Tinsukia: When a Minor Mistake Revealed a Major Weakness
Nine years ago, during an election campaign at Tinsukia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his typical enthusiastic and folksy style, tried to address the crowd in Assamese. His effort to connect was appreciated, but his words betrayed a serious gap in understanding the place he was speaking about.
In his speech, Modi remarked that although Tinsukia means sukh (happiness), real happiness was still far away for its people — a clever-sounding line, but entirely misplaced. In reality, the name Tinsukia has nothing to do with sukh (happiness). The name derives from the Assamese word tin-suk, referring to a triangular pond (suk meaning ‘corner’ or ‘angle’), which gave the township its name.
What might seem like a trivial mistake was in fact symbolic of a larger problem: the poor, superficial, and disconnected briefings given to the Prime Minister — by Assamese leaders themselves — who should have been his bridge to the ground reality.
It was not just a slip of the tongue by Modi, but a mirror held up to the pathetic state of Assam’s political class: leaders too timid to correct Delhi, too eager to please, too hesitant to assert their own knowledge and identity.
Today, eleven years later, Sarbananda Sonowal commemorates Modi’s attachment to the Northeast with a grand saal gira anniversary at Taj Vivanta in Guwahati, full of praise. Yet the underlying hesitation remains — the inability to present Assam confidently and truthfully to Delhi persists.
Sometimes, a minor incident reveals a major flaw — and that day in Tinsukia was one such moment. Unless Assam’s leaders find the courage to speak their own truth, such missteps will continue to happen, and the gap between the region and Delhi will remain wide.