GUWAHATI, May 22 � The covert assertions made in a write-up in a Mumbai-based daily on the cultural heritage of the people of the river island Majuli have evoked strong resentment here. The write-up published in the tabloid newspaper Mail Today in its May 20 issue has covert indications of perverted sexual behaviour of the monks of the Majuli sattras.
The write-up penned by Nishiraj A Baruah who hails from Dibrugarh and deputed by the daily, started with the question to a monk � �Have you never felt like having sex?�
And the write-up concluded thus � ��Back to where I begin, my Q&A session with the monk continues. In the absence of women, are these monasteries a breeding ground for child abuse and homosexuality? My question is met with an uncomfortable silence.�
Not only this, the write-up has more to offer to introduce Majuli to the strangers. It says ��Indeed, Majuli floating like a lotus in the middle of the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam, will leave you with a zillion questions, but often with no answers. And that�s what makes it a little mysterious, a bit like the Bermuda Triangle.
�But instead of disappearing aeroplanes, at Majuli it is about disappearing men and money, NGO activists such as Sanjoy Ghosh get wiped out for carrying out welfare work and welfare funds from the Central govt. disappear into the pockets of the powerful. Until recently, Majuli was also home to ULFA no-hopers. Besides, Sattra politics/rivalry, unemployment and the threat of the Brahmaputra that swallows large chunks of the island every monsoon (and shrinking its size) add to the alarmist psychosis.
�No wonder, behind the calm fa�ade of the famed Sattras (monasteries) and its effeminate bhokots, soft-spoken natives, quiet roads and refreshing Liril-green landscapes, there seems to be something brewing. An uneasy calm hangs thick in the air. You realise this when you talk to the islanders. They don�t open up easily, are always on guard and just when you are about to ask a few questions, you are interrogated instead��
It needs mention here that the above report is a product of a sponsored tour organized by the Tour Operators Association of Assam (TOAA) to promote Assam�s tourism prospects.
TOAA president Tridib Sarma has said that TOAA in association with all concerned, invited a team of travel writers from various parts of India to Assam for a familiarization tour to promote Assam as a tourism destination, to provide destination information and to create a positive image of the region to the rest of the country. Nishiraj A Baruah was part of the team that visited Assam from 26th of April�10.
The itinerary of the familiarization tour included destinations like Manas, Kaziranga, Majuli, Jorhat and Pabitora besides Guwahati.
Nishiraj A Baruah has written the aforesaid article in an objectionable manner which has hurt the sentiments of the people of Assam. The article has defeated the purpose for which his visit was planned by TOAA. The issue raised by him has no authenticity and value.
We condemn the questions raised by him and convey our strong resentment in publishing such articles by a reputed publishing house, said Sarma in a statement mailed to this newspaper.
Majuli Island Protection and Development Council (MIPADC) general secretary Bharat Saikia said that the write-up is defamatory and the very approach of the write-up is negative. It needs mention here that MIPADC has been working for the World Heritage Site recognition to Majuli. President of the Majuli district unit of the Asom Sattra Mahasabha Dutta Dev Goswami described the write-up as an aspersion on the people of Assam. The write-up is not based on facts and if in the coming days anyone dares to pen such write-ups or publish them, the Majuli unit of the Sattra Mahasabha would move the court for justice, said Dev Goswami, who is also the working president of the Asom Sattra Mahasabha.
Majuli Kamalabari Sattradhikar Narayan Goswami said, �We resent the write-up. It is misleading.�
