The timeless duo: Jyoti and Bhupen
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala and Bhupen Hazarika hold an eternal place in the heart of every Assamese. With deep reverence, we remember these two towering figures whose vision gave us Amrit Bani—a message of unity, harmony, and shared identity. Their songs and words urged us to rise above caste, creed, and religion to build a society rooted in brotherhood and compassion.
Were they alive today, how would they react to the divisions tearing at Assam’s soul? Their dreams were of an undivided Assamese society, not one fractured by communal strife.
As the state prepares to celebrate Bhupen Hazarika’s centenary, let us reflect: what greater tribute can we offer than to embody the ideals they lived for? Celebrations ring hollow if we remain divided — fighting as Hindu and Muslim, forgetting we are first and forever Assamese.
Let us honour them not just in ceremony, but in spirit—by choosing unity over discord.
Prafulla Dowarah,
Guwahati
Madani practising incendiarism
Referring to the news ‘Evil design of Madani & Co won't see the light of the day: CM’ published on 31st August in your esteemed daily, it can be said that Assam has become a podium for people like Asad Madani and other polarising leaders to exercise their nefarious comments. Though such remarks are disseminated with the intention to persuade a particular section of the minority community who are not indigenous, they can abet the act of communal incendiarism. Before disparaging the situation of Assam by the outsiders, it should be remembered that the border of the state is contiguous to many countries, and depending on the geographical location and the exigency it has to cater to, the legal and political strategies of Assam have sometimes been different from those of the mainland states. Like Assam, such states had never been subjected to harsh acts like AFSPA for such a long duration, nor did they face any existential threat from the neighbouring country as we do. Right from the time of Independence, our leaders like Gopinath Bordoloi have been citing the alarming situations created by immigrants from the then East Bengal province and tenaciously demanding to limit the number of refugees to be settled in Assam, so vilifying the eviction of Assam with the ongoing events of Gaza by Madani not only trivialises the efforts of such leaders but also minces the self-respect of the Assamese people. Now it has become the outmost duty of indigenous minorities to awake from the state of pretended oblivion, for it is they who should be first to thwart such seditious speech from people like Madani from getting diffused in the society, which camouflages in it the fuel to bring catastrophe to their own land.
Kabir Ahmed Saikia,
Rajabari, Jorhat
Assam-785014
Traffic congestion in Guwahati city
Every day, thousands of commuters are stuck for hours in traffic jams, especially in areas like Paltan Bazar, Ganeshguri, Maligaon, and Khanapara. The situation worsens during office hours and rainy days. The lack of proper public transport, haphazard parking, and increasing number of vehicles has made the problem more severe. This not only wastes valuable time but also increases pollution and stress among the people. Urgent measures such as tight traffic management, the introduction of more city buses, the construction of flyovers, and proper parking facilities are needed to ease the problems.
Sharmistha Gogoi,
Gauhati University