Letter to Shri Narendra Modi, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

To,
Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi,
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,
NEW DELHI-110-011

Respected Prime Minister Sir,

                   At the out-set, I take the privilege to convey my high regards to you. After your assumption of office as the Prime Minister of India, I wrote a letter to your good-self on the 30^th May, 2014 and pointed out some genuine problems of the State of Assam, wherefrom I hail. I was favoured with the acknowledgement letters dated 21.07.2014 and 29.08.2014, issued from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. In fact, we are glad to find, in the meantime, that you are providing a profound and dynamic leadership of the great Nation, the Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic of India and you have been implementing many of yours noble thought- provoking- visions in the global platform as well as in the internal scenario of the country with zeal and enthusiasm. Your deep sense of fraternity towards the common people and maiden efforts for uprooting the acute curse of poverty of the poor and downtrodden people of the sub-continent with other prevailing odds irrespective of any class, creed, cadre and religion so as to achieve a ‘Swachha Bharat’(Clean India), have obviously touched the hearts of the mass people. We found from the media publications and projections that you are on the heels to implement the various plans and programmes, designed by your Government, restlessly, but with utter zeal and efficiency. We congratulate you for your sincere and honest efforts and endeavours for such wonderful gesture and modus-operandi towards our mother land, India. We are also looking forward that the hard days, experienced by the people with various criticalities, complexities and eventualities, will very soon come to end. Our moral support and good wishes will persist in such constructive missions.

Sir, you are aware of the fact that the North Eastern region of the country is very much backward, compared to the most other States of India. Even though there are immense visible and potential resources in the region, these could not be utilized and mobilized properly for some obvious reasons, which you must have ascertained by this time. The political and administrative doldrums are also the causes of such odds, which I need not explain any more. There had been exploitations at various angles from in and out since the British era and this has not made a halt even after 67 years of post -independent period of the country. The people of Assam are being deprived in many aspects of the avenue of employment and the efforts for eradication of the shyness of fiscal condition have been quite meager. The main agricultural and mineral based industries, like; tea and petroleum are not for the poor classes of people and the honey is suck by the privileged ones. The predominance of capitalism is getting the momentum and the concept of socialism, as ensured in the preamble of the Constitution of India seems to be nothing but almost a farce. The lacks of sincere endeavour on the part of the Government of Assam as well as the cipher attitude of the Government of India towards the people of this poor State of Assam are entirely and profoundly responsible for these odds. The people of Assam naturally desire that a proper study, research and analysis on the causes of economic deficiencies of this region will soon be taken up by the newly installed Government of India, of which you are the head at present, so as to bring out the designed and suitable way for its proper and lasting solution and onward way of remedy.

Sir, Assam is a part- State of India, which is full of ancient historical and mythological legendary. The holy temples like  Kamakhya, Bhubaneswari, Bagalamukhi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumawati, Ugratara, Sukleswar, Bhairabi, Umananda, Nabagraha and Basistha in greater Guwahati, the holy temples of Lord Vishnu (Ananta Sayan) and foot- prints of horses of Vir Arjuna on his way back from Manipur, located at Aswaklanta on the Brahmaputra river bank, Madan Kamdev, Doulgovinda and Dirgeswari temples of North Guwahati, the Agnigar Hills (Usha- Anirudda’s meeting place), Bamuni Hills (King Ban’s royal palace), Mahabhiarab temple, the foot steps of Shiva Shankar in Hari-Har battle at Tezpur, the Mahamaya temple, near Dhubri, the Sree Suryya and Tukreswari temples near Goalpara are proclaiming the glory of the Ramayana and Mahabharat and other allied eras. In fact, Guwahati is known as the Pancha tirtha ( five pilgrimage) with the combination of (i) Umachal, (ii) Aswaklanta; (iii)Sukleswar; (iv) Umananda and (v) Manikarneswar.  It is, however, painful to note that adequate development of communication facilities with other requisite infrastructures are yet to be achieved and many of these places of historical and mythological legendary are yet to take berth in the Tourism Maps of the State and the country.

Sir, it might have been in your knowledge that another mythological pilgrimage of the Hindus exists about 35 kilometers away from the north-east boundary point of Assam, that is, in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh. This holy place is known as ‘Parashuram Kund’. The mythological events involved are that the river Brahmaputra originally hailed from Manas-Sarowar of China and made a halt in the aforesaid hilly area of North East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh). In this halted water-pool, Parashuram, who after killed his mother by an axe at the instance of his father, the great sage Jamadagni and could not part with the axe from his hand, came to this pool and took his bath. Strangely enough, the axe was parted with from his hand immediately after the bath. The mythological events projected in this behalf was that, the said water-pool, which remained  halted, started moving onward to the west, while Parashuram went ahead by walking after taking his bath. The course of the onward flow of the river became known as ‘Lohit’. A few miles after, it took the name ‘Brahmaputra’ and it rolled through the State of Assam and finally merged with the Bay of Bengal crossing the territory of Bangladesh with a separate name ‘Meghana.’  Since centuries back after this miraculous event, this ‘Parashuram Kund’ was recognized as the pilgrimage of the Hindus. In the‘Makar Sankranti’ period (juncture of Poush-Magh month in the middle of January), many religious minded people (pilgrims) use to come to this Kund from the various parts of India, not to speak alone of the North Eastern States of India, assemble in this holy place and take the baths and makes prayer with devotion. There have been a heavy congregation of the people and the festival is observed with a grand fare (mela) and other cultural functions apart from the religious ones. Surprisingly enough, the water of this Kund, full of current, is always visible with a sky blue colour. No body could unveil the mystery of existence of this unique colour. Recently, I had the occasion to go to this beautiful, but hazardous area to have a full glimpse of the site and I partly took my bath in its water.

Sir, as I stated earlier, this pilgrimage is located in Arunachal Pradesh, but the said Government, as I learnt, does not take any interest or initiative for the development of this area including the ways to reach the last point through the insecure cement-built steps. There is no smooth path and the lower portion near the water level is very much tough and dangerous.  It is hardly possible on the part of the teen agers, the ladies and not to speak of the old aged persons like us (of about eighty years of age) to reach to this hazardous place safely. I learnt that in every mela time (in mid January), the holy minded people of Tinsukia and surrounding areas use to make some cleaning and reforming activities, but that is not enough.

            Sir, it is not out of the place to state that with the co-operation of the Government of Arunachal a Buddhist Pagoda and a Buddhist Meditation Centre nearby at Chowkham, beset with, modern and sophisticated constructions, having other modern infrastructures, have been set up, but the said Government, as I learnt did not take any interest and initiative for the reformation and renovation of this old religious heritage even for the sake of ensuring the theme of secularism. Similar case, you will find in another Hindu temple, namely; ‘Malini Temple’ (a deity of Devi Durga) in Arunachal Pradesh, not far from Dhemaji-Chilapathar area, where a temple is there, which is, however, on the point of decay due to lack of proper maintenance and providing other allied infrastructures.

            Sir, such an indifferent attitude was as well projected in the Madhupur Satra of Shri Shri Sankar Deva, the great Vaishnava Saint of Assam at Coochbehar in West Bengal, but the Government of Assam took up ample measures for construction of buildings with other infrastructures, which has now reached almost to a finishing stage. It is not known as to why the Government of Assam did not pay any importance in the matter of reformation and renovation of these holy Parasuram Kund and Malini temple in collaboration with the Government of Arunachal Pradesh so as to perpetuate the heritage of this historical and mythological legendary. Like Hardwar and other hilly areas of India, if a Rope Way system is introduced over the said holy Parasuram Kund the entire scenery will be more attractive and enjoyable for the devotees visiting the area. I have deep conviction of mind that the Government of India would have surely come forward and projected healthy gesture to make reformation and renovation of these heritages and taken proper steps to make it a protected area with proper developments, if the matter would have been taken up earnestly by the Government of Assam since decades back. In fact, the Government of Arunachal, which is mainly manned by the Buddhists and Christians, may hardly take any keen interest in the matter.

            Sir, as a sensitive citizen of India, I crave for your kind indulgence to bring this fact to your kind notice. I shall be very happy and thankful to you, if you kindly look into this matter personally and include these reformation and renovation programme in your road map agenda of the Government towards making a ‘Swachha Bharat’ (Clean India) and execute the same with all modesty, impartiality and sincerity at your command.   

With best regard.                     
Yours sincerely                                                                                                          
(Mrinal Kanti Chakrabartty)

Mrinal Kanti Chakrabarrty
R.G.Barua Road,10-Lakhimipath,
Guwahati-781-024, India