Burning Assam
Assam is burning. It is continuing to burn. It is end august, when this piece is being written. Already almost two months has passed from the beginning of the present phase of conflict between two communities, Bodos and Bengali Muslims, and the conflict is showing no sign of abatement The violent clashes between two communities is continuing throughout a large part of Lower Assam.. According to official statistics, at the time of writing of this article, already this fratricidal conflict has taken the lives of 91 people, most of whom are innocent, poor, toiling people of both communities. Thousands of poor people of both the communities have been displaced from their homes; they have become refugee in their own homeland, increasing the large number of internal refugees living in inhuman conditions in refugee camps from the previous conflicts. The reverberations of this conflict are being felt even in other parts of this country. There had been an exodus of the people of north-eastern states, from some cities of southern and western parts of this country, after some attacks and hate mails. In Mumbai, there had been a protest rally which went violent and two people were killed. But it did not stop there. Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Nava Nirman Sena organized a huge, provocative anti-Muslim rally in protest against the previous rally.
How long this situation will continue we do not know. Many people are trying so that BTC area returns to normalcy at the earliest. Definitely, Assam will become calm after some period. We do not know, however, whether all the displaced people will ever be able to return to their homes and even if they are able to return, when they will be to do so. Maybe, large number of north-eastern people will return to their work place. The advanced proletariat will definitely be saddened by this immense loss of human lives, by the huge problems that poor, toiling people are facing, the mental trauma they are going through. But they should be more concerned about the divisions among poor, toiling people of different communities, which has given rise to these incidents and which these incidents in their turn will deepen further. They should be concerned about this division because this division is hampering and will continue to hamper the unity of proletarian class, unity of toiling people without which the proletariat cannot be successful in its struggle for emancipation, the toiling masses will not be able to free from exploitation and all forms social oppression, the oppressed nationalities will not be able to free from national oppressions. For this reason, advanced proletariat must analyse these incidents and decide its tasks which it may take even in this disarrayed and disorganized condition of the proletariat and toiling masses
However, neither do we have any scope in this article, nor we are in a position to present a complete analysis of the reasons behind the present conflict in Assam, who are responsible for such conflicts, and how such problems can be resolved permanently. In this article, we shall only try to present a preliminary discussion on some aspects of these questions.
As in other incidents, the newspaper reports are agog with reports of how the killings of two Muslim people and the killings of four Bodo youths in retaliation .has started the present phase of conflict. It is obvious that such incidents cannot be main reasons behind such major conflagrations. At the most these acts may have given sparks in an already inflammable and explosive situation. We should remember that this is not the first time that such conflicts are happening in this part of Assam. This part of the state has witnessed clashes between Bodos and different non-Bodo communities residing in this area. In the nineties of the last century we have seen clashes between Bodos and Santhals, Bodos and Bengali Muslims and also between Bodos and Bengali Hindus. What is there in the history of this area which is producing such clashes from time to time?
The Bodos are a plain tribe of Assam and they mainly reside in the northern bank of Brahmaputra River of Lower Assam. Bodos are the largest tribe not only among the plain tribes but among all the scheduled tribes of Assam, with a population of 1,352,771, comprising 40.9% of total scheduled tribe population according to the 2001 census.1 Brahmaputra River flows from extreme north east corner of the state to extreme south west corner and divides Assam in almost equal two parts. There are also other plain tribes like Rava, Mishing, Deuri, Lalungs etc. There are also Koch Rajbongshi people who claim themselves as scheduled tribes and are agitating for quite a long time for ST status, though the central government has not granted them that till now. The area under Bodoland Tribal Council has sizeable non-Bodo population. On the one hand there are indigenous communities like Koch Rajbongshis, Rabhas, and on the other hand there are communities like Bengali, both Hindus and Muslims, and Adivasis, who have come from outside Among them there are few exploiters like Bengali and Marwari traders, who not only exploited tribal people by their unfair trade practices, but also practiced money-lending businesses and acquired large tracts tribal lands by fraud. But, among the outsiders, there are also poor people from other communities, who were forced to settle in this area. Tea garden owners have brought here santhal and other tribal people from Chhotanagpur area to work in their gardens. And from the early part of nineteenth century, the British rulers had taken steps to settle a large number of Bengali Muslim cultivators in the different parts of Assam, including this Bodo populated area Though these Bengali Muslim people initially settled in the char areas of Brahmaputra, which was largely uninhabited at that time, in course of time with new immigration from East Bengal and East Pakistan before and after partition, Bengali population, both Hindus and Muslims, spread to newer areas of Assam.
Like other tribal people, Bodo people are also one of the most backward and oppressed nationality. Though their homeland is rich with natural resources they never were able to control those resources for their own benefit. Their forests were mercilessly looted by traders of other developed nationalities. Even after sixty years after independence, this area remained as industrially most backward region. Even if a few industries had been set up, those could not uplift the condition of Bodo people. The traditional agricultural practices of Bodo people were backward shifting cultivation. Even now the agriculture of this area, like a large part of Assam, has remained in a very backward, primitive condition. Even though Brahmaputra and some other rivers are there, the extent of irrigation is very low. On the contrary, agriculture and lives of people of this area, like other areas of Assam, remained at the mercy of Brahmaputra, which floods large stretches of land several times in every year. Actually, big bourgeois ruling classes of India and the bourgeoisie of developed nationalities like Bengali and Assamese have exploited this region and its inhabitants in various ways but practically did nothing to develop this area. Culturally also, the Bodos were oppressed by other nationalities. Though they have a distinct language, for a long time it was not recognized officially, and all educational and official works were carried out in Assamese.
Naturally, the wrath and anger against these exploitations and oppressions were brewing for a long time and it burst out from mid eighties in the form of an agitation for a separate Bodoland state under leadership of All Bodo Students Union. The irony of history is that the AGP, which had came to power in the State Government after a long democratic movement against the then Central and State Governments, tried to douse that movement in bloodbath. However, they and the following Congress led State Government could not completely crush the movement. On 20th February, 1993, the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and the Bodo Peoples' Action Committee (BPAC) signed the Bodo Accord with the central and the state governments to end the violent Bodoland movement. The accord made a commitment to form an elected Bodo Autonomous Council (BAC) comprising "contiguous geographical areas between river Sankosh and Mazbat/river Pasnoi".2 Did it resolve the nationality problems of Bodo people? No, it did not and it could not have been otherwise. Because, to resolve the nationality problem of Bodo people, a structure was needed which could enable the Bodos and other local people to control their natural resources for their own benefit, to decide the course of their lives themselves. Such a structure is impossible in the present system of the country, where the whole power has been concentrated in the hands of a centralised bureaucratic machinery, working for the big bourgeoisie and the feudal landlord classes dependant on imperialism. Establishment of such a structure means complete democratisation of the state structure. The Bodo Autonomous Council was practically given no power and fund. All the powers of governance in the main remained in the hands of bureaucratic machinery of central and state governments as before. However, on the contrary, the formation of BAC helped to further divide the people of this area along communal lines
Due to the narrow petty bourgeois leadership of Bodo movement, the movement did not address the real reasons behind their oppression and exploitation and could not aim the ruling classes of India as its real enemy and on the contrary turned against the other inhabitants of this area, most of whom are also poor, backward people. It was reported that quit notices were served to different communities inhabiting in this area for a long period of time. These acts panicked and antagonised people of these communities. The narrow sectarian leadership of these non-Bodo communities also contributed in their own way to further the division between these communities. These non-Bodo leaders always tried to consolidate the poor people of their communities on communal lines for their own political interests. From the very beginning of Bodoland movement, the poor people of these communities, who were anxious about their fate in the future Bodoland, were organised by their leaders against the movement. This division was further deepened after the Bodoland accord of 1993. It was decided in the Bodoland accord that all villages which had more than 50 per cent Bodo population would be included in the Bodoland Autonomous Council and also villages with less than 50 per cent Bodo population would be included which were required to make Bodoland Autonomous Council a contiguous area. On the one hand, the non-Bodo communities opposed the inclusion of the non-Bodo majority areas into BAC, apprehending that they will lose their rights in BAC, and on the other hand Bodos tried include more villages to maximize the geographical area of the council. This conflict of interests translated into clashes between the Bodos and other non-Bodo communities. It is widely believed that the militant section of Bodo leadership also started a drive of ethnic cleansing .Due to these reasons, this area had witnessed a series of violent clashes between Bodos and different non-Bodo communities; between Bodos and Bengali Muslims in 1993, between Bodos and Bengali Hindus in 1995 and between Bodos and Santhals in 1996. These clashes left hundreds of people killed and 350000 people internally displaced.3
We do not have enough scope to delve deeper into reasons behind the present clashes. But, we can safely say that the basic reasons are same as before. The Bodo accord could not satisfy the Bodo people by and large. The boundary of BAC was unilaterally decided by the state government which was not accepted by the Bodo leadership. But, above all the main reason behind the disenchantment of Bodo people about the Bodo Autonomous Council is that the council did not have sufficient power. With time, the disenchantment increased and second phase of Bodoland movement started under the more militant and aggressive Bodo Liberation Tigers. On February 10, 2003, the central government, the BLT and the state government signed a new Bodo Accord for creation of a 'Bodoland Territorial Council' (BTC) under modified provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. However, like the previous Bodoland Autonomous Council, the BTC also could not satisfy the Bodo people, because they felt that this BTC could not mitigate their problems. In the opinion of one observer, "the powers of the BTC seem substantial but in practice are quite toothless".4 Actually, the main powers remained in the hands of the bureaucratic machinery of the state and central governments. Due to this reason, the demand for a separate Bodoland state was again being raised by the Bodo leadership in recent years. On the 43rd annual conference (February 2011) of ABSU in Banargaon, the president Promod Boro announced the revival of the movement for a separate state on the grounds of the failure of the state government to implement the BTC accord. In May 2012, People's Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement, an umbrella body of 47 organisations, renewed its demand for Bodoland comprising more areas of the north bank.5
On the other hand, like the previous Bodo accord and BAC, this accord and formation of BTC has further polarised the non-Bodo communities. Sanmilita Janagosthiya Sangram Samiti (SJSS) was formed by 18 non-Bodo organisations. It had opposed the formation of BTC. SJSS apprehended that the BTC, once formed, would concentrate power in the hands of the Bodos and curtail the rights of the non-Bodos and would jeopardise them.6 The Bodo leadership also continued attacks on non-Bodo people. In November 2010, the anti-talks faction of NDFB carried out a state-wide massacre of non-Bodos, mostly Hindi speaking settlers in Assam in a revenge-killing spree after Mahesh Basumatary, who allegedly was a cadre of NDFB, was killed by the Indian security forces in Assam's Sonitpur district.7 The present incidents would have to viewed in the backdrop of this violent history of Bodo areas. In the volatile situation of the conflict between Bodo and non-Bodo people the sparks of killing of two Muslim people and of four Bodo youths spread like a wild fire, throughout the BTC and adjoining areas
However, it will be totally wrong if only the narrow, sectarian leadership of these communities are only held responsible for the present state of affairs. We have mentioned before that the ruling classes of India are mainly responsible for this sorry state of affairs of not only Bodo people, but poor people of all the communities. Along with them some people of developed nationalities like Bengali nationality have also oppressed Bodo people Even, Assamese nationality are also to some extent responsible for oppression on the Bodo people, though they themselves may be oppressed by more developed nationalities. Even in the case of violent clashes between the communities, ruling class parties and bourgeois petty bourgeois parties of developed nationalities are also responsible. Actually the central and state governments have always used the division between the communities at will for their own gain. Whenever, people of one community rose up against the state and central governments, they used one community against other to crush the movements. Even to settle scores among themselves, the ruling parties of state and central governments used the contradiction among different communities.
There is another important point we should touch here. BJP and other Hindu communal organisations are campaigning that the main reasons behind the present clashes is the 'illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims'. This campaign is totally false and they have launched this campaign with the ulterior motive of further deepening Hindu-Muslim communal division and consolidating the Hindu population on religious communal lines. Firstly, whether illegal infiltration from Bangladesh is continuing and to what extent is beyond the scope of present discussion. But, it can be said with fair amount of certainty that the Bengali Muslim population settled in BTC areas are mainly immigrants from East Bengal and to some East Pakistan. These immigrants can not be called 'illegal infiltrators' Secondly, we have discussed elaborately that the roots of present conflict does not lie in so called 'illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims' but in contradiction between Bodos and non-Bodo communities. Had it been due to the so called problem of 'illegal infiltration', how can we explain the clashes between Bodos and Adivasis, Bodos and Bengali Hindus, and even contradiction between Bodos and indigenous Koch Rajbongshis? We may remind the readers that an organisations of 18 non Bodo organisations , Sanmilito Jonogosthiyo Sangram Samiti, had been formed to oppose formation of BTC and which is now actively opposing the movement for Bodoland State. There are other such united organisations of non-Bodo organisations, like Anabodo Suraksha Samiti. Here, organisations of both indigenous communities and immigrant people are cooperating with each other in these organisations. It effectively nails the false propaganda of Hindutwabadi organisations.
The question now confronts the proletariat is: what is the way to resolve this conflict? In this situation where divisions among communities is running deep, where the communities are arming oneself against the other and preparing for a bloodbath, it is very difficult to think of uniting the poor, toiling people of all the communities against the ruling big bourgeoisie and landlord classes, dependent on imperialism. How much difficult it may seem today, it is the only path by which such fratricidal conflicts can be ended and the oppressed nationalities can free themselves from age-old oppression and exploitation. We have explained in the beginning that the real enemy of the Bodo people and other tribal and backward oppressed communities is the ruling classes of India and the bourgeoisie of oppressor nationalities. So, instead of fighting within themselves the oppressed nationalities and other poor, toiling people must unitedly fight against their real enemy. It is beyond doubt that the encroachment by outsiders has been one of the major problems faced by the tribal people, who can be swamped by the people of other nationalities. Tripura shows an example of how a tribe can be ousted by outsiders and can become a minority in their own homeland. So, the urge of tribal people to protect themselves from the encroachment of the outsiders is a genuine urge and there must be some way by which this encroachment can be stopped. However, what will happen to the poor people already settled in these areas? If they are uprooted, where will they go? By turning a section of poor people into refugees can any democratic movement be really successful? Is it not possible for all the poor inhabitants of this area to develop the resources of the area and bring themselves out of poverty, backwardness, etc.? We think it is possible. But to do that these people must unite with the proletariat and entire toiling masses of India and under the leadership of the proletariat of whole India and unitedly with the peasantry and other toiling masses of India launch the revolutionary struggle to abolish the rule of the big bourgeoisie and landlord classes dependent on imperialism. Only in this path the toiling people of India, including the Bodos and other non-Bodo poor people can free themselves from the oppression and exploitation of the ruling classes and bourgeoisie of oppressor nationalities and take the control of the resources in their own hands, . To proceed in this path, the poor people of these communities must detach themselves from the narrow, sectarian leadership of their communities and unite with the proletariat of India and under the leadership of the proletariat, join the toiling masses of India to complete the unfinished democratic revolution. It may sound clich?, but this is the real path, the path through which the unity among poor people can be achieved and such fratricidal conflicts can be ended
Sources
1. Assam
DATA HIGHLIGHTS: THE SCHEDULED TRIBES Census of India 2001
censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_st_assam.pdf
2. Bodo Insurgency in Assam: New Accord and New Problems Monoj Kumar Nath
Strategic Analysis/Oct-Dec 2003
3. Violence In Kokrajhar Walter Fernandes 18 August, 2012 - Himal Mag
4. Ethnic Violence in Bodoland Suryasikha Pathak --- Economic & Political Weekly EPW august 25, 2012
5. ibid.
6. ibid
7. On the November Massacres in Assam: Aruni Kashyap November 28, 2010
http://kafila.org/2010/11/28/on-the-november-massacres-in-assam-aruni-kashyap/
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