Protest and condemnation against the defamatory and dangerous portrayal of indigenous Bodo community as ‘militants’ by influential historian and writers Romila Thapar and Sanjoy Hazarika in their books continue in different parts of Bodoland region of Assam.
Also read: Bodo community up in arms against writers Romila Thapar and Sanjoy Hazarika
Social activists, intellectuals and students of Kokrajhar Government College on Saturday jointly carried out a protest programme to condemn against the ‘defamatory and dangerous portrayal of Bodo community as militant’ by Thapar and Hazarika in their books.
Janak Lal Basumatary, former IRS officer and also the present president of Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha and Ranjit Borgoyary, former president of All Assam Tribal Sangha also participated in the protest organized by the Kokrajhar Government College Students’Union.
The protestors demanded public apology from the authors for hurting the sentiments of the Bodo community.
The protestors also demanded apology from the publishers.
They also demanded immediate withholding of sale of the books and rectify the clubbing of Bodo community as militants from that particular sentence in the future editions of the book.
Historian Romila in her book called ‘Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations’ published by Orient Blackswan Private Limited termed the Bodo community as a dreaded militant group (page number 378).
Academician Sanjoy Hazarika, who is from Assam had also accused the community for carrying out the October 30 bomb blasts (page number 187) in his book ‘Strangers No More‘ published by Aleph Book Company.
“We, the students, research scholars and intellectuals collectively condemn the labeling of the Bodo community as a dreaded militant group in the academic books written by Romila Thapar and Sanjoy Hazarika. We would like to draw the attention of the authors and the publishers for criminalizing the entire community for the incidents which have been committed by the fringe elements of the society,” the protestors stated.
“This kind of repeated slanders against the entire Bodo community for the incidents committed by a handful is deplorable and unacceptable to us,” they added.