Kuworigaon (Assam): Laxmi Orang wasn’t supposed to be famous. But fate had other things in mind and today, she has become Assam’s mascot for Adivasi rights. Indeed, there’s a world of difference between the girl who was stripped during a protest in Guwahati in 2007 and the one who will make her political debut from Tezpur next month.
The odds against Laxmi are steep. Her opponents are Congress heavyweight Mani Kumar Subba and Asom Gana Parishad’s Joeseph Toppo, a playing field that won’t have any pundit betting on her win. But that doesn’t faze her as she talks confindently about Martin Luther King, casting herself in the same revolutionary mould, her tone reflecting a quiet but unwavering confidence.
Laxmi is on a mission that goes beyond contesting Lok Sabha elections on an Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) ticket. So, whether she loses or pulls off an upset, she says she won’t lose sight of the ‘‘bigger dream of bringing justice and recognition to marginalized sections of society’’.
On November 7, 2007, during an Adivasi rally in Guwahati to seek ST status, Laxmi was stripped and hounded by hoodlums in full public view. As others looked on scared, a local businessman threw her a jacket and took her to the police. She quietly disappeared after that.
Today, she says, that incident of shame is her political staff. ‘‘Our community contributed to the tea industry but we are still an impoverished lot. We only survive as a vote bank,’’ she asserts.
Her campaign is mainly in the tea gardens where the Adivasi vote is around 4 lakh of the total 12.5 lakh. The band of supporters that travel with her door-to-door and village-to-village also seems to be steadily growing, a testimony to her resolve. ‘‘I was in Jharkhand last April for a book release function and that’s where I first heard of Martin Luther King,’’ she says.
Charged by the spirit, Laxmi leaves home at 5 am, travels on campaign extensively and returns only late in the evening to chalk out the next day’s plans. But unlike other politicisns, she doesn’t have to give long speeches. To most others she meets, Laxmi’s stripping in Guwahati is a story of their own suffering. They understand her.
The odds against Laxmi are steep. Her opponents are Congress heavyweight Mani Kumar Subba and Asom Gana Parishad’s Joeseph Toppo, a playing field that won’t have any pundit betting on her win. But that doesn’t faze her as she talks confindently about Martin Luther King, casting herself in the same revolutionary mould, her tone reflecting a quiet but unwavering confidence.
Laxmi is on a mission that goes beyond contesting Lok Sabha elections on an Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) ticket. So, whether she loses or pulls off an upset, she says she won’t lose sight of the ‘‘bigger dream of bringing justice and recognition to marginalized sections of society’’.
On November 7, 2007, during an Adivasi rally in Guwahati to seek ST status, Laxmi was stripped and hounded by hoodlums in full public view. As others looked on scared, a local businessman threw her a jacket and took her to the police. She quietly disappeared after that.
Today, she says, that incident of shame is her political staff. ‘‘Our community contributed to the tea industry but we are still an impoverished lot. We only survive as a vote bank,’’ she asserts.
Her campaign is mainly in the tea gardens where the Adivasi vote is around 4 lakh of the total 12.5 lakh. The band of supporters that travel with her door-to-door and village-to-village also seems to be steadily growing, a testimony to her resolve. ‘‘I was in Jharkhand last April for a book release function and that’s where I first heard of Martin Luther King,’’ she says.
Charged by the spirit, Laxmi leaves home at 5 am, travels on campaign extensively and returns only late in the evening to chalk out the next day’s plans. But unlike other politicisns, she doesn’t have to give long speeches. To most others she meets, Laxmi’s stripping in Guwahati is a story of their own suffering. They understand her.
Source: The Times Of India
No comments:
Post a Comment