Was Colonization
of Assam an Hidden Agenda?
“ "Indiraji’s
(Indira Gandhi) will shall prevail. I
shall do whatever she wants me to do. If she wishes it, tomorrow before
sunrise, I shall fill Punjab’s jails with 10,000 Assamese to crush the
movement”.
–
Giani Zail Singh, Home Minister in Indira cabinet in an interview to ‘The Indian
Express’ editor Arun Shourie in January 1980
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This remark sums up the paradox involved in
resolving the illegal migration cobweb of Assam. On one hand while the natives
felt threatened by the continuous influx from across the border in Bangladesh
especially, on its part the central government under Indira Gandhi always
presumed that things were under control or to be precise the ‘Assam agitation’
against foreigners’ illegal immigration can be crushed. But the reality was hardly
appreciated by the Government of India especially in 1960 and 1970s when the
problem perhaps was in its miniscule form and could have been handled easily.
Old timers recall that in 1981, Indira’s handpicked
Chief Minister, Mrs Anwara Taimur asserted that things were under her grip and
her government saw no reason to deport foreigners – as was demanded by agitators
especially students. Instead the government resorted to strong measures and
police and security personnel – certainly at the directives of the centre –
were let loose on the locals. “The Assam agitation was started by people and
students but the violence came from the government side. Curfew and CrPC
provisions were used liberally in towns and local Assamese people gathered fear
to speak in public.
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The merciless killing of Kharegeswar Talukdar in 1979 by
security personnel was the beginning of it all,” says 80-year-old Hiranmay
Borah, a retired government servant.
Locals saw a sinister plan from across the border in
Bangladesh and also assisted by the Pakistan’s ISI for “allowing easy flow” of
Bengali Muslims into Assam – which had abundant barren land and work
opportunities. Some agencies and communist leaders later had even claimed of
CIA hand – which allegedly launched ‘Operation Brahmaputra’ to destabilize India’s
northeast.
But there are a few twists in the tale also.
Assam has been a victim of continuous ‘domination’
by demographic movement. Domination of the state has been sought by diverse
number of social groups for diverse reasons. Even pre-Independence days, three
main groups entered Assam with rather spontaneity – the Hindu Bengalis, tea
garden workers and Muslims from the then East Bengal (that later became
Bangladesh).
While Bengali Hindus mainly came for jobs as part of British administration
and most went back, tea-gardeners in much less numbers and Bengali Muslims in
huge numbers actually came in and stayed. In fact, an estimate suggests by 1947
over a million East Bengal Muslims were settled in rural Assam. Historical
accounts say Saiyid Muhammad Saadulla, an Assamese Muslim League leader, played
a key role in that ‘settlement policy’. This was the beginning but just a tip
of the ice berg.
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Visit to former
students’ activist-turned-politician Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s constituency Nagaon
in 2000-2001 had revealed that while Benagli Muslim population has increased
substantially, there was a sharp decline in Assamese population – both Hindus
and Muslims. Moreover, just as demographic situation upset social harmony in
some of these hubs, by 1980s – the Left movement had sprang up. While Bengali
Muslims inspired and assisted by ISI and Jamat-I-Islami in Bangladesh sought
religious expansions, the Marxist comrades wanted to use the occasion for
propagating their Leftist doctrine.
Assam actually had turned into a small laboratory of
demographic influx and domination. And by 2015 – when the Population
by Religious Communities of Census 2011- was released, everyone was aghast as
Assam’s Muslim population increased to 34.22 per cent, a quantum leap of over
four per cent.
But the Hindu population stood around 61.46 per cent. To
top it all, 9 districts - Barpeta,
Dhubri, Karimganj, Goalpara, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Hailakandi, Nagaon and
Morigaon have turned Muslim majority – a major change from six Muslim dominated
districts in 2001.
Obviously the influx issue will be a dominant and
top of the election-politics agenda in Assam for next few months. While the BJP and the regional outfit AGP will fight
for the space, there’s also the crucial factor of All India United Democratic
Front (AIUDF) – led Badruddin Ajmal which commands immense
support base in Muslim strongholds.
The electoral puzzle in
the state is thus getting truly complex and to an extent offers a worrisome
scenario. Assam’s Nagaon to Daboka belt bordering Dimapur in Nagaland and hubs
like Dhubri, Karimganj and Barpeta are already flooded with Bengali Muslims and
the Hindus, sons of the soil (Assamese) and Bengali Hindus and other Indian
citizens have been outnumbered. Natives believe that there is an organized
methodology behind this demographic explosion.
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However, the Vote
Bank politics has dominated the politics of Assam and influenced the policy on infiltration.
Both AGP and Congress have been championing the cause of minority
appeasement. In July 2008, Justice B K Sharma of the Gauhati High Court in
95-page judgement said, “the day is not far off, when the indigenous people of
Assam, both Hindus and Muslims and other religious groups will be reduced to minorities
in their own land and the Bangladeshis will become kingmakers”.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi
quickly contested this in no unambiguous words stating, “Since my schooldays I
have been hearing that Bangladeshis will become kingmakers in Assam”
In effect, many in Assam privately and otherwise
regret about India’s help to Bangladesh freedom.
London-based ‘Evening Standard’ had summed up this
paradox well in 1971 itself. “Victory belongs to India (freedom of Bangladesh
and Indo-Pak war of 1971) but a big part of the human burden that drove India to war could be with her for a long time”. The agony continues.
(ends)
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