People pay tribute during the inauguration of the memorial column in Guwahati on Monday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, June 1: On April 23, 1980, firebrand student activist Dulal Sarma slashed open his chest with a blade and wrote in bold letters with his own blood on a street in Guwahati: “Tez dim, tel nidiu” (We will give blood, not oil).

It was a defining moment of the anti-foreigners movement in Assam, which inspired thousands of others to come out on the streets to support the agitation, led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).

Today, at a street corner in Guwahati — the very place where Sarma performed this courageous act — a memorial column, to recall the contribution of Sarma and other the martyrs, was unveiled.

The column, designed by Assamese sculptor Biren Singha, also contains the cobblestones on which the activist had spilled his blood, AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattcharyya said.

“Curfew was imposed in Guwahati on April 23, 1980 when AASU had opposed pumping out of oil by Guwahati Refinery to different parts of India. Sarma defied the curfew and staged his unique protest. Such kind of courage and love for the birthplace is very rare in history,” Bhattacharyya said.

He, however, said the sacrifices made by Sarma and 855 martyrs of the Assam Movement have failed to yield positive results. The leadership, which led the movement, could not implement the accord when they came to power in Dispur, he added.

According to Bhattacharyya, the memorial column must act as a reminder to everyone in the state about the danger of illegal infiltration across the border, which still continues.

He said another objective of constructing the column is to tell the people that the Assam Movement has not become irrelevant and fight against illegal infiltration must continue.

Khanindra Chandra Das, who was closely associated with the movement, inaugurated the memorial column and recalled the days when the entire people of the state put aside their own interests and fought for the greater cause of Assam. He described Dulal Sarma as the brave youth and an inspiration to youths to sacrifice for their motherland.

Singha, who built a life-size statue of Bhupen Hazarika in February, said the memorial column was built using with various metals and stones, including granite. “I had to be very careful while making the memorial as emotion and sentiment were associated with the Assam Movement,” the artist said.