Abstract
The location of Assam is unique in its own way because of its geo-political space and surrounding international borders. The annexation of Assam by the British, established new administrative, economic and social linkages between Assam and the rest of India. After the annexation, Assam began to witness rapid changes in terms of its economic transformation, large-scale immigration from East Bengal and other parts of India, resulting in a major shift in Assam’s demography. It was the politics of migration which had largely been engineered by the colonial state that brought enormous demographic changes in Assam leading to frequent ethnic conflicts. The post-colonial Assam and its socio-economic and political dynamics are also rooted in the understanding of this process of migration. Mrinal Talukdar’s Book Post Colonial Assam 1947–2019 is the description of different phases of post-colonial Assam and its series of upheavals.
The book gives an account of the turbulent period of Assam engaged in politics of illegal immigration, rise of different ethnic movements and the confrontation with different militant organisations, especially with United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). The author discusses various efforts taken by the Centre and the state government to conciliate the demands of the ethnic groups of Assam and efforts to solve the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh. The book is an incorporation of myriad issues that the post-colonial Assam has been witnessing since the Gopinath Bordoloi’s Indian National Congress Party (Congress) led government to the emergence of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and then to the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2016, which brought a new phase in the political scenario of Assam.
The book begins with the challenges that Assam had confronted incessantly after Independence, that is, the financial constraints and challenges from unabated influx of migration which later on led to the series of agitations for existence and identity. Post-Independent Indian federal structure is based on the strong Centre with unequal power structure between the Centre and the states. Assam had to bear the burden of financial constraints and indifferent attitude of the Centre towards illegal immigration problem which became a cause of confrontation with the Centre. The author has highlighted the financial relationship between Centre and the state, which is more conflicting than cooperative. It has been marked by constant long-standing sense of grievances. The decades of neglect by the central government has left not only Assam but the entire Northeast with severe communication and transportation bottlenecks and near absence of modern industries. Underdevelopment of this region breeds insecurity and creates a sense of relative deprivation.
Apart from this, the author also analyses the identity assertion of various ethnic groups that have emerged in the post-colonial Assam. Different ethnic minority groups increasingly felt that they have remained much more backward than the other sections of the people in the state. The author gives a critical account of the passing of Official Language Bill of 1961, Medium Movement of 1972 and the Assam Movement of 1979–85, which further sharpened the identity consciousness among the ethnic groups. It has been observed that soon after the passing of the Official Language Bill, 1961, the process of disintegration of the old Assam of colonial days was followed, and Nagaland was made a separate state in 1963, and later on Meghalaya and Mizoram got separated from Assam in 1972 and 1986 respectively. The demand for the separate and autonomous states in present Assam follows from this trend. It is in this connection that the author has also mentioned about the demand for the Bodoland and the violence that escalated among the Bodos and non-Bodos in the region.
The crisis in Bodoland is a reflection of the lack of responsibility by the Indian state. It has failed to address the structural issues such as land alienation and encroachment of property by the immigrants which has led to violent uprisings and ethnic clashes among the Bodos and Muslims, and also with the Adivasis. This subsequently led to the large-scale displacement of people, and loss of lives and property in the region. The author could have critically analysed the politics of peace-making mechanisms in different phases of Assam, as these measures were mostly half-hearted. The confrontation of different ethnic groups with that of the state, disempowerment of ethnic and other tribal communities, failure of the Sixth Schedule and unsuccessful attempts of signing different peace accords to deliver justice, conflict over land, resources and development, frequent violent indulgence of ethnic groups against the state and ethnic others could have been discussed broadly in the book. It may be noted that post-colonial Indian state has not only failed to resolve the issues raised by the identity movements but also proved unsuccessful in dealing with the multifaceted issues of cultural pluralism of the region.
The book also includes an unresolved issue of the demand for an independent Assam (Swadhin Asom) made by the ULFA which has emerged in response to the deprivation of the state and the negligence of the Centre towards the problems of Assam. In one of the chapters of the book ‘Rise and Fall of ULFA’, the author has highlighted the growth of ULFA and its popularity as well as the development of delusion, insecurity and subsequent clampdown of it by the Indian state under different operations. The author has dealt with in detail the human rights abuses by both, the state forces through Armed Forces Special Protection Act (AFSPA) and ULFA, surrender of a section of ULFA militants, killing of people belonging to the surrendered and non-surrendered groups and secret killings with the support of the state machinery. The peace process started by the union government with that of ULFA has had limited effects. The author has discussed the gradual decline of the relevance of ULFA and its demand for having an independent Assam. At the same time, the author also mentions that the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Parliament has again led to the growing demand for independent Assam among the sections of youth in Assam. It is in this context the author has mentioned that ULFA has remained an emotional force of the radical Assamese.
The problem of migration is still a living phenomenon in Assam politics. The Foreign National Movement, 1979–85, Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) (IMDT) ACT, 1983 and the process of National Register of Citizens (NRC), the current anti-Bangladeshi foreigner uprisings, anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 and subsequently anti-Citizenship Amendment Act movement (2019–20) are the manifestations of such feelings of insecurity and threat to the distinct socio-cultural identity of the state. One of the significant events in the political history of Assam that has reflected in the book is the students-led anti-foreigner movement of 1979–1985, which also subsequently led to the birth of regionalism in Assam. The movement was spearheaded by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP). The anti-foreigners agitation in Assam, which in the next six years saw one of the most turbulent phases in the history of the state, ended up with the signing of Assam Accord in 1985. The author does provide a critical argument regarding the Assam agitation. The year since 1979 saw governmental instability, many civil disobedience campaigns and some of the worst incidents of ethnic violence in the history of the post-independence state, which also includes the killing of almost not less than 5,000 people and 855 martyrs. After the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985, the regional aspirations of the Assamese people got articulated in the formation of a new regional political party called Assam Gana Parishad (AGP). The decade of the 1980s brought an end to the dominance of the Congress party in the state. The movement also acted as the reference point for different sub-regional ethnic groups of Assam which resulted into the formation of various political parties and organisations such as the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), the United Minorities Front (a political party primarily for the Muslim immigrants), the People’s Democratic Front (PDF), the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), and so on. All these new developments have made a significant impact in the politics of the state.
One of the most important discussions drawn by the author in his book is about the arrival of the BJP in Assam which has marked a tectonic shift in the electoral politics of the state. The overwhelming victory of the BJP in 2016 assembly election of Assam has significantly marked a new phase of polarised politics in the state. Assam has witnessed a significant rise of the BJP at the cost of Congress and other regional forces like the AGP. Both Congress and AGP have failed to solve the major issue of illegal immigration in the state, which has further pushed people to support the BJP. The BJP has eventually retained its alliance with AGP and Bodoland Peoples’s Front (BPF), which has proved to be a strong factor for its victory in the state. The author has mentioned a number of factors for the victory of BJP in Assam. Most importantly, the anti-incumbency in the 2016, the defection of Himanta Biswa Sarma from Congress and Chandra Mohan Patowary from AGP and their joining the BJP, the popularity of the chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal as a jatiya nayak (national hero), a title conferred upon him after he got the infamous IMDT Act, 1983 repealed by filing a case in the Supreme Court in the year 2005, certainly gave an edge to BJP. Despite the retention of power by the BJP in the state since 2016, the party had to witness massive protests in Assam over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019, and this has risen to a possibility of new regional political formation in the state before 2021 election.
Mrinal Talukdar’s book, Post Colonial Assam, is a compilation of wide ranging issues that have significantly impacted the politics of Assam since 1947. It is interesting to understand how the state’s politics has been influenced by the issue of immigration, how it has been politicised and used as a political strategy by different quarters, instead of averting its effects on the rights of the indigenous people of Assam. So, the Post Colonial Assam includes description of the chronicle of events that have shaped the present politics of Assam and which can be interpreted by looking through the lens of complex ethnic and political landscape of the state.