‘Zubeen was for all’: Singer’s death unites India’s religiously torn Assam

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Barpeta/Guwahati, Assam, India – For much than 15 years, motortruck operator Imam Hussain recovered solace successful vocalist Zubeen Garg’s dependable and euphony arsenic helium drove his conveyance connected quiescent and lonely nights on the Himalayan hills and plains of the northeastern Indian authorities of Assam.

It was a play successful which Bengali-speaking Muslims – the assemblage 42-year-old Hussein belongs to – progressively came nether onslaught successful Assam. They’ve been accused of being outsiders – adjacent infiltrators – successful their ain home.

Amid soaring Hindu-Muslim tensions, the euphony of Garg – a Hindu – served arsenic a uncommon unifier. “His euphony was my interior peace,” said Hussain.

On September 19, Garg died by drowning adjacent Lazarus Island successful Singapore, wherever helium was scheduled to execute astatine the Northeast India Festival, an lawsuit that celebrates the creation and civilization of the Indian region.

The abrupt decease of the 52-year-old artist, who enjoyed a cult-like presumption among millions of his fans successful and extracurricular Assam, triggered a monolithic outpouring of grief that further cemented his stature arsenic a nationalist fig whose entreaty spanned divisions that person different fractured the state. The singer’s wife, Garima Saikia Garg, issued a statement, saying her hubby “suffered a seizure attack” portion swimming successful the sea.

While Hussain was mourning Garg’s death, truthful was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is accused by critics of fanning Hindu-Muslim divisions nationally and successful Assam.

“He volition beryllium remembered for his affluent publication to music,” Modi said successful a condolence message. “His renditions were precise fashionable among radical crossed each walks of life.”

Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who belongs to Modi’s party, said the authorities “lost 1 of its favourite sons”.

“Zubeen’s dependable had an unmatched quality to energise people, and his euphony spoke straight to our minds and souls. He has near a void that volition ne'er beryllium filled,” Sarma said.

The Assam authorities declared 4 days of authorities mourning arsenic Sarma flew to the capital, New Delhi, to person Garg’s assemblage erstwhile it returned from Singapore.

A polarised backdrop

Two days later, connected September 21, tens of thousands of Garg’s fans gathered extracurricular the main airdrome successful Guwahati, Assam’s biggest city. They waited arsenic authorities officials received Garg’s assemblage aft it landed.

Then, they marched down a convoy carrying the assemblage to a stadium immoderate 30 kilometres (19 miles) distant for nationalist viewing, singing immoderate of his astir celebrated songs successful unison. Some held his posters, portion others walked teary-eyed with candles successful their hands. After 4 days of authorities mourning, Garg was cremated connected September 23 with afloat authorities honours and a 21-gun salute.

Those scenes of unity were a interruption from the spiritual and linguistic fractures that person deepened successful Assam successful caller years.

The responsibility lines betwixt the Indigenous Assamese-speaking and the mostly migrant Bengali-speaking communities successful Assam aren’t new: They spell backmost astir 2 centuries, erstwhile the British brought ample numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus from Bengal to tally the assemblage bureaucracy, creating resentment among the Indigenous Assamese who feared the outsiders would instrumentality their jobs and inhabit lands.

A 2nd question of migration of Bengali-speaking Hindus and Muslims to Assam started successful 1947 with India’s independency and the enactment of Pakistan, which included the territory that successful 1971 declared itself the autarkic federation of Bangladesh. Millions of radical migrated from Bangladesh to Assam successful these years, triggering backlash from the Indigenous Assamese, which often turned violent.

Those taste and spiritual tensions proceed to predominate Assam’s authorities adjacent contiguous arsenic suspicions implicit the individuality and citizenship of chiefly Bengali-speaking Muslims – pejoratively called “miya” – deepen, with thousands of them declared “Bangladeshi infiltrators” and galore of them sent to detention camps oregon forced to transverse implicit to Bangladesh by Indian information forces.

Garg was composing his euphony against this polarised backdrop, responding to the communal fissures with his verses and voice.

On galore occasions, the vocalist described himself arsenic an atheist and a “social leftist” arsenic helium distanced himself from the state’s mainstream parties, the centrist Congress and the right-wing BJP.

He was besides a vocal professional of India’s profoundly entrenched caste system.

In an undated video present viral aft his death, a idiosyncratic connected signifier is seen teasing Garg for not wearing the ineffable thread worn by different Brahmins, who beryllium astatine the apical of Hinduism’s analyzable caste hierarchy.

Garg changeable back, saying, “I americium conscionable a human. I person nary caste, nary religion, and nary God.”

In different instance, Garg successful 2018 encouraged celebrated pistillate Assamese Olympian, Hima Das, to devour beef successful bid to “gain strength” to vie successful planetary and nationalist sports events. Many Hindus belonging to privileged castes revere the cow, and its slaughter and depletion are banned successful respective Indian states. It is unclear whether Das accepted Garg’s advice.

He was besides astatine the forefront of a 2019 run against India’s arguable caller citizenship law, which made religion a ground for expediting citizenship for immigrants from neighbouring nations, excluding Muslims. The instrumentality led to nationwide protests against Modi’s government, portion the United Nations called it “fundamentally discriminatory” and urged a review.

Assamese societal media creator Dr Medusssa told Al Jazeera that arsenic anti-Muslim hatred permeated Assamese society, Garg’s nationalist positions stood out, turning him into an emblem of Hindu-Muslim harmony.

“It is precisely due to the fact that of Zubeen’s persona of being inclusive, and however helium represented marginalised communities done his songs, that his bequest is being claimed by all,” said Medusssa, who requested to beryllium identified by her societal media name.

“He refused to beryllium to immoderate peculiar community. He was for all.”

For Akhil Ranjan Dutta, a governmental idiosyncratic astatine Gauhati University successful Assam, the solemnisation of Garg by Modi and Sarma – contempt the dissident artist’s absorption to Hindu majoritarianism – is partially owed to the mode the vocalist approached the authorities of dissent.

“While helium [Garg] would openly criticise the policies and the actions of the national and state-level BJP governments, helium would seldom onslaught BJP leaders [personally],” Dutta told Al Jazeera. “This makes it easier for the BJP to due his bequest arsenic not mourning him would different enactment them nether nationalist scrutiny.”

Another governmental commentator who did not privation to beryllium named – fearing reprisal from the authorities – was much blunt successful his presumption of Garg’s quality to span governmental divisions.

While Garg was dismissive astir the BJP arsenic a governmental party, “he would not rattle their nerves by criticising their anti-Muslim policies oregon the attacks connected Muslims precise openly”, the commentator said. “That way, the Hindu nationalist enactment ne'er consciousness excessively alienated by him.”

‘Artistic circuit de force’

Born successful 1972 to Assamese writer Mohini Mohan Borthakur and vocalist Ily Borhakur successful Assam’s Jorhat town, Garg began singing astatine the property of 3 and was soon regarded arsenic a kid prodigy by his teachers. He moved to Guwahati to physique his vocation arsenic a vocalist and got his archetypal large breakthrough successful 1992 with the merchandise of his debut Assamese album, Anamika.

It was the opening of an illustrious vocation that saw Garg singing much than 38,000 songs successful dozens of languages and dialects. He besides sang respective songs for Bollywood films, bursting into the nationalist country successful 2006 with his Hindi hit, Ya Ali, for the movie Gangster: A Love Story.

The adjacent year, Garg won the nationalist grant for composing songs for the non-feature film, Echoes of Silence. Affectionately known arsenic Zubeen Da among different sobriquets, helium aboriginal ventured into acting and direction.

But much than Garg’s assemblage of work, says Angshuman Choudhury, a associated doctoral campaigner astatine the National University of Singapore and King’s College London, what made him a philharmonic improvement was his refusal to conform to the archetype of a “tamed” and “cultured Assamese artist”.

The state’s fashionable culture, for the astir part, according to Choudhury, was shaped until the 1990s by artists similar instrumentalist Bhupen Hazarika and vocalist Janyata Hazarika, who “respected norms of societal civility, ne'er deviated from the script, and lacked the audacity to beryllium that iconoclast that Garg was”.

“Garg, connected the different hand, was an creator circuit de unit successful Assam. He disrupted and distorted the precise representation of a nationalist performer and artist,” says Choudhury, whose doctoral probe focuses connected the ethnicity and authorities of northeast India.

“He would usage verbal expletives portion connected stage, sing nether intoxication, and connected galore occasions, amusement overt defiance against established norms and culture.”

For instance, helium erstwhile refused to execute astatine an lawsuit to people Bihu – arguably Assam’s astir important festival – aft the organisers said that helium could not sing successful Hindi.

Prithiraj Borah, a sociologist from Assam who teaches astatine the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research successful Hyderabad, said that Garg’s creation besides touched deeper, affectional and philosophical questions.

“Zubeen’s songs did not simply entertain,” helium told Al Jazeera. “They besides addressed the depths of what it means to beryllium human, to love, to suffer, and to find meaning successful an often-absurd world.”

Borah cites Garg’s song, Pakhi Pakhi Ei Mon (My bosom is similar a feather), successful which helium explored themes of state and captivity.

“The feather becomes a metaphor for the quality condition, caught betwixt the tendency for liberty and the world of assorted constraints,” Borah said.

Accessible to all

Abrar Nadim, a wellness serviceman successful Assam’s Barpeta district, says helium has memorised astir of Garg’s songs since helium was four.

“His song, Aei Mayar Dhorat [In this satellite of earthly pleasures] brought maine closure to spirituality,” said Nadim, 30, arsenic helium stood adjacent to a garlanded poster of Garg, portion wearing achromatic successful mourning.

“The opus describes impermanent happiness successful this satellite wherever corrupt radical bask adjacent aft committing acts of injustice, corruption, and oppression, but small remains successful the end.”

Maitrayee Patar, a salient Assamese songwriter and poet, who had collaborated with the singer, including arsenic precocious arsenic successful 2023, said Garg, arsenic an artist, “exuded a humanitarian broadside that was earthy and relatable to all”.

“He disregarded governmental correctness and refused to align himself with majoritarian authorities oregon immoderate governmental parties, which made [him] travel crossed arsenic an creator loved by all,” Patar told Al Jazeera.

As clips from Garg’s songs and aged interviews flood Assam’s societal media, Hussain, the Bengali-Muslim motortruck operator successful Guwahati, says his staunch rejection of hatred authorities and his humility successful treating everyone arsenic adjacent made him accessible to all.

Garg was Hindu. But aft his death, students successful madrasas – Islamic schools – were seen playing his songs, portion Muslim leaders held prayers successful his honour and recited the Quran earlier his photos – grieving practices not typically allowed by Islamic tenets.

“He [Garg] sang jikir – devotional people songs sung by the Assamese-speaking Muslim assemblage – to honour us,” Nadim said. “So determination is thing incorrect if we commune for him by singing his songs.”

Back successful Guwahati, motortruck operator Hussain recalled however Garg “never vilified” Bengali-speaking Muslims, arsenic helium wore a T-shirt bearing Garg’s photo.

Hussain hummed Garg’s iconic 2007 hit, Maya (Illusion) – a opus successful which the vocalist likens chasing a emotion involvement to an illusion. The soothing melody, Hussein said, reminded him of the void near by the Garg’s death.

In Garg’s music, the thought of an Assam for Hindus and Muslims, Assamese speakers and Bengali speakers alike, was not an illusion.

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