have no face to save here, so confess to the lies and the crimes, this is an opportunity for you to come clean.

 And regarding your threat to take the issue to the Supreme Court, here is a brief history for you; you see, when the boundary between the two states was drawn by the Survey of India (SoI)  under the supposed auspices of the North East Areas (Reorganisation), Act 1971, it could be supposed that the SoI was doing the bidding of the then Assam state government. However, officials of the Survey of India never carried out any actual ground verification of the boundary and the Mizoram government was never even consulted. These facts were all document by the officials of the Survey of India in the Topo Sheets that they developed. The so-called “constitutional boundary” that you have been referring to is nothing but a sham at best, and a sign of discrimination and exploitation at worst. So, we will be more than happy to finally officially expose this sham of a history.

Sincerely yours,

Jue Chhakchhuak