The Caravan – August 2019

perspectives

AUGUST 2019 23

Goalpara; and the Khasi, Garo, Jaintia,

Naga and Mizo hill districts.

The Baptist mission’s efforts, and

the hardening of linguistic identities

following the introduction of a census

during British rule, contributed sig-

nificantly to a language-based politics

that laid the foundation for the politics

of indigeneity in Assam. The demotion

of Bengali and the restoration of As-

samese in 1874 did not end anxieties

of outside domination, but led instead

to an assertive politics of language. As

Assamese speakers gained power, the

majoritarian character of the move-

ment alienated local minorities. After

Independence, the Khasi, Garo, Jaintia,

Naga and Mizo hills all broke off from

Assam, based on their own identi-

ty-based movements. Sylhet went to

East Pakistan during Partition in a con-

troversial referendum, but Cachar and

Goalpara remained in Assam, despite a

long history of ethnic violence against

Bengalis in the state.

Following the creation of East Paki-

stan, Assamese–Bengali tensions came

to be articulated in new terms. The rul-

ing elites claimed to be the “indigenous

Assamese,” and cast Bengalis as “for-

eigners,” claiming illegal immigration

from East Pakistan, which later became

Bangladesh. The Bongal Kheda—“drive

out the Bongals”—movement began

soon after Partition. From 1960, the

smaller riots of Bongal Kheda turned

into major riots aimed at evicting sup-

posed outsiders from Assam. The word

“Bongal,” which originally meant any

outsider, had by then come to mean

Bengalis. The Bongal Kheda movement

gradually changed its name to “Bidekhi

Kheda”—“drive out the foreigners.” In

1979, an agitation began to drive out

those considered foreigners, mostly

Bengalis and Nepalis. It was called the

“anti-foreigner agitation” and is now

celebrated as the “Assam Agitation.”

Initially, Bengali Hindus were the

primary targets. There were several

massacres—such as one in North Kam-

rup in January 1980 in which roughly

two hundred people, mainly Bengali

Hindus, were killed, according to the

historian Amalendu Guha. The worst

of the massacres, however, eventually

targetted Bengali Muslims. As Sanjoy

Hazarika reported in the New York

Times, well over three thousand men,

women and children were killed over-

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