Assam’s dislike of bengalis knows no religion

One thing can be said about the Assamese dislike of Bengalis: it’s a totally secular dislike. The rest of India is prone to believing this lack of fondness applies exclusively to the Muslim immigrant of Bangladeshi origin, but recent incidents would confirm otherwise.

It is the whole Bengali demographic spillover that lingers as a destabilising factor in the Northeast. Whether they are Hindu or Muslim scarcely matters in this tragic fight over lebensraum. Yes, the Bengali-speaking Muslim feeds into communal picturisations too, but the Bengali Hindu is no less of an interloper in the Assamese indentitarian imagination.

Beyond Assam, the native tribals of Tripura form only 30 per cent of its population. Echoes rumble elsewhere in the region too. But it is in Assam, with its long and troubled history of ethnic violence, that a flashpoint has arisen, with grave implications locally and on the trajectory of national politics, months ahead of a general election. 

Team Modi’s takeover of the Northeast—Mizoram is the lone Congress-ruled state left, and that too may be amended by year-end—is now coming under some severe strain. The script began to unravel with the massive and flawed NRC exercise. When many Hindus too were left out of its final draft, the BJP began to overcompensate by falling back on its pet Citizens Amendment Bill.

This legislation aims primarily to extend citizenship benefits to non-Muslim refugees into India. If it thought Assam would welcome this, it’s a sign that they misread the Assamese mind. A student leader’s much-publicised embrace of ULFA is one sign of where things are headed. If that did not suffice, the bodies of five Bengali-speaking daily-wage workers lay, bullet-riddled in Tinsukia district. All Namasudras, poor Schedule Castes.

As grander themes of politics play out, one can only wish the ordinary poor do not have to pay the price. Yes, Assam needs a healing touch. But for this, politicians need to be more than mere strategists, playing with the lives of the already disenfranchised for electoral advantage.