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Children floor Assam chief minister

''Will Assam become another Hiroshima? What will you do if you get the magic lantern of Alladin? Why should we study?''

These were some of the questions put to Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta by a group of children on a phone-in programme broadcast by All India Radio, Guwahati, last night.

It was a grilling the chief minister would have loved to escape as the children bombarded him with uncomfortable questions regarding the state of affairs.

Sixth standard student Sanjukta Dutta began the session by asking what Mahanta proposed to do since every time she settles down to study, the load-shedding begins.

The next question was even tougher. Seventh class student Khurshsed Jahan of Nagaon asked why the state government borrowed so much when it was a well-known bad habit.

This time Mahanta had a smart reply, saying that borrowing for a productive purpose was not bad as long as the money was returned.

But what floored the chief minister was a question from Utpelendu Bhagawati of Guwahati who asked whether Assam would one day become another Nagasaki or Hiroshima as bombs were exploding almost everywhere in the state.

Mahanta's reply was, ''We cannot allow that to happen in Assam. We will have to try hard not to turn our state into another Hiroshima or Nagasaki. We all have to ensure and try that society must also play its role. We are also hoping on you.''

Seventh standard student Sneha Sarania asked the chief minister whether there was any point in studying when her brothers were still looking for jobs.

Mahanta said students must study to do well in all-India competitive exams. He even regretted that in the past seven years none from Assam fared well in such exams, creating a vacuum in the administration.

When Upasana Priyambada Bhuyan of Dibrugarh asked what Mahanta would do if he got Alladdin's magic lantern, the chief minister said, ''Magic lanterns had no meaning in life and everything had to be earned through sheer hard work,'' he laughed.

''No no,'' he replied when asked whether any girl inspired him enough to keep a dairy like former US president Abraham Lincoln.

Many of the questions related to child labour and Mahanta used the opportunity to give a pep talk to the children about what the government had doing to stop this ugly practice. He, however, added that no law was enough to stop child labour if the society did not respond positively.

UNI

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