 "Music Katha Ha"  "Music Pitae ha "  Lover Boy Amit |
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An idol uniting Meghalaya and the NE
Music is a great leveler. We always knew this, but now, this adage has been
proved beyond doubt. Last year, it was Silchar’s Debojit Saha, of the Sa Re Ga
Ma Pa fame, who had broken the myth that people from the Brahmaputra and the
Barak valleys can never unite or speak in one voice on almost anything. Debojit
won the reality TV contest because the whole of Asom rallied behind him. This
year, another young man from the North-east has created a sensation in the
region, to the extent of causing mass hysteria, by emerging as the top two
contestants in the popular reality show, Indian Idol. Yes, Amit Paul of Shillong
has become a phenomenon, an unprecedented one at that.
As a young journalist in the mid-eighties, I had covered the ethnic riots in
Shillong, Meghalaya’s pristine capital city. The trouble was between the
majority Khasi and other tribes people on one side and the Nepali and other
settlers from the plains on another. For me, it was an unpleasant chain of
events to write about. Moreover, such happenings do not suit a place like
Shillong, a tourist destination, and a city with history seeped on its hills.
The place, after all, was the capital of undivided Asom. But perhaps, from now
on, no journalist may be required to report such sad events from Shillong, or
for that matter from the whole of Meghalaya. That because of the phenomenon
called Amit Paul.
There are several lessons to be learnt from such a development: the foremost is
that ‘united we stand, divided we fall.’ If people of Meghalaya have cut across
the ethnic-linguistic line — I mean the obnoxious and avoidable
tribal-non-tribal divide — to see this young Bengali-speaking son of the State
win the battle of ballots and talent, they can also unite to make the voice of
this far-eastern corner heard in distant Delhi.
The citizens of Meghalaya and elsewhere must be applauded for all they have done
to ensure Amit’s win. Seeing thousands crowding the streets and almost any
vacant space in Shillong to welcome Amit home recently was indeed an
unforgettable experience. Tribal boys and girls, plainsmen, and people from
almost every community who reside in the cloud-capped, picture-postcard city,
were out to welcome their hero. Acrimony, if any, was buried and there was
bonhomie all around. What is seen is the spirit of Meghalaya. Its citizens only
want their hero to emerge the champ. If the whole of the North-east comes to
have that spirit, the region could well become a place to cheer about.
It’s not for nothing that the Meghalaya Government formally nominated Amit the
State’s ‘ambassador’ for unity and peace. Credit goes to Chief Minister D.D.
Lapang for taking the initiative to go public with this and recognizing Amit’s
role in bridging the tribal-non-tribal divide in the State. In Asom last year,
the AASU had done a great job by channelizing its energy to ensure Debojit’s
victory. Samujjal Bhattacharrya should know better. It is more than a
coincidence that the Barak Valley decided to observe the AASU-sponsored bandh on
February 14 last year in protest against the Kakopathar police firing. The
Bengalis there must have been overwhelmed at the AASU’s gesture in supporting
Debojit who is from Asom, but speaks Bengali. His mother tongue could well have
been Asomiya.
The Amit Paul saga can actually have a ripple-effect in the North-east,
particularly in States like Nagaland and Mizoram, swept occasionally by an ugly
xenophobic wave. What I mean is that these States have witnessed campaigns
against ‘outsiders’, meaning plainsmen who have settled or work there. Meghalaya
has proved in the summer of 2007 that music can indeed heal and unite
communities. Whether Amit becomes the new Indian Idol tomorrow or not is not the
issue. The issue is one of unity and its tremendous power. And yes, Amit’s
victory is going to be the icing on the cake. DATELINE GUWAHATI/Wasbir Hussain
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