17 years later, silence speaks loudest at sites of Assam’s darkest tragedy

Guwahati, Oct 30: Seventeen years ago, on this day in 2008, the state witnessed one of the deadliest militant attacks in its history.

On a crisp pre-winter afternoon, serial bomb blasts ripped through Guwahati, Barpeta Road, and Kokrajhar. The Ganeshguri flyover, once the bustling heart of the capital, became the epicentre of horror.

Today, it stands silent. No government ceremony, no floral tributes, no speeches; only the quiet presence of those who can never forget.

Each year, the Kamrup Metropolitan District Administration holds a remembrance ceremony under the Ganeshguri flyover, where officials gather to pay homage to the victims. But this year, the site lay deserted.

On Thursday, only the families came, as they have for seventeen years, carrying flowers, candles, and the weight of memory. They cleaned the spot themselves, lit lamps and offered silent prayers for the souls lost that day.

“We were told we would get justice; that the guilty would be punished and our pain would be acknowledged. But seventeen years later, no one remembers. The government has forgotten us but we live for this day every year,” said a family member, her voice trembling.

Another survivor, who lost his brother in the blast, expressed his anguish: “They promised compensation, rehabilitation, and remembrance. None of it came true. They moved on but we couldn’t.”

Even as the Ganeshguri site saw no official ceremony, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma paid his respects through a post on a microblogging site.

“30th Oct 2008 will always be a dark day in the history of Assam as it witnessed the most dastardly attack on its soil. As we mark this solemn occasion, I pay my tributes to all those who lost their lives in the serial blasts and vow to never let Assam go back to those dark days", Sarma shared.

The Chief Minister’s message served as the state’s only official acknowledgment of the tragedy this year.

On October 30, 2008, a series of coordinated bomb blasts ripped through Assam just after Diwali.

A series of powerful explosions occurred almost simultaneously in Guwahati’s Ganeshguri, Panbazar and Kachari areas, as well as in Barpeta Road and Kokrajhar.

The attacks left 88 dead and over 300 injured; many of whom still live with permanent scars, both physical and emotional.

In September 2022, the Gauhati High Court upheld the life imprisonment sentence of NDFB leader Ranjan Daimary and six of his associates in connection with the blasts, while acquitting four others.

However, families of the victims continue to claim that true justice has yet to be achieved, with many feeling forgotten by both state and central administrations.

Recounting that dreadful afternoon, Guwahati resident Jayanta Bharali said, “My office was at ABC, right opposite Rajiv Bhawan. I had planned to go to Panbazar that day, but before I could leave, the blasts went off at both the places. The city was in panic with people running in every direction.”

Kalpana Kalita, another local resident, recalled how panic consumed her family that day.

“I had gone to pick up my daughter from school when I heard parents talking about bomb blasts. My husband had gone to Ganeshguri for work. I couldn’t reach him because the mobile networks were jammed. I just sat crying in front of the television, watching the horror unfold. He returned home hours later; he had crossed the flyover just moments before the blast,” she recalls.

For many, October 30 is not just a date on the calendar but a wound that never healed. Survivors still carry the trauma, while families of the victims continue to seek justice and acknowledgment.

“Even if everyone else forgets, we cannot,” said one woman, lighting a candle at the site. “This is where our loved ones took their last breath. We will come here every year, even if no one else does,” she adds.

The “cursed” 30th of October, as many call it, remains a haunting reminder of the fragility of peace and the resilience of memory.

Seventeen years have passed, yet for those who lost everything that day, the clock never moved on.