My Blog | Catharsis

Dec 24, 2019
4 min

Curfewed Nights – Part II

The protests and the violence along with it spread like wildfire. To make matters worse we had Akhil Gogoi, leader of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, come into the Dibrugarh district and instigate his followers to commit acts of vandalism. It is no surprise that the left romanticizes this guy, but he is no revolutionary. He is our very own Stalin. Railway stations in Chabua and Panitola were torched by the KMSS. For what? ‘To save the Assamese language and culture’. Dare we

Dec 17, 2019
4 min

Dude, You Can’t Just Shut Down the Internet in 2019

If liberal democracy has been the most successful political idea of the last 400 years, then the internet and social media more specifically has done more for democracy in its history than any political leader, government or ideology can ever claim. We must understand the importance of the internet from the standpoint of human evolutionary history. 21st century human beings will ‘live on the internet’. Most of us already are. Imagine the indispensable role that smartphones ha

Dec 11, 2019
3 min

Fear and Loathing in Assam

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is lostThe best lack conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity – W.B. Yeats Ominous clouds gather over the streets of Assam. Whatever the Home Minister tells you or assures you of today, don’t be swayed by his words. There is serious unrest in Assam. But there is division even in the unity against the

Apr 8, 2019
3 min

The Hiren Gohain Interview: The NRC Question is not one of sympathy but of rights

Dr. Hiren Gohain is an Assamese public intellectual and political scientist. A veteran intellectual in the state, Dr. Gohain speaks to Raghu Pratap about the future of India under BJP and the ramifications for the state of Assam, which is in a volatile state currently, with the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Raghu Pratap: If the BJP does indeed return to power in the country, what consequences if any do you think would it have on Assam and the controversia

Feb 5, 2019
17 min

Limelight| The Sanjib Baruah Interview: It is important to not celebrate democracy in a sense that ‘

Dr. Sanjib Baruah is a professor of political studies at Bard College in the US, where he teaches comparative politics and international relations. In this conversation with Swagat Baruah, he discusses nation-state, Assam, the Citizenship Amendment Bill and his early influences. Swagat Baruah: What got you into teaching? Sanjib Baruah: Well you know it’s not really that ‘I got into teaching’; life is more than what people realise, like when you write autobiographies, never tr