Barak Valley disappears from the Tourist Guide of Assam! No place of Barak finds place in ‘Aparup Assam’

Nov. 1: ‘Aparup Assam’ a book on the lesser known destinations of Assam was published by the Director of Tourism Madhumita Bhagawati and was released on the occasion of World Tourism Day by the Chief Minister of Assam, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma in the month of October. “Aparup” is an Assamese word which losely translates to mean “unparalled” or “exquisite” in English. The Editorial team of the book “Aparup Assam” stated, ” It intends to be a travel companion for tourists visiting Assam. This book is designed to highlight the lesser known destinations of this beautiful state.” However, surprisingly not a single site of the three districts of Barak Valley finds mention in this tourist guide!

This has naturally led to a great repercussion among the people of Barak Valley. During the release of the book on 1 October, 2021, apart from the Chief Minister of the state, Tourism Minister Bimal Bora, Additional Chief Secretary Tourism etc Paban Kumar Borthakur, Director of Assam Tourism Madhumita Bhagwati along with others were present. The book has been edited by Shreya Barbara, Arijit Purkayastha, Jiban Gam and Emon NC.

‘Aparup Assam’ a book on the lesser known destinations of Assam, published by the Director of Tourism Ms. Madhumita Bhagawati, was released on the occasion of World Tourism Day by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, pic.twitter.com/vXWh6ajKFK

— Assam Tourism Social (@assamsocial1) October 1, 2021

In the message of CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, which was printed in the book ‘Aparup Assam’, he wrote, ” As the travel guide book is an effort to provide comprehensive information on history, geography, climate, flora, fauna of less visited destinations of Assam, it is imperative that the book would prove to be an invaluable guide for the travellers and tourists to discover newer places and witness the enchanting beauty of the State. Moreover, Assam’s tourism circuit would also be expanded with tourists visiting less explored destinations with the help of this guide book.”

Bimal Borah, State Tourism Minister wrote in his message in the book, “I am confident that all tourists will find this book to be an all-encompassing guide to Assam”

Though the book was released with much fanfare. However, what irked the people of Barak Valley is that in the 120-page travel book ‘Aparup Assam’ not a single place from Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi was incorporated by the Tourism Department of the state. Geographically, the description stops abruptly at Dima Hasao, which gives a somewhat feeling that as if the territory of Assam ends over there. This has again given rise to the issue of discriminating Barak by Brahmaputra.

The tag line of the guide ‘Aparup Assam’ is a book on the lesser known destinations of Assam. That means either all the noteworthy places of Barak Valley are already known to all of Assam and India or else these places has got no historical value at all to the Editors of this travel guide! The omission of Barak Valley does not just end here. Next came a chapter on “Indigenous cuisines of Assam” (Page 104-05). Starting from Aloo Pitaka to Masor Tenga, dishes of various communities of Assam were included. But here too, none of the dishes from Barak Valley were included by the Editors of the Tourist Guide.

The next section in Page No 106-107 is “Calendar of Events: Festivals of Assam.” Here too, there is no mention of any festivals celebrated by the people of Barak Valley. The rich folklore of the valley has just been utterly neglected while compiling this travel guide of Assam. The last section of the book contain names of more than hundred “List of Registered Tour Operators of Assam.” It’s indeed strange to note that there is no registered tour operators in Barak Valley!

Commenting on this issue, Nitish Bhattacharjee, President of Central Committee of Barak Upottaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelan said, “This is indeed very unfortunate. The state government has recently time and again spoken about the development of Barak Valley, but in reality it was discerned that no tourist place of Assam finds its mention in the travel guide published by the Tourism Department of Assam Government. As a result, it is quite natural that this would result in grievance among the people of this valley. We urge upon the government to take immediate positive measures and include places like Siddheswar Shiv Temple in the guide. There has been even mention of this temple in the Mahabharata, yet our own state government erased this place from their guide. Even the Bhuban Hills was excluded from the book. We definitely register our deep anguish.”

Mr Bhattacharjee also expressed surprise as to how can the state government even exclude places like Sonbeel. He urged upon the government and raised the demand of including these and many other such sites of Barak Valley in the next edition and therefore rectify the serious mistake done by them.

Expressing his views, former Municipal Chairperson Tamal Kanti Banik said, “It’s indeed very disheartening to note the exclusion of Barak Valley from the tourist guide ‘Aparup Assam’ a book on the lesser known destinations of Assam. Former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal gave slogan of unifying Barak & Brahmaputra. Even present CM Himanta Biswa Sarma also always speaks about development of tourism in Barak Valley. During his recent tour of the valley, he went to Khaspur and Bhuban Hills and assured to develop these sites as tourist spots. If they really meant business, then they ought to have included these sites of the valley in their travel guide. This proves that such slogans of building bridge between the two valleys is just a farse.”

“Forget about lesser known, there is hardly any place in the valley, be it Khaspur, Bhuban Hills, Sonbeel, Chatla, Damcherra, various tea gardens or Craig Park, just to name a few, about which the people of Brahmaputra Valley has got even fair idea. These are indeed lesser known spots and deserved to be included in the book. This book is mainly for the people outside Assam to know about our state. But unfortunately, by excluding entire Barak Valley from the tourist guide, the state government has made it clear that they regard us outside the geographical periphery of Assam. I also am surprised at the role of all 15 MLA’s from Barak Valley! They should have atleast seen the pdf format of this book when it was released on 1 October and was supposed to react, but surprisingly they too were silent for reasons best known to them,” added Mr Banik. He also pointed out the high quality pineapples grown at Lakhipur which are now even exported., but that too escaped the notice of the Editors of this book.

Director of Assam Tourism Madhumita Bhagwati also wrote a message in ‘Aparup Assam’ where she stated, “The Tourist Guide Book containing the lesser-known destinations of Assam will add momentum to the wheels of Assam Tourism… It may be noted that the list of destinations mention in the Guide book is not comprehensive enough. We propose to keep on updating it as and when necessary.” Commenting on this, Sunanda Gupta, a retired teacher of Silchar said, “How can it at all become comprehensive, when you exclude the entire Barak Valley? This does not seem to be missed by mistake but rather an intentional omission on the part of the Editors. I do not know whether this has been noticed by our Chief Minister. It seems to be the handiwork of some persons who always try to deprive Barak of its due share. The matter needs to be immediately brought to the notice of the Chief Minister for rectification.”

“This is very unfortunate to see that the book published from Directorate of Tourism, Govt. of Assam has not mentioned a single word about Barak valley or any of the southern districts. They have not even mentioned a single tourist operator from here, neither a single photograph from the three districts of the valley has been included. How could a govt. department do this mistake? This really hurt the sentiments of the people of Barak Valley”, wrote a netizen in a social media post.

In order to become a comprehensive compendium of the state on lesser known destinations, ‘Aparup Assam’ needs to include sites from its entire geographical territory giving away any prejudice.