BACKGROUND

Bodos are the largest plains tribe in Assam, settled primarily in the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River. They once held sway over Assam only to be scattered and submerged in later times. Since the early 1990s, Bodos have tried to build up movements, insurgent as well as pressure groups, to assert their rights, which have substantially impinged upon the territorial rights of the other communities in Assam.

 The Bodo Accord of 1993, which attempted to bring end to years of arson, violence and instability sought to identify areas where the Bodo population exceeded 50 percent as ‘Bodo Areas’ to be brought under the direct administration of the Bodo Autonomous Council (BAC). An unintentional result of this provision has led to recurring and organised ethnic cleansing in areas where the Bodos do not yet constitute 50 percent of the population. The failure and subsequent collapse of the BAC notwithstanding, Bodo leaders, drawn either from political or community based organisations or insurgent factions participated in these movements. Their targets sometimes were the Adivasis (tribals from outside Assam  brought to work in the tea plantations) and sometimes, the Muslims (Bangladeshis or otherwise). Between 1996 and 1999, several deaths were reported and large internal displacement of population occurred due to prolonged ethnic clashes between the Bodos and the Santhals.

According to Census of India 2001, 31 percent of Assam’s population is Muslim. It is however, not clear, how much the trickling of Muslim migrants from East Pakistan or Bangladesh has contributed to the Muslim population in the State. Estimates of illegal migrants from Bangladesh range from few thousands to millions. This constant flow of primarily economic migrants has been the source of frequent turmoil in Assam. The Assam Agitation of 1979 to 1985, which culminated in the Assam Accord of 1985 principally focussed on the detection and deportation of these migrants. However, successive governments in Assam failed miserably in this front and only few thousands were deported. The issue of illegal migration, thus, continues to be an issue that concerns the people of Assam. In regular intervals Assam witnesses agitations on the issue spearheaded by various organisations demanding the identification and deportation of these migrants. 
It is important to, however, note that majority of the Muslim victims in both Darrang and Udalguri in the current spate of violence (loosely referred to as Bangladeshi Muslims by the media) are of East Bengal (which later became East Pakistan) origin. They had migrated into Assam much before the creation of Bangladesh. As per the Assam Accord that recognised all who entered the Indian territory before 1971 as Indian citizens, these Bengali speaking Muslims are bona fide citizens of the country, notwithstanding their origin. Not many illegal migrants from Bangladesh have not settled in these two districts is further evidenced from the fact that Muslim population in Darrang district of which Udalguri was carved out in 2004, has increased only marginally between 1991 and 2001. Muslims constituted 31.98 percent of Darrang’s total population in 1991. In the 2001 Census, the percentage went up to 35 percent.

Darrang district has had a volatile history of tension between indigenous ethnic communities (Bodos and Assamese) and Muslims migrants (of erstwhile East Bengal/East Pakistan origin). It was in Darrang in 1978 that authorities, while revising the electoral rolls for a Lok Sabha by-election to the Mangaldoi constituency, had discovered that a large number of infiltrators from East Pakistan and Bangladesh had enrolled themselves as Indian voters. The incident triggered a the Assam Agitation that lasted six years—from 1979 to 1985 on the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh. The period was marked by several violent incidents, including the Nellie carnage of 1983 when over 2,000 Muslim migrants were massacred in undivided Nagaon district on a single day.

Udalguri is one of four districts which are governed by the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). Incidentally it is the only district in the BTC, where the population in the ‘General Category’ are in greater number than the ‘Scheduled Tribe (ST)’ population, to which the Bodos belong. Consequently, insecurity of losing out to the General Population which includes Muslims in future is the greatest among the Bodo population in Udalguri. 

The Muslim population inhabiting the areas for long time do not display the vulnerability of a migrant population. It was clear from the way the armed Muslim mobs carried out attacks on the Bodo hamlets, mostly in the Darrang district.

THE BLAME GAME

It is not clear whether a particular organisation played a key role in instigating the violence or the clashes were a result of an outburst of the existing schism among the communities. The Assam Government on 11 October ordered for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to find out the actual perpetrators behind the clashes. In the absence of conclusive evidence against any organisation, however, rumours and accusations have flown high complicating the already tense situation.

Influential Bodo students’ organisation, the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) says that the violence is a result of the larger immigration problem. ABSU President Rwngwra Narzary said, “The indigenous people (Bodos) are under serious threat of being overwhelmed by the immigrants. Large tracts earmarked for tribals have been encroached upon by migrants. Their number has increased to such a level that they can now easily attack the tribals and render them homeless.”

The other key student organisation in Assam, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) takes the ABSU claim further by pointing at the role of the Jihadis in the clashes. In a statement it said, the Jihadis from Bangladesh are said to have found shelter among the migrant population and are the key participants in the clashes. Supporting AASU’s stance, Bodo youth and student organisations, the Federation of Bodo Youth (FBY) and All Bodo Post-Graduate Youth Federation (ABPGYF), in a statement on 11 October said “SIMI/ Indian Mujahideen, HuJI and many more Islamic terrorist outfits and fundamentalists are the real culprits” behind the violence. Similarly, the youth organisation, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) accused the Muslim settlers of unfurling Pakistani flags in Udalguri and Darrang districts. AJYCP president Putul Dutta said that the Assam government is shielding the Muslim extremists and indulging in vote bank politics in the State. Contesting the claims of the AJYCP, Mujammil Haque, General Secretary of All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) said, “It is an Eid flag which may appear like a Pakistani flag because it also has a green background and a star and a crescent moon on it.” The Assam Government has asked for a detailed report on the flag, especially after some television channels aired clippings of it.

Apart from the suspicion that it is the migrants who started the clashes, the role of the militant outfit, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) too has been under the scanner. Eyewitness reports of the clashes indicated attackers in military-fatigue carrying out raids on villages, opening fire and burning down houses. The victims were reported to have said that these attackers are NDFB cadres. Some of the Bodo politicians, especially those belonging to the Bodo Peoples Front (BPF) blamed the NDFB for instigating the attack.

BACKGROUND

Bodos are the largest plains tribe in Assam, settled primarily in the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River. They once held sway over Assam only to be scattered and submerged in later times. Since the early 1990s, Bodos have tried to build up movements, insurgent as well as pressure groups, to assert their rights, which have substantially impinged upon the territorial rights of the other communities in Assam.

 The Bodo Accord of 1993, which attempted to bring end to years of arson, violence and instability sought to identify areas where the Bodo population exceeded 50 percent as ‘Bodo Areas’ to be brought under the direct administration of the Bodo Autonomous Council (BAC). An unintentional result of this provision has led to recurring and organised ethnic cleansing in areas where the Bodos do not yet constitute 50 percent of the population. The failure and subsequent collapse of the BAC notwithstanding, Bodo leaders, drawn either from political or community based organisations or insurgent factions participated in these movements. Their targets sometimes were the Adivasis (tribals from outside Assam  brought to work in the tea plantations) and sometimes, the Muslims (Bangladeshis or otherwise). Between 1996 and 1999, several deaths were reported and large internal displacement of population occurred due to prolonged ethnic clashes between the Bodos and the Santhals.

According to Census of India 2001, 31 percent of Assam’s population is Muslim. It is however, not clear, how much the trickling of Muslim migrants from East Pakistan or Bangladesh has contributed to the Muslim population in the State. Estimates of illegal migrants from Bangladesh range from few thousands to millions. This constant flow of primarily economic migrants has been the source of frequent turmoil in Assam. The Assam Agitation of 1979 to 1985, which culminated in the Assam Accord of 1985 principally focussed on the detection and deportation of these migrants. However, successive governments in Assam failed miserably in this front and only few thousands were deported. The issue of illegal migration, thus, continues to be an issue that concerns the people of Assam. In regular intervals Assam witnesses agitations on the issue spearheaded by various organisations demanding the identification and deportation of these migrants. 
It is important to, however, note that majority of the Muslim victims in both Darrang and Udalguri in the current spate of violence (loosely referred to as Bangladeshi Muslims by the media) are of East Bengal (which later became East Pakistan) origin. They had migrated into Assam much before the creation of Bangladesh. As per the Assam Accord that recognised all who entered the Indian territory before 1971 as Indian citizens, these Bengali speaking Muslims are bona fide citizens of the country, notwithstanding their origin. Not many illegal migrants from Bangladesh have not settled in these two districts is further evidenced from the fact that Muslim population in Darrang district of which Udalguri was carved out in 2004, has increased only marginally between 1991 and 2001. Muslims constituted 31.98 percent of Darrang’s total population in 1991. In the 2001 Census, the percentage went up to 35 percent.

Darrang district has had a volatile history of tension between indigenous ethnic communities (Bodos and Assamese) and Muslims migrants (of erstwhile East Bengal/East Pakistan origin). It was in Darrang in 1978 that authorities, while revising the electoral rolls for a Lok Sabha by-election to the Mangaldoi constituency, had discovered that a large number of infiltrators from East Pakistan and Bangladesh had enrolled themselves as Indian voters. The incident triggered a the Assam Agitation that lasted six years—from 1979 to 1985 on the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh. The period was marked by several violent incidents, including the Nellie carnage of 1983 when over 2,000 Muslim migrants were massacred in undivided Nagaon district on a single day.

Udalguri is one of four districts which are governed by the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). Incidentally it is the only district in the BTC, where the population in the ‘General Category’ are in greater number than the ‘Scheduled Tribe (ST)’ population, to which the Bodos belong. Consequently, insecurity of losing out to the General Population which includes Muslims in future is the greatest among the Bodo population in Udalguri. 

The Muslim population inhabiting the areas for long time do not display the vulnerability of a migrant population. It was clear from the way the armed Muslim mobs carried out attacks on the Bodo hamlets, mostly in the Darrang district.

THE BLAME GAME

It is not clear whether a particular organisation played a key role in instigating the violence or the clashes were a result of an outburst of the existing schism among the communities. The Assam Government on 11 October ordered for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to find out the actual perpetrators behind the clashes. In the absence of conclusive evidence against any organisation, however, rumours and accusations have flown high complicating the already tense situation.

Influential Bodo students’ organisation, the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) says that the violence is a result of the larger immigration problem. ABSU President Rwngwra Narzary said, “The indigenous people (Bodos) are under serious threat of being overwhelmed by the immigrants. Large tracts earmarked for tribals have been encroached upon by migrants. Their number has increased to such a level that they can now easily attack the tribals and render them homeless.”

The other key student organisation in Assam, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) takes the ABSU claim further by pointing at the role of the Jihadis in the clashes. In a statement it said, the Jihadis from Bangladesh are said to have found shelter among the migrant population and are the key participants in the clashes. Supporting AASU’s stance, Bodo youth and student organisations, the Federation of Bodo Youth (FBY) and All Bodo Post-Graduate Youth Federation (ABPGYF), in a statement on 11 October said “SIMI/ Indian Mujahideen, HuJI and many more Islamic terrorist outfits and fundamentalists are the real culprits” behind the violence. Similarly, the youth organisation, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) accused the Muslim settlers of unfurling Pakistani flags in Udalguri and Darrang districts. AJYCP president Putul Dutta said that the Assam government is shielding the Muslim extremists and indulging in vote bank politics in the State. Contesting the claims of the AJYCP, Mujammil Haque, General Secretary of All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) said, “It is an Eid flag which may appear like a Pakistani flag because it also has a green background and a star and a crescent moon on it.” The Assam Government has asked for a detailed report on the flag, especially after some television channels aired clippings of it.

Apart from the suspicion that it is the migrants who started the clashes, the role of the militant outfit, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) too has been under the scanner. Eyewitness reports of the clashes indicated attackers in military-fatigue carrying out raids on villages, opening fire and burning down houses. The victims were reported to have said that these attackers are NDFB cadres. Some of the Bodo politicians, especially those belonging to the Bodo Peoples Front (BPF) blamed the NDFB for instigating the attack.

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The ruling Congress Party, the political partner of the BPF, has also echoed similar concerns. On 5 October, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the violence in the twin district is not an ethnic conflict. He said, “This is not a clash between Hindus and immigrant Bangladeshi Muslims as projected, but a systematic pogrom by the NDFB, as many of the people affected  by the violence are genuine Assamese Muslims, Bengali Hindus, common Bodos, besides a few Adivasis (tea plantation tribals) as well.”  The Minister on 11 October added that the NDFB’s involvement is clear as the organisation has been opposed to non-tribals and illegal migrants in Bodoland. NDFB was also accused of providing covering fire to its supporters who torched Aminpara village in Udalguri district, mostly inhabited by the Muslim settlers on 5 October. Echoing his colleague’s words, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the ceasefire agreement with the NDFB would be put to review in view of its participation in violence.

The NDFB has denied its role in the violence. Spokesman S. Sanjarang called the accusations “totally baseless”. The NDFB’s stated outlook on the illegal Bangladeshi migrants, however, does make it a suspect. In a speech delivered on the occasion of 22nd anniversary of the organisation on 3 October, the day clashes between the two communities broke out in Udalguri district, Ranjan Daimary alias D R Nabla, chairman of the NDFB referred to the “fresh movement against the foreigners or alien people in Bodoland.” Daimary further said, “The alien people who intruded to our land nook and corner have not only become kingmakers but they have already become kings and queens in our land. They have already established their alien language, culture and religion in our land. Now the trend of intrusion is changing faster.” Calling for action against the aliens, Daimary said, “Therefore it is time that all the indigenous people fight against those aliens or extinct like giant dinosaurs (sic).  Law is for the people of the land. We must take the law in our own hands and fight for survival.”

Rhetoric apart, analyses that make NDFB central to the violence in Darrang and Udalguri does not stand the test of scrutiny. The militant grouping is under a ceasefire since 25 May 2005. On 30 September, the ceasefire was extended by three months following a tripartite meeting in New Delhi between the Union Home Ministry, Assam government and the NDFB. With bulk of its cadres over ground and almost half of the over ground cadres lodged in designated ceasefire camps, NDFB’s capacity to initiate and sustain an ethnic cleansing movement is almost non-existent. NDFB’s predominantly ‘Christian’ character also does not bring it into direct conflict with the Muslim settlers. In addition, the NDFB gains very little from indulging in such violence. Such charges, if proved, can jeopardise its peace agreement with the Government, a scenario the outfit would like to avoid at any cost.

POLITICS AT PLAY

Notwithstanding NDFB’s suspected involvement in the violence, local politics in the Bodo heartland is definitely complicating the overall scenario. Divisive politics in the Bodo heartland, between the erstwhile Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) and the NDFB cadres is getting intertwined in the entire issue. The BLT, after a seven-year insurgent campaign, had settled for a peace deal with the Government of India, which led to the establishment of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in December 2003. The BTC comprises four Districts – Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. The BTC was the  second such attempt at providing the Bodos – the largest plains tribe in Assam – with an autonomous self-governing body, after the 1993 Bodo Accord between the Union and State Governments and the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), which had led to the setting up of the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC). Internal divisions among the Bodos led to the collapse of the BAC.

The BLT surrendered en masse just before the establishment of the BTC in December 2003. A majority of the former BLT cadres have since formed the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) that rules the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD). The BPF is also a partner of the ruling Congress government in Assam. The formation of the BTC has been seen as BLT’s achievement and thus, catapulted it to the position of the sole representative of the Bodo people, much to the chagrin of the NDFB, which had engaged in a 19 year old protracted insurgency before signing the ceasefire agreement. The NDFB’s over-ground status bothers the BPF consisting of the former BLT cadres to a considerable extent, not just because of the low-level violence that continues between NDFB and former BLT cadres, but also as a result of the complications the NDFB’s eventual political agreement with the Government is likely to create for BPF leader Hagrama Mohillary and co. Unsurprisingly, Hagrama Mohillary, on 4 October, pointed to an NDFB role in the continuing violence and asked the Assam Government to call off the ceasefire with the outfit.
The ruling Congress Party is sensitive to the demands of its alliance partner and hence, within a day a minister of the cabinet and later the Chief Minister minced no words in accusing the NDFB of playing a key role in the violence. Few days later, however, as the Assam’s Director General of Police R. N. Mathur said that there exists no evidence of the NDFB’s involvement in the entire incident. The Assam Government has since asked for a CBI investigation.

THE WAY FORWARD

Not long ago, in August 2008, the same areas under the grip of recent violence had witnessed tensions over the issue of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. A week of tension and clashes had led to the death of at least seven persons and displacement of 5000 people. Timely official intervention had calmed the frayed tempers. The will to intervene quickly was found missing this time.

The Assam Government, on a priority basis, needs to ensure the return of the people in the relief camps to their respective villages. Minimum level of security in the villages would be a pre-requisite of such a step. Till then, there should be no shortage of relief material in the camps.
To prevent recurrence of such violence in future, the government needs to facilitate dialogue between various organisations representing both communities. The probe ordered into the clashes needs to be completed on an urgent basis and its report needs to be made public. The real perpetrators much be dealt with as per the legal procedures.

Moreover, the government needs to be eternally vigilant to prevent any schism between the communities deteriorating into full-scale communal violence. 

Bibhu Prasad Routray