The Rawat Offensive

Blend of impropriety and arrogance

- C R Abrar

The Chief of Army Staff of India, General Bipin Rawat, has not minced his words. He was unambiguous and forthright. At a seminar jointly organised by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies and the Ministry of Defence, recently held in Delhi, the army chief shared his thoughts on Northeast India. What was meant to be a talk of a professional soldier on ‘Bridging Gaps and Securing Borders’ of the region turned out to be an exercise in commenting on state politics of Assam with religious insinuation. More importantly for us, the general’s observations betrayed the prevailing perception of an important section of the Indian establishment about Bangladesh.

Rawat expressed deep concern on the burgeoning popularity of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and attributed it to changes in population dynamics of Northeast India, particularly Assam. The increase in the number of Muslim-majority districts from five to eight or nine in Assam was presented as evidence.

Claiming that the AIUDF has “grown in a faster timeframe than the Bharatiya Janata Party grew over the years,” he warned, “Finally, what will be the state of Assam, we have to take a call.” As a recipe to avert the impending crisis, the army chief put forward his theory of “amalgamation” of the people of the region with the mainstream through teaching them Hindi, an issue that is likely to hit a raw nerve in the Northeast.