By Mayukh Goswami

Mangaldai: The month of February in the year 1983 is still Considered  as one of  the darkest and saddest time of Assam since in the name of holding the assembly election which had been opposed by indigenous people led by All Assam Students Union (AASU), a never before large scale violence, killings and counter killings at the behest of certain political circles and anti Assamese bureaucrats covered every area of this evergreen beautiful state. Mangaldai was also not exempted from such gruesome violent situation and on February 17 of 1983, it witnessed the brutal killing of 21 innocent indigenous villagers. A group of organized armed anti social elements with the patronage of

certain political circles on that fateful day killed nine villagers at Dula Chowk and twelve villagers at village Thekerabari both under Dhula Police Station now. The All Assam Students Union (AASU) immediately declared all the twenty one slain villagers as ‘Swahid’.

 

After performance of the post mortem examination of all the slain twenty one indigenous villagers at Mangaldai Civil Hospital, the Sub Divisional administration headed by Jitesh Khosla (who recently got retired as the Chief Secretary of Assam) did not allow to take the dead bodies to their respective homes and ordered for the funeral in presence of a very limited persons that too under strict police cover and accordingly funeral of nineteen Swahids was performed on February 19 and of two Swahids on February 21at the riverbank on the backyard of Mangaldai district Jail.

 

Since then the spot of funeral has been transformed into a holy site and activists of local AASU declared it as ‘Swahid Udyan’ and planted saplings for its preservation. In 1987, for the first time the local AASU unit observed the Swahid Divas on February 17 at this Swahid Udyan in presence of the then General Secretary of AASU Shasha Dhar Kakoti. The AASU turned AGP leaders after formation of the AGP government too declared to transform this funeral spot into a well decorated Park with the busts of all the twenty one Swahids. But, perhaps the AGP leaders during their two terms in the power could not spare time from their valuable busy schedule to look into it. And now making a mockery to the tall assurances of the AASU turned AGP leaders, this holy site once declared as Swahid Udyan in 1983 is now lying abandoned in the heart of Mangaldai town where the six year long ‘Assam Movement’ was initiated. Meanwhile talking to this reporter , Bhargab Kr Das, a former AASU leader and then in charge General Secretary of the organization regretted the way this place of historical value has been left unattended for years after years . “ Today the supreme sacrifice of these twenty one Swahids

has completed thirty six years and we have miserably failed to preserve this rare memory Is not it an insult to these twenty

one Swahids? “ Das shared.  “Will the AASU or other like minded organizations come forward for preservation of this holy site and to transform it into a well decorated and well maintained beautiful spot of attraction so that the younger generation could come to know the supreme sacrifice offered by these Swahids ?” , he maintained .