Last week was witness to an unfortunate sequence of events that bore the stench of an earlier era of competitive sub-nationalism. It began when students from Bihar were prevented from appearing in a D-grade railway recruitment test at Maligaon in Assam. Retribution followed swiftly, as trains from Assam passing through Bihar were attacked, with passengers mobbed and molested. All this, of course, provided a tailor-made opportunity for wilting militant groups based in the Northeast, like the ULFA, to spring to life and wave the regressive anti-outsider flag again. So in this age of instant communication, shrinking borders and globalised opportunity, are we to revert to atavistic struggles in our own backyard?If sanity is to return to the region, it would demand both maturity and unity from the governments of Bihar and Assam, as indeed the Centre. Already disturbing reports of specific communities being targeted are trickling in, and if this gets generalised in a sensitive region like Assam it could spell deep trouble for the entire east, replete as it with ethnic tensions. The Rabri Devi government has been swift to take action against erring officials and miscreants, but it will have to be on constant alert — both in protecting Assamese in Bihar and ensuring that Biharis living in the Northeast are safe. Tarun Gogoi, the Assam chief minister, at present walks the tight rope. He needs to reassure his people that incidents like the storming of trains will not be repeated, even as he ensures that militant outfits, baying for more action, are kept firmly in their place and the divisive politics defeated. The Centre should extend every possible help to both state governments. It is in the interest of every Indian that the crisis is defused expeditiously.There are, of course, larger questions that arise. How, for instance, should the railways, one of the country’s largest employers, conduct its recruitment? How should governments address the growing problem of rising aspirations and growing unemployment? How is ethnic alienation, particularly in the Northeast, to be handled? It’s no use ducking these issues. That would leave us unprepared to face even small incidents that spiral dangerously out of control to the detriment of national unity.
