Zubeen Garg’s Defiant Melody Against CAA Lingers Amid Assam’s Tears

Zubeen Garg‘s Defiant Melody Against CAA Lingers Amid Assam‘s Tears

ANJAN SARMA

Guwahati, September 20, 2025 – The sun dipped low over Latasil Playground this afternoon, casting long shadows across a sea of bowed heads and flickering candles. Organized by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the mourning gathering for Zubeen Garg felt less like a farewell and more like a muted rallying cry – a place where grief intertwined with unresolved fury.

As I walked away from the road near the playground, the chants of “Long Live Zubeen Da” fading behind me, my mind wandered back to the very same grounds where, in 2019, AASU had invited Garg to be another leader against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Today, those fields held only sorrow; six years ago, they pulsed with his unyielding voice. The sudden scuba diving accident or other mysterious incident in Singapore that claimed the 52-year-old icon on September 21 has plunged Assam into a darkness reminiscent of the pandemic’s isolation, but it’s his anti-CAA legacy that demands we not let the tears dry without action.

The atmosphere at Latasil was heavy with a collective ache. Hundreds huddled under overcast skies, their faces etched with loss – elderly folk clutching faded posters of Garg’s album covers, young students in AASU scarves whispering his lyrics like prayers, and families sharing stories of how his music had soundtracked their lives.

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AASU leaders, their voices cracking, recounted how Garg had transformed from a beloved singer into the heartbeat of resistance. “He stood with us when the storms came,” one person intoned, referencing the Assam Movement’s echoes.

Date: 21-09-2025

Banners fluttered with “ZG Forever,” the same slogan that adorned gamosas during yesterday’s 25-kilometer procession from Guwahati’s airport to his Kahilipara home. That journey, a five-and-a-half-hour crawl through throngs showering flowers and tears, had turned highways into rivers of mourning. Guwahati’s “Black Day” shutdown – shops bolted, bazaars deserted.

Looking back, Garg’s life was a symphony of cultural pride and political fire. Over three decades, he recorded 35,000 + songs in 40 languages, his baritone breathing life into Assamese identity on national and global stages. Hits like “Ya Ali” made him a heartthrob, but it was his humility – riding rickshaws, mingling with vendors – that endeared him to the masses.

Yet, as I reflected amid the playground’s somber hush, it was his anti-CAA crusade that defined him as Assam’s guardian. From 2017, when the bill first loomed, Garg decried it as a dagger to the state’s essence, nullifying the hard-fought Assam Accord of 1985 and the six-year Assam Movement (1979-1985) that had cost lives to protect against unchecked immigration.

Flashbacks flooded in:

In 2019, as protests erupted, Garg thundered like a LION from stages like Latasil, “I will die but won’t allow the Citizenship Amendment Act in Assam.” “As long as I am alive, CAA will not be implemented.”

He led the Silpi Samaj in rallies with AASU and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), launching assamagainstcaa.in to unite voices and avert division.

Criticizing government brutality, he lamented, “The government should feel the pain of the people of Assam, but they are killing children,” alluding to the five youths slain in the 2019-2020 agitations. His vow not to shave until the CAA was repealed became a symbol of steadfastness, even as he urged peaceful unity: “There is no room for any Hindu-Muslim divide in Assam, and only the people of Assam and India would stay here, not from anywhere else.”

Garg’s defiance persisted. In December 2020, at the North East Festival, he announced a digital protest against CAA, declaring, “Whatever government is in power, whether it is the Congress or the BJP, we will protest against CAA. This is our democratic right.”

By March 2024, with notifications impending, he roared anew: “If the Govt implement CAA, then people shouldn’t vote for BJP.” “I will continue protesting against CAA in my own ways: on stage, on social media, wherever I can.”

Even in quieter moments, his stance shone. Attacked in 2020 for his activism, he remained undeterred. “The people of Assam would never accept the CAA,” he asserted repeatedly, vowing to lead protests and oppose it on every forum. AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi captured it yesterday: “Zubeen Garg’s sudden demise stuns us… His contributions will echo forever.”

As I left Latasil on 20th, the playground’s ghosts whispered of unfinished business. The Government of India’s recent extension of CAA timelines – welcoming more immigrants under the guise of religious refuge – mocks the Accord and reopens old wounds.

AASU, AJP, and all regional forces must now channel the love of millions who adored him – from rickshaw-pullers to students – to fulfill his wish. Organize, unite, protest peacefully as he did. In this haze of sadness, one truth emerges: Zubeen Garg’s soul will find peace only if CAA is not implemented in Assam at any cost.

Let Latasil’s lament become tomorrow’s roar. For in Garg’s absence, his melody of resistance must not fade.

22-09-2025

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