The injured lay on the streets with broken arms, bleeding faces and in tremendous agony for more than two hours amidst damaged and overturned cars. The stunned residents and business establishments retaliated immediately when they found to their horror that their shops and residences were the targets. It may be mentioned that November 24 was not the only time when the All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) assembled for a meeting. They had periodically taken out protest marches in Guwahati on earlier occasions too. The AASAA as the abbreviation implies are Adivasis who have been confined to the tea growing belts of Assam and for generations have been serving in the tea industry. The British imported them from Bihar, Orissa, Chhotanagpur, Madhya Pradesh and Madras to work as labourers in the tea gardens spread across Assam. They are popularly known as Adivasis. It is because of political compulsion as well as economic weakness that they have been clamouring to be included into the community of Schedule Tribe. Their contention is that the Mundu, Gor, Kul, Bhil, Santhal, oroan, Ho and Kharia communities be included in the Scheduled Tribe List. Incidentally, all these groups are recognised as schedule tribes in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa but strangely the same have been denied in Assam. It was with this intention, that AASAA called for the Mahasabha to drive home the point that the Government of Assam should heed the seriousness of the issue. What followed on November 24 was because the Government of Assam has allegedly dumped the demands of AASAA into cold storage. The intensity of the confrontation was Rally Turns Violent EASTERN PANORAMA : APRIL 2017 96 such that the processionists’ ultimate aim was to go for a physical struggle, which may have arisen out of the long impending frustration faced by them (Adivasis). That the local residents of Beltola and adjacent areas retaliated leading to loss of property and disruption of movements could well be understood as they were caught unawares.