Watched a Bangla debate by Arnob Goswami.1) His Bangla is like Bengalis’, even the colloquial phrases. The usages tells me he has read Bangla as well. Many Bengalis in Assam had identified themselves as Assamese to avoid discrimination. Were his ancestors one of those?
2) The TMC & CPIM representative attending Goswami’s debate were out shouting and out arguing him. Bengalis have a long legacy of excellence in debate.
3) Bangla&Assamese are very close languages. W/o any prior training in Assamese I can read Assamese, understand 95% of what I read and follow Assamese conversations. Always wondered why Bengalis have been discriminated against in Assam on linguistic basis despite the proximity?
4)Arnob’s launching of Republic Bangla should tell everyone how welcoming Bengalis are.Consider the reverse.A Bengali goes to Assam or Meghalaya and launches a local language TV there. The reaction of the locals?A Bengali singer was once booed out of Guahati for singing in Bangla

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More from @sarkar_swati

1 Mar
Learned some history of mining in Eastern US over the weekend. Mine owners reigned supreme in the 19th century. They owned politicians and bankers and media. Media routinely vilified miners agitating for improvement in work conditions. What does this remind us of ?
This reminded me of today’s owners of big businesses, particularly big tech. Control over politicians, media and financial institutions, poor treatment of workers. History repeating itself.
I learned this history in a small but wealthy eating place. The owner shares local history he knows. My fellow diners were all wealthy. When I said this is also happening today, they all nodded. But moment I completed the sentence-happening under big business owners today-silence
Read 8 tweets
22 Feb
Ironically Kamlesh Tiwari is invoked to argue against FoE by those allied to one of the power centres today that is, BJP-RSS. I will argue next that no Kamlesh Tiwari would be persecuted in a society that associates a premium on FoE.
Kamlesh Tiwari was jailed under NSA for a post against the prophet of one particular religion. A society that values FoE would bar punitive actions against speech. So, NSA won’t apply and no jailing.
Next, Kamlesh Tiwari was assassinated because of the same post. In a society that values FoE, there would be an immediate extensive outrage which would force govt’s to act against actors of religious imperialism. A perfect case in point is France.
Read 7 tweets
22 Feb
An illustration of how censorship works. Let us say your platform to express your thoughts means something to you. Now, you know that that platform can be taken away if you express your thoughts against an entity.Then u self censor,which is the first step in slavery of the entity
This is how power perpetuates and more powerful gather more and more adherents because only the followers of the more powerful have access to something they value.
Political entities like BJP-RSS & Left, Cong and religious imperialists have the power to maintain platforms of individuals through power over big corporates. Means, only those pro XYZ will speak unfettered.
Read 7 tweets
22 Feb
Mamata is behaving as though she has taken leave of all her political senses. Once ED pays her Bhaipo visits, she says she is ready to go to jail singing Jai Bangla like Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. Playing right in2 BJP’s Whatsapp messaging that she wants WB to join Bangladesh !
Mamata could easily have said that she would happily go to jail singing Bande Mataram if she warned to talk about going to jail, which itself is redundant as no one threatened her with jail. Anyway looks like she is done for.
Meanwhile another joint political suicide is being committed by CPIM + Congress through their alliance with Abbas Siddiqui of Furfura Sharif. Effectively means that the anti Mamata vote of Hindus would go to BJP-RSS en masse.
Read 5 tweets
18 Feb
There is a big section of pro-BJP-RSS crowd who seek to stop demands for FoE in the name of Kamlesh Tiwari. This isn’t surprising because those on the side of power, which BJP-RSS has today, will not want FoE. FoE is a tool against power. A thread on their hypocrisy.
Kamlesh Tiwari was arrested under NSA because of his speech against a particular religion. How could NSA apply in this case? Because there is no First Amendment style law in India. 1st Amendment stops Govt 2 act against any form of speech or expression+
So Kamlesh Tiwari could be arrested and jailed only because there is no FoE in India. If there was FoE, the arrest could have been legally challenged on that ground.
Read 8 tweets
10 Feb
Mahua Moitra came up with another mostly banal and annoying speech in LS. I have no comments on her allegations on a CJI, that is between her and BJP-RSS. But the part on fascism charge on BJP-RSS is banal, cliche and unsubstantive +
There are 1000 of legitimate grave charges on BJP-RSS, but fascism is not one of them. They got a record breaking mandate twice in a row. In a transparent election. By calling them fascist, one is diminishing their voters, which is unacceptable.
Second, this Eurocentric frame of reference is the most offensive. When some one wants to describe a non-Democratic force, why doesn’t the Indian context count? British imperialism is relevant to India, so are Mughal e Azam, Nawab etc. How about using those to describe despots?
Read 6 tweets

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