But as the cynics would say, the entire episode fits into a perfect pattern that the region makes news only when there is a disaster. Right from the Nellie massacre in 1982, the staple fare has been the various army operations to disarm militants, the changing demographic profile of Assam because of heavy influx of Chakma refugees from Bangladesh, kidnapping of Sanjoy Ghose, blasting of railway lines, the routine ambush of state government officials.
Nitin Gokhale's book tackles all this; after all, Assam's history is inextricably linked to the tea industry, the ULFA menace and the Tata Tea episode. The first section narrates the arrest of top ULFA militant Pranati Deka to put in perspective the compulsions that made the Tatas pick up his medical bills.
As Gokhale tries to unravel the controversy, it is not difficult to detect the journalist in him. But this is engrossing reportage which never loses sight of the travails of the common man, despite the media preoccupation with Guwahati's ruling class, the lobbying in Lutyens' Delhi, and the recalcitrant militants. And through it all, the simultaneous growth of the tea industry over the last decade and the alarming rise in militancy are underlined. Despite the ever-intrusive printer's devil, the meandering story touches the heart. For instance, when a former Assam chief minister's son, Bolin Bordoloi, recalls his 319-day captivity. And that is the ultimate irony: all for the noble cause of securing more rights for the people, these extortionist demands have only conjured another way to exploit them.
