Literary Body BSSA's apology for hurting people's sentiments with its Assamese-Bengali 'Gamosa' Act

Digital Desk: The Bangla Sahitya Sabha, Assam (BSSA) apologised on Tuesday for hurting emotions by splitting Assamese and Bengali 'gamosas' (scarves) in half and stitching them together to felicitate guests, a move that drew severe criticism from numerous quarters.

The BSSA claimed that the idea was inspired by a similar specifically embroidered scarf worn by another organisation more than a year earlier, which caused no problems at the time. 

The organisation had used the stitched scarves to honour attendees at its inaugural state-level conference, which was held here on Sunday. Education Minister Ranoj Pegu was among the attendees of the event.

One half of the scarf was an Assamese 'Gamosa' with a red border on white cloth material, while the other half was a red-and-white checkered design popular among the Bengali minority. 

"We had embraced this idea as symbolic of unity between the Barak-Brahmaputra valley," said BSSA working president Khagen Chandra Das and general secretary Prasanta Chakraborty in a statement. Nonetheless, a segment of the state's population has refused to accept this paradigm."

"We sincerely apologise for inadvertently hurting anyone's feelings, and we will be more cautious in the future to guarantee that similar instances do not occur again," they added.

The BSSA stated that they stole the idea for the specially stitched scarves from a similar one used to honour dignitaries at a function in Silchar approximately a year and a half ago by another organisation. 

Members of the BSSA's reception subcommittee had discovered images of the Silchar ceremony on social media, in which a minister was also shown smiling as he received the scarf.

While there was no controversy at the time, it has sparked strong reactions now, based on the BSSA statement, which also expressed hope that the situation would be resolved after it apologised. 

But besides this the organisers' claims that it was done to symbolise harmony between the two communities, many criticised the act, claiming it was an insult to the Assamese 'Gamosa' and that such acts would intensify the divisions.

Protests against the act were conducted in Guwahati, Nagaon, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, and Bongaigaon on Monday by organisations such as Jatiya Yuba Shakti (JYS), the youth wing of Assam Jatiya Parishad, All Assam Moran Students Union, and Bir Lachit Sena.

Pegu said on Sunday that the dispute was "unnecessary" because the BSSA had sewed the two pieces of cloth as a "goodwill gesture" because they identify as Assamese Bengali.