Bharat Ratnas will not promote peace and prosperity: Bhupen Hazarika's son on Citizenship Amendment Bill

Bhupen Hazarika's son Tez on Monday lashed out at Centre over the Citizenship Amendment Bill which is currently awaiting Rajya Sabha nod. Echoing sentiments of large number of people in North East who have protested against  the bill, Tez dubbed it 'grossly un-constitutional, un-democratic and un-Indian'. 

He said that Bhupen Hazarika if alive would ' never have endorsed what appears, quite transparently, to be an underhanded way of pushing a law against the will and benefit of the majority'. He said such bill if turned into law would deal a 'reaking blow to the harmony, inner integrity and unity of the secular and democratic republic of India'. 

Indicating that he is inclined not to accept the Bharat Ratna, Hazarika said, "Bharat Ratnas and longest bridges while necessary, will not promote the peace and prosperity of the citizens of India. Only just popular laws and foresight on the part of leadership will". However he declined the report of rejecting Bharat Ratna as said by many media organisations. Tez said that he hasn't received any invitation to accept the award, so there is nothing to reject. He hinted that his decision may depend on how Centre acts on this issue saying such awards are 'a display of  short lived  cheap thrills'.

PM Modi during his three stated North East visit on Saturday tried to allay fear of people saying the Constitutional Amendment Bill won't be against their interests. He also invoked the legacy of Bhupen Hazarika during his speech. Bhupen Hazrika was awarded posthumous Bharat Ratna by the Modi government on eve of Republic Day this year

Here's full statement of Tez Hazarika: 

As the son of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika—one of the most popular and loved cultural and socio-political figures for the people of Assam and it’s neighboring sister states of India’s great Northeast—I believe that my father’s name and words are being invoked and celebrated publicly while  plans are afoot to pass a painfully unpopular bill regarding citizenship that is actually undermining his documented position. It would in reality be in direct opposition to what Bupenda believed in his heart of hearts. 

For his fans—a vast majority of people of the Northeast—and India’s great diversity including all indigenous populations of India, he would never have endorsed what appears, quite transparently, to be an underhanded way of pushing a law against the will and benefit of the majority in a manner that also seems to be grossly un-constitutional, un-democratic and un-Indian. 

Adopting any form of this bill at this point in the manner in which it is being proffered, now or in the future, will ultimately have the sad and undesirable effect of not only disrupting the quality of life, language,  identity and power balance of the region, but that of undermining my father’s position—by delivering a wreaking blow to the harmony, inner integrity and unity of the secular and democratic Republic of India. 

Bharat Ratnas and longest bridges while necessary, will not promote the peace and prosperity of the citizens of India. Only just popular laws and foresight on the part of leadership will.  Numerous media journalists are now asking me whether or not I will accept the Bharat Ratna for my father.  I go on record here to anwer that A), I have not received any invitation so far there is nothing to reject, and B), how the center moves on this matter far outweighs in importance the awarding and receiving of such national recognition—a display of short lived cheap thrills