Looking at the events that started taking place from July till now, it appears a common man's feelings have become so vulnerable not only to bomb blasts by terrorists but to a couple of pictures or text messages sent out by miscreants. Otherwise how a fight between two internal communities in Assam could have spiraled into an attack on all people from the northeast. Probably the miscreants would have beaten up Chinese and Japanese people too.

Assam shares an international border with Bangladesh. And, unlike the highly glorified Kashmir border, army doesn't have much pressure here for the simple fact: political pressure and apparent threat of infiltration of Bangladeshi immigrants is not so high. Also unlike Afghans and Pakistanis  sneaking into India through the northern borders who are clearly distinct because of their physical features, language or lifestyle, there is no such constraint with Bangladeshi immigrants. These immigrants pose as Bengalis and spread over the country. Authorities turn a blind eye for two reasons: (1) political motivation and nexus (2) sympathy. Now many of such infiltrators settle down in parts near the border in various parts of Assam. It is important to note that these people come only a few kilometers and not with the motive to harm but with a motive to earn a little better.

North East India anyway has been a neglected place – with limited means of earning, the authorities have fewer employments to offer to these immigrants even after illegally making them a part of the system. What happens as a result is that these people compete with the locals for the limited resources that are available. It has happened over the years and has created a huge discontent among the local Bodos. The immigrant community has become so strong that they now even their own local political party in that area. The accumulated discontent erupted into violence between the immigrants and the Bodos. Now since many of these immigrants were Muslims; the issue has been maliciously steered into a communal fight. And then a few stupids turned it into a violence against people with Asian features - which includes Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur and probably Chinese, Japanese, Malaysians.

The political parties keep strategizing and do something which results in tension such as riots so that they can have immigrants enter our country illegally and this happens only for their votes. What happens after voting is these illegal immigrants are left to their fate without ensuring to send them back. They spread to different part of countries. Gurgaon in Haryana has a huge amount of illegal immigrants working as domestic helps. They do pose as Bengalis but don’t want to go to Bengal during Durga Puja but want leaves and go back to their state during voting. Doesn’t this act of theirs make it visible that they aren’t Bengalis but illegal immigrants made to migrate only for the purpose of voting?

Not going into the debate of how immigrants should be dealt with; how humanity should deal with legality of the critical issue – the point is: when do we learn to educate ourselves? Till then we would remain vulnerable to hoaxes, rumors, text messages and indecent pictures? A group of Hindu extremists demolished Babri Masjid and another group hacked Muslim community in Gujarat during post Godhra riots (Naroda Patiya massacre is an example) and what followed were Hindu-Muslim riots spread all over the country. A group of Muslim terrorists brought down World Trade Center in the US and Sikhs got beaten up across Europe and the US (courtesy their turbans). And now this.

The social media and politics have made fun of common man's feelings and sentiments. And what we do is let them play with our sentiments; let them play with our feelings. Are we going to let anyone and everyone treat us like a scapegoat? Do we intend to continue living a life of an uneducated, untamed, wild animal or try to learn from history, past and try to see through the picture that is being portrayed in order to lead a peaceful life where we live happily and let others do the same?