NE Extremism

I have taken the following paragraphs from an interview appeared in an assamese daily “ The Assam trubune” on 2nd December 2007. I decided to put it on my blog as most of the time such statement from Assam does not reach to other part of the country. This can help some of our country man to rethink, who believes that the whole of North Eastern Community supports the extremism and are enjoying every bit of being called anti Indians.

NE extremism has lost relevance

PANAJI, Dec 2 – The extremist movement in North East has lost its relevance and has destroyed the social fabric of Assam, feels Assamese director Sanjeeb Sabhapandit. Sabhapandit, whose film Jaatinga Ityadi is being screened at IFFI 2007, says the Assamese film is a comment on the current scenario of militancy in the State. It depicts how militancy has created a psychosis of deep fear among the people there while militants lure innocent young men and women into their fold.“Militancy has now become an easy and profitable business .... The moment money entered the extremist movement through extortions and kidnappings, the ideology began to erode and today the common man no longer sympathises with them,” Sabhapandit told PTI.

“This film is an attempt to showcase the real face of militancy which has destroyed the social fabric of Assam. We wanted to show the world the real face of militancy in North East through the film,” Sabhapandit said.Speaking about the significance of the film title, Sanjeeb informs that Jatinga is a small place in Assam where birds are said to commit suicide. But this is not the case - birds do not actually commit suicide, they are lured to death.At night, people hold bamboo torches to attract these birds and when they fly close, they are clubbed to death. However, the general folklore says that the birds come here to commit suicide, he said.“In the guise of a revolution the boys are lured into a death trap,” Sabhapandit said.Drawing a similarity between the birds and the youth, he chose name for his movie.

Sanjib’s first film Juye Poora Shoon (The Gold that has been Burnt), based on environmental preservation received the National Award for best film in 2004.“We are making a very strong statement as it is the youth, who have dreams of leading a good life, that are getting killed. This mindless mayhem has to stop. This is our message,” Rajkamal Bhuyan, the film’s producer said.“Ultimately in the name of liberalisation, they are killing the same people they claim to be fighting for. We are losing our brothers. Be it a security personnel, civilian or an extremist, ultimately it is our countrymen whose blood is being shed in this violence,” he said.

The movie depicts extremisim all over the world, with Assam serving only as a backdrop, Sabhapandit said.“While the world is becoming a global village, the issue of terrorism today affects everyone. In this changed scenario, the ideologies of Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro no longer hold relevance as there is no common enemy state today,” he said.