Remembering Kamaljit Deka: A Champion for Truth and Assam

Some bad news comes in the morning. On the morning of June 23rd at 8:45, I received this message on my WhatsApp from Harekrishna Deka. “ My brother Kamaljit Deka has died a few hours back at Houston. Since you knew him, I felt I should inform you.” It was a shocking news. I knew Dr Kamaljit Deka was not keeping good health for quite sometime. But I was unprepared for this news. I have never met Dr Deka. I came to know him from his comments on Harekrishna Deka’s Facebook posts.

When Harekrishna Deka first came to Facebook he unwittingly accepted friend request from all and sundry. HKD is an eminent author and a former DGP of Assam. Everyone wanted to be in his friend list on the Facebook. But when Deka turned critical to the undemocratic functioning of the BJP government many of his Facebook friends started responding to his posts inimically. He even faced online trolling. HKD was irked by the turn of the events. He neither had the time and patient to respond to such silly comments on his posts.

This is when Kamaljit Deka came to HKD's defense. He defended HKD’s stance on various issues with solid arguments in impeccable English. I observed this and once asked HKD who was Kamaljit Deka. Then only I came to know that Kamaljit Deka was HKD’s youngest brother who lived in Houston and who was a physician. Then eventually Dr Deka and I became Facebook friends. He also started to react and comment on my posts. His insightful comments were always a pleasure to read and learn from. They were pertinent, elaborate and erudite. They reflected his intelligence, kindness, and deep commitment to Assam.

After joining the Northeast Now as Editor-in-Chief for its Assamese and Video section in February, 2021, I wrote a piece on the responsibility of media and following was his comment on it. “True, the very job-description of the media is to investigate facts, bring out the truth and announce them for public consumption. When facts are obscured for whatever noble motives, they begin to develop their own agendas and play god. Where does chicanery end, and truth begin? I would like to add two points.

"The media must avoid media circus—an idiom describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered. What about the accountability of the press that questions the accountability of others? There are a number of cases where the press got it horribly wrong but went scot-free --- without offering even a 'clarification' or a 'regret,' leave alone an 'unconditional apology' and a stuck to the guilty reporter. The most convenient escape is to be specious and say 'We stand by our report' or, best of all, just refuse to rebut the rebuttal, leaving the onus on the offended party to file a defamation case that never quite comes to and end.…….”

His comments on select people’s posts on the Facebook were like mini articles on different issues. He loved Assam from the core of his heart. He established himself as a good doctor in the US and lived in the suburban Houston, a place of scenic beauty. He was very well read and he believed in humanitarian principles. He also extended financial assistance to Axom Nagarik Samaj on two occasions. It is so sad that we lost such a talented person and good human being at the prime of his life. We shall miss you Dr Deka!