Black ink on Bengali hoardings in Guwahati: It’s objectionable & govt should take action, says Tamal Banik

Oct. 24: Congress leader and former Municipal Chairperson Tamal Kanti Banik severely criticised the act of Bir Lachit Sena who allegedly smeared black ink over Bengali signboards in the heart of Guwahati city on Saturday. Taking a dig at the act, Congress leader Tamal Banik said, “It’s indeed strange that Bir Lachit Sena is involved in linguistic jingoism in the heart of Guwahati. The state government needs to take suo-moto actions against such an unwelcome move.”

Infact, one of the leaders of the Bir Lachit Sena said, “We declare all these banners printed in Bengali as invalid from today onwards. There shall be only one language in Assam and that is Assamese.” In response to this, Tamal Banik said, “Who are they to declare that that shall be ‘only one language in Assam and that is Assamese’? What is then the status of Bengali and Bodo in Assam? The government should immediately come up with a clarification in this regard and also action be taken as per legal provisions ”

It needs mention here that a few days ago, a similar act was conducted allegedly by two organisations in Silchar. Black ink was smeared over an Assamese hoarding which was put up at Silchar Railway Station. Two persons were also arrested by Cachar Police in this connection who were later on released on bail. Two more cases were filed in two police stations in Guwahati against Pradip Dutta Roy, leader of Barak Democratic Front.

So why did Tamal Banik did not protest when black ink was smeared over Assamese hoarding in Silchar? To this, the Congress leader replied, “I never ever supported the move of using black ink on Assamese hoarding. However, at the same time, I also like to stress upon the fact that the said hoarding violated Section 5 of The Assam official Language (Amendment) Act, 1961. Section 5 clearly mentions that Bengali Language shall be used for all administrative and official purposes in the District of Cachar. If this is what the Act says, then Jal Jeevan Mission should have shown respect to the law and used Bengali in its hoarding put up in Silchar. However, I do not seek to justify the act of using black ink. There are various other democratic ways of protest.”

“The signboards where black ink was used in Guwahati is a separate incident. What came out from pictures of this incident in media is that the signboard contained name of streets in Guwahati in Assamese, Hindi, Bengali and English. So here there was no insult to Assamese language. It rather spoke of linguistic cohesion. What Bir Lachit Sena did by smearing black ink over Bengali is narrow jingoistic attitude. This even cannot be termed as love for mother tongue, rather they spilled hatred towards peaceful coexistence among communities that stays in Assam,” added Tamal Kanti Banik.

Also Read: Black ink smeared on Bengali signboards by Bir Lachit Sena in Guwahati