Assam: violence threatens state’s survival
Dispur (AsiaNews) – Violence in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam is linked to corruption and all sorts of stealthy trafficking. Bombs are going off and priests and ordinary people alike area are being ambushed, this according to Fr Tom Mangattuthazhe who, from the Bishop’s residence in Dhipu, talked to AsiaNews about the recent near lynching of two local priests and about several car blasts that have struck the state.
The first incident occurred last Wednesday when Fr Anto Tharakan and Fr Joseph Thottappallil were assaulted by an angry mob as they celebrated a funeral in Tinsukia district. Why people attacked the two clergymen is still not clear, but what is known is that police arrested them and that they are still in jail waiting for their situation to be straightened out.
The second incident took place instead on Saturday when a bomb exploded in the Guwahati market, injuring eight people. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but for the Indian military the explosive device was likely placed by Assamese separatists.
For Father Mangattuthazhe the “violence is due to several factors. Although no one has yet claimed responsibility for these vile acts, everyone knows that the security forces are also involved. When there is a war, only the military in power and those who back them gain.”
“We should not forget that there are many people who are interested in keeping things as they are,” he said. “In Delhi it is convenient to say that Assam is a dangerous place; this gives them an opportunity to keep martial law granting the military special powers, and forget everything else.”
As for the violence against priests, the RSS or “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,” a paramilitary organisation promoting Hindu nationalism, “is very active in the area,” he said.
Moreover, “where there is violence the mighty are never punished. The Church has become a target because we are carrying out literacy programmes and not everyone likes that.”
Father Mangattuthazhe sadly concludes that “all this is hurting everyone: the population, which has resigned itself to the violence; the economy, which is not growing; the whole of society. If nothing is done, this will become a ghost land.”
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