But, of late, Assam has been in the news for all wrongreasons “ the moral degradation of urban youth and community indifference asreflected by the infamous Guwahati molestation; and now ethnic violence betweenindigenous Bodos community and predominantly Muslim migrant settlers oferstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh. The official death toll so far is 77 andover 400,000 people have reportedly been displaced from almost 400 villages.
The migrants say, and this is true to a significant extent,that they are descendent of the families who migrated from East Bengal in late19th / early 20th century to chase a future away from abject poverty “ and thatit was tacitly encouraged by British rulers to boost agricultural productivityin riverine areas of western and central Assam. These were rich, fertile tractsof land but prone to relentless flood of the mighty Brahmaputra; and weresparsely populated owing to difficult living conditions. As descendents ofsettlers who migrated from one location (East Bengal) to another part (Assam)of undivided India, these communities vehemently argue that they as Indian asthe ethnic Assamese or the tribal communities of the state.
It is also important to note that the migrant settlers, bytheir sheer struggle for livelihood, had made huge contribution to agriculturalproductivity and economic output of Assam; and continue to do so till today.Almost all of the earlier settlers had even adopted Assamese as their ‘officiallanguage’ and declared them as Assamese in successive decadal censussurveys. They also offered crucialsupport to the majority Assamese community in their ‘language movements’ of sixtiesand early seventies.
Changing demographic profiles in Assam had started impactingpolitical dynamics from late seventies onwards “ when Muslim voters couldinfluence contour and to an extent the policy of Assam government, whilebureaucracy was largely controlled by upper caste Assamese elite. The historic‘Assam Movement’ of Eighties was in fact the political response of this segmentof Assamese society to retain their political and administrative authority “and its economic / rent-seeking benefits.
Bodos, the dominant indigenous tribal community were at thefore front of a demand for devolution and creation of a separate stateBodoland. They now have an autonomous administrative unit, the BodolandTerritorial Council (BTC) constituted under the Sixth Schedule of theConstitution. The mission is to accomplish economic and human development ofcommunities in the area; encourage socio-culture, ethnic identity andlinguistic aspiration of Bodos; and ensure preservation of land rights ofindigenous communities. But even after a decade, accomplishments on theseobjectives are uneven.
Most contentious of all these are issue of land-ownership “and this is at the heart of current ethnic tension in Assam. The growth ofMuslim population in some districts under BTC area has increased competitionfor land-rights “ something very sensitive even for the descendent of migrantsettlers who primarily came in search of land ownership. And the indigenouscommunities such as Bodos are resentful at their traditional ownership of land,which they controlled over generations. Also raising population put pressure onforest land, which were denuded with patronage of Muslim politicians andcomplicity of corrupt officials.
Politicians from all hues are obviously fishing for theirvested interest “ right from spreading canard of Muslim majority in one-thirdof Assam’s district to retaliation by Muslims against the supposed perpetratorsof current round of violence; and sanity has been lost in the mids of thesecacophony. The urgent need of the hour is ensure peace and security; relief andrehabilitation of the displaced; but also strict and exemplary State actionagainst violence. The next step would be to look beyond high-decible politicalnoise; and address key development and governance issues, especially on theissue equitable land-management for citizens of the country “ irrespective oftheir tribe or religion.
Rahman is the chief operating officer at theAffiliated Network for Social Accounting, South Asia Region and GlobalPartnership Fund
