GUWAHATI, July 20: The 36-hour bandh called by the All-Assam Students' Union (AASU) beginning 5 am on Monday, has come in from all-round criticism in the State. The people may sympathise with the issues behind the AASU's protest - non-implementation of the Assam Accord and the continuation of the Army in the State - but they seem to be fed up of bandhs, which have become a regular feature here in the past two decades.

This is the seventh bandh call given by the AASU alone in the past one-and-a-half years, since the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)-led Government took over. Other organisations, like the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), too issue them from time to time.

The latest bandh, however, has been criticised by virtually all the newspapers in the state, including the vernacular press. The latter, incidentally, is equally critical of the state government over the delay on the Assam Accord.

The students' union, however, has stuck by its move, with its president, Sarbananda Sonowal, terming bandhs as the ``most democratic and peaceful methods of protest''.

``We (the AASU) have been peacefully and democratically protesting the government's inaction on issues. Do the critics of the bandh want us to resort to violence,'' he asks.

Such logic, however, hasn't worked with the bandh opponents. The Assam Tribune, the largest-circulated newspaper here, has urged the AASU to call off the protest, while The Sentinel has appealed to the people to defy it altogether.

According to The Assam Tribune: ``Bandhs have ceased to be an effective weapon to pressurise or influence any authority to yield to public demand, and such a step will only add fuel to the abnormal conditions in the state and make it chaotic.''

The Sentinel has been even more critical, describing bandhs as ``most anti-people and therefore, a downright fascist mode ofinflicting one's will on the people''.

Dainik Asom and Asomiya Pratidin, the two most widely read vernacular newspapers in the state, have also urged the AASU to find some other mode of protest which does not affect the normal life and economy of the state.

One newspaper has even asked the students' union to ``think of the months, if not years, Assam has lost due to bandhs''.

Newspapers also lay part of the blame for the frequency of the bandhs on the government. ``No pay cuts or disciplinary action (has been taken) against employees who remain absent during bandhs,'' they point out.

Protests such as these first became common in the state in 1979, when the current chief minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, took over the presidentship of the AASU and spearheaded the anti-foreigners movement.

In recent times, however, calls for bandhs in the state have not generated a spontaneous response.

Assam has not been the only one to suffer due to frequent protests of this kind. North-east Tourist Omni-Bus Association (NETOBA) spokesperson Pulak Goswami points out that Assam bandhs cripple the entire North-East as the state is the gateway to the region.

Opposition for the AASU's call has also come from political parties, including the AGP and the Congress. But this will cut little ice as the former along with its allies had just last month called a bandh against an attempt by the ULFA on Mahanta's life.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.