GUWAHATI, April 5 � One hundred octogenarians of the city have made an earnest appeal to the Assamese community in particular and the patriotic Indian citizens in general to frustrate the �sinister designs of the anti-Assamese and pro-Bangladeshi groups� to reduce the Assamese to the pitiable status of foreigners in their own homeland.
The Octogenarians� Club of Guwahati at its meeting held on Saturday under the presidentship of Prof Mahesh Bhuyan, supported the view expressed by Assam Assembly Speaker Pranab Gogoi concerning the definition of the term �Assamese�, and suggested that the Supreme Court of India should be approached to rescue the Assamese community from the present crisis �in the way it had so splendidly done in quashing the IMDT Act.�
Nonagenarian Amal Hazarika (Bhaimon), Nagen Goswami, Dr Amiya Mohan Das, Tarun Bhattacharya, Prabhat Goswami, Dr Atul Sarma, Ramanikanta Deka and Dr Malati Baruah, while analysing the threat posed by illegal migrants in Assam, referred to the historic roles played by the earlier generations of Assamese people in resisting heroically the invasions by the Mughals and the Pathans for long 600 years before falling to the marauders from Myanmar and the British.
The speakers appealed to the people of Assam to draw inspiration from the heroic deeds of general Lachit Barphukan, the bravery and practical wisdom of King Chakradhwaj Singha, and the political sagacity of statesman Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi.
The elderly people were of the opinion that while they would not deny East Bengal immigrants the status of Indian citizenship, no patriotic and responsible Assamese would be prepared to allow the illegal migrants to secure Indian citizenship � far less the identity of the Assamese community.
The elderly citizens observed that at such a critical situation in the life of the Assamese community, it would not be wise on the part of indigenous tribal communities, to raise minor issues, allowing the hostile groups to take advantage.
They hoped that all the tribal communities, including the Bodos, tea-tribes and the Assamese Muslims, would stand united in the hour of life and death of the larger Assamese community.
The meeting also paid tributes to the memory of freedom fighter Kamakhyaram Das, poet and thinker Ajit Barua and learned professor Dr Md Taher.
