Crucial 2021 Census For People Living In The Sar-Saporis of Brahmaputra Basin

GUWAHATI: What the people living in the sar-saporis in the Brahmaputra basin will write as their mother tongue in the 2021 Census is a real question mark now.

People living in sar-saporis comprise eight per cent of the State’s total population. In the 2011 Census while around 50 per cent of this population wrote Bengali as their mother tongue, the remaining 50 per cent mentioned Assamese. However, because of various factors, people residing in sar-saporis are apprehensive now. They are indecisive as to which side they will take – Bengali or Assamese?

The Axam Xahitya Xabha (AXX), the Sar Sapori Xahitya Parishad (SSXP) and other sar-sapori organizations are taking some steps on this matter. However, they are in doubt as to ‘how successful their move will be’.

On this issue, AXX president Paramananda Rajbongshi said: “We had talks with various organizations and socio-cultural bodies of Sar-Saporis, including the SSXP. They assured us of showing Assamese as their mother tongue in the 2021 Census. However, we’ve much to do on this issue.”

The Brahmaputra basin has around 2251 sar-saporis with an area of around 3,608 sq km. The number of sars and saporis keep changing slightly because of floods and erosion. And all these sars and saporis are distributed in Barpeta, Dhubri, Morigaon, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Darrang etc districts. The dwellers of most of these sars are Muslims of erstwhile East Bengal descendents. Though these people speak Bengali in their own houses, they do all written communication in Assamese.

However, a number of issues, including the NRC, are at work among them. Most of the objections raised against the inclusion of names in the complete draft NRC, at the initiative of the AASU, were against people living in sars and saporis. Thus they have been harassed and they continue to bear a sense of insecurity. And availing that seam between the greater Assamese society and the sar dwellers, a section of people has already made an attempt to drive a wedge between them with a campaign named ‘Paltai Challo’. The campaign is all about writing Bengali as the mother tongue in the 2021 Census. However, the campaign is yet to garner mass support among the sar-sapori population.

Talking to The Sentinel, SSXP president Hafiz Ahmed said: “We never harbour any extreme Bengali nationalism. We never did it, nor will we do it ever. However, we don’t have social security. Even after living for about one hundred years on these sars with our own entity, we fail to blend seamlessly with the greater Assamese society only due to lack of social security.”

Ahmed further said: “In our recent meeting with the AXX, among various issues, the issue of mentioning mother tongue in the 2021 Census was raised. We’re eager to mention Assamese as the mother tongue. However, the mainland Assamese organizations like the AXX, AASU and others haven’t been reciprocating us with a similar gesture. They’re not keeping in touch with us regularly. An abrupt meeting for such a cause is not going to do much. Sar people have to face odds like branding them as Bangladeshis only for not being able to speak fluent Assamese. The need of the hour is creation of an atmosphere that may favour a seamless blending between the two.”

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