11/26/2018 Frontier articles on Society & Politics

Assam: Contextualising NRC Historically

Devabrata Sharma
Bri sh imperialism was notoriously successful in plan ng the seeds of communalism-both religious nad linguis c, in this
country. The 'masterstroke' in this direc on was the effect of two par ons: Par on of Bengal first, and par on of
India, later. The present conflicts and contradic ons inflic ng Assam can be traced back to the divisive Bri sh policies.

Assam was brought under the Bri sh rule in 1826 a la Yandaboo Treaty signed in Myanmar between the Bri sh and the
Myanmarese governments. No Assamese or Indian was party to that treaty which sealed the fate of Assam in foreign
lands. For the next 10 years the Bri sh ran its administra on using Assamese language. But in 1836 they replaced
Assamese with Bengali. For many decades therea er, it was believed and propagated that the Bengali clerks and
bureaucrats were primarily responsible for imposing Bengali in Assam. It is known as the Bengali amlamohri theory. But
thanks to the painstacking research of several Assamese writers and researchers, it has been proved beyond doubt that
the Bri sh knew the difference between Bengali and Assamese very well. So they were not simpletons to be befooled or
misled by Bengali clerks and to replace Assamese with Bengali.

We on behalf of Asomia Ja ya Abhidhan working at Ja ya Bhavan Jorhat, have shown that the Bri sh had conducted
thorough research about Assamese and other languages of Assam in the first two decades of 19th century itself. We
have not only unearthed but also publised the mauscript of the 1810 Vocabularies of Sanskrit, Assamese and Kamarupi,
compiled by Ruchinath Buragohain of Jorhat, Assam. Retrieved from the Bri sh Library deposited there by Dr Francis
Buchanon Hamilton, this 2500-entry word vocabulary was compiled in Kolkata itself, under the patronge of Dr
Hamiliton.That the Bri sh were conduc ng extensive research about Assamese and other eastern languages is made
amply clear by our retrievd and publishing of again a er two centuries of compila on, another 10 languages vocabulary.
Patronised again by Dr Buchanon Hamilton, and completed at Kolkata, chiefly by Raja Brajanath Singha, an Ahom prince
from Assam, this vocabulary has English, Bengali, Assamese, Manipuri, Garo, Kachari, Mech. This was completed in 1814,
long before the Bri sh had taken over Assam.

So it would be a travesty of truth to say that the Bri sh did not know about the difference of Assamese and Bengali and
therefore they had imposed Bengali being misled by a few Bengalis. It proved the point that being fully aware of the
individuality of Assamese and Bengali, the Bri sh hed imposed the la er so as to plant the seed of division, hatred and
long las ng, endless fratricides between two neighbouring na onali es, having similar cultures.

The Assamese intellegen a, supported by the American Bap st Missioneries were eminently successful in reinsta ng
their language in the offices, courts and schools of Assam. Assamese replaced Bengali again in 1873 A.D. From then
onward the newly emerging Assamese middle class strengthened and ghtened its grip over the state machinary. The
Bengali middle class hold over jobs in P&T, Raiways, banks, tea gardens and other professions eased out leading to
Assamese sway. But the remnants of the old influence was s ll lurking, or so thought the Assamese middle-class.

This class had an unenviable task, that of assimila ng a huge number of immigrants brought in by Bri sh imperialism.
The popula on of Assam had dwindled to one third of its original, thanks to the civil war called Moamoria Rebellion and
the Myanmarese invasions. Now the Bri sh trepled the popula on by bringing in Adibasis to work in tea gardens, and
east Bengal Muslims to cul vate in the riverine tracts, besides Bengali Hindus to man the administra on.

The slowly emerging Assamese middle class, s ll in trauma of Moamoria Rebellion and Myanmarese invasious could not
devise ways to assimilate the huge immigrant masses in a democra c way. The tea planter-satradhikar-land lord-
bureaucrat class which ran the post independence state rather used the 'sta st' way of assimila on. The immediate
a ermath of independence was marked by 1950 riots, leading to the deaths of hundreds, may be thousands, and
displacement of several lakhs to newly formed Eastern Pakistan. Most of them could not come back to Assam before
1951 census & NRC, hence they and their progenies were also le out of the process. It created a chronic problem
though temporarily led to the majority of Assamese speakers in 1951 census.

But the Assamese 'state' class wanted to be doubtly sure about its con nued hegemony. So the 1960 Assam Official
Language Act, and agita on leading to it, were given shape to. While Ranjit Borpuzari and Surya Bora died for the cause
of Assamese language, archival data mined by us shows the death of atleast 39 persons. Most of the remaining were
Bengali Hindus, and about a dozen Muslims from erstwhile east Bengal, upholding the Assamese cause. But examina on
of more, hitherto unexplored, archival data shows that the number of death could be around 100! The 1972 Assamese
Medium agita on followed more or less the same pa ern, keeping alive the legacy of Assamese-Bengali conflicts.

The Assamese Bengali conflicts were interspersed by Hindu-Muslim, Assamese-Bodo and Assamese-Marwari conflicts
and riots, more o en than not. This illustrates violent compe ons between and among middle and upper classes of

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11/26/2018 Frontier articles on Society & Politics

concerned na onali es and ethnici es.

The 1979-83 Assam Movement was the logical culmina on of the 1950, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1974 and all other
intermi ent conflicts and classes. It was a free for all, resul ng in collec ve doom and death of nearly 10,000 people.
The process of Assamese na onality forma on was grievously hurt during this period.

One would have expected that a collec ve self-cri cism and realisa on would emerge from the catastrophe, a phoenix
would emerge from the ashes. But alas the vicious circle of communalism and chauvinism, state and ethnic terror is
rolling on, gaining higher momentum with passage of me.

The ma er of Na onal Register of Ci zens (NRC), an otherwise innocuous, legal, cons tu onal document, came up in
such a context.There cannot be a yes or no, support or oppose op on to this. It is simply because in the backdrop of the
communal se ngs of two par ons and the recently communally recharged situa on under a communal-fascist
dispensa on such a massive and poten ally explosive excercise would not be le unu lised. We cannot ignore the fact
though under declared Supreme Court supervision, the ni y gri es of the implementa on part of NRC is le to a vicious
and callous bureaucre c machinery.

A basic ques on here is that, can the le trust a state, more specifically a communal fascist state of the semi-neocolonial
era to perform the du es of impar ally comple ng an NRC? More prac cally, can one expect the bureaucracy to do
jus ce to a communally differen ated, discriminated, mass of illiterate poor? What about the 4 million le out of the
process? What do we do with them when Bengladesh closes the door on them? Do we disenfrenchise these millions and
categorise them as second class ci zens (or non-ci zens) allowing them only work permits? Is it a ques on of human
rights only that we give them food and water and deprive them of other democra c rights?

The Bri sh had engineered these large scale migra ons into Assam and the Bri sh had projected them as eternal
enemies of the Assamese people. Globalisa on has turned out millions of people the world over out of their homes, has
forced them to migrate to the remotest corner of the world and has projected them as enemies of the local people.
Same here. But instead of exposing and realising the sinister, divisive designs of these imperalist forces are we figh ng it
out in the people-to--people level only? These are ques ons that would con nue to dog us for some days to come.

Meanwhile, as an interim measure, the NRC is to be completed. As per Supreme Court instruc on no harassment to
those who are le out. Rather opportuni es for them to be provided. Here a friend has very per nently suggested that it
is the bounden duty of the state to complete the NRC. Therefore the state would have go to the people, door to door,
much like census and voters list opera ons. The people cannot be forced to shu le between home and NRC offices
umpteen mes by foregoing their bread and bu er.

Euphoria over, those who in ally supported NRC are now crying hoarse over alleged inclusion of foreigners while there
are millions who are crying for their exclusion alleging they are communally le out. Things are back to square one. As if
we are standing on the threshold of 1950, pre-first NRC days.

The fate of Assam cannot be allowed to hang in the balance forever like this. Neither can one allow the sword of
Damocles to hang above peoples' heads. To recall 1950, 1960, 1972, 1974, 1979-83 are not the only halmarks of Assam's
history. Those were milestones of a bloody road. But then, there was yet another road, a road less traversed, but
glorious though. The road of a united freedom struggle from 1826-1947, the 1966 Food Movement, the 1968 Refinery
Movement, the 1974 Students Movement. Assam would have to choose the second road for its survival and onward
march, NRC or no-NRC. A decisive-conclusive fight against the Siamese twins of communalism-chauvinism beckons upon
us. Whether united le - as there are instances of several strems capitula ng to those forces-can take upon themselves
this challenging task of democra sa on of the polity would be crystal-clear very soon.

In spite of the dark clouds around, one sees a silver lining in that despite wide-spread provoca ons, the people, most
importantly the Assamese people, have so far refused to indulge in any kind of violence on NRC issue. All is not lost yet.

Fron er
Vol. 51, No.7, Aug 19 - 25, 2018

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