EMERGENCE OF BODO AS A POWERFUL LANGUAGE

                                                               HIRA CHARAN NARJINARI

“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.”

                                                      – Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) American Author and Poet.

Fifty years ago from now Bodo became the medium of instructions in the Lower Primary Schools in the predominantly Bodo inhabited areas in Assam. After journeying for forty years as unclassified language Bodo received constitutional recognition only in 2003 when it was incorporated in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is gratifying and a matter of great pride that Bodo has become by dint of its great thrust to emerge as the living language towards the middle of the 20^th century. 

C.S. Mullan, Superintendent of Census, in his Census Report for 1931 has described Assam as a province of “a philologist’s paradise for it is a veritable Babel.” In the statistics of language in Imperial Table XV languages of Assam we find (1) Vernaculars of Assam, (2) Vernaculars of India outside Assam, (3) Vernaculars of Asiatic Countries outside India, and (4) European Languages. This was not the case with early Assam as many of the languages for example Bengali and Assamese were not even born when a class of people speaking Bodo language was already in occupation of the Brahmaputra valley. The Assamese speaking people were the late intruders into Assam and before they came to Assam, the Bodos had already in occupation of the Brahmaputra and Surma Valleys, and the languages of the Baric (Bodo) division of the Sino-Tibetan family such as Meches, Koches, Tipras and Dimasas, were spoken on both sides of the Brahmaputra and Surma Valleys and these two valleys were under the control of the Baric or Bodo people.[1]

The Bodos were the most powerful race of ancient Assam. They ruled over the whole of ancient Assam since or before the advent of the Vedic Aryans into the province. They ruled under various dynastic names like Danav, Asur, Kirat and Mlechha. During the historic times they ruled under the dynastic names of Varman, Stambha and Pal. Prior to the coming of the Ahoms in 1228 A.D. eastern Assam was ruled by four branches of the Bodo family named Kachari, Chutiya, Moran and Matak. In Western Assam the Bodos ruled over Koch Bihar, Bijni, Darrang and Beltola near Guwahati.

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It is said that the ancestors of the modern Bodos came into contact first with the Mediterraneans, then with the Alpines and lastly with the Vedic Aryans and that the Vedic Aryans met the ancestors of the Bodos of the Brahmaputra Valley in about 1000 B.C.[2] When the Vedic Aryans immigrated into ancient Assam they found the forefathers of the modern Bodos completely different from them in features, customs, religion, culture, manners and language and they, out of abomination towards them, gave them the name of Asura, Kirata, Danav and Mlechha.

 Mlechhas of Pragjyotish are modern Bodos

The Mahabharata calls the ancient Assam then known as Pragjyotish as a Mlechha Kingdom i.e., a Mlechha Desh, and was ruled over by king Bhagadatta who is always spoken of in respectful and even eulogistic terms (e.g., Sabha Parva, xxxv. 1000-1; and 1.1834; Udyoga Parva, clxvi. 5804; and Karna Parva, v. 104-5) and in other passages it is called a Danava or Asura kingdom ruled over by the demons Naraka and Mura (Vana Parva, xii. 488; Udyog Parva., xlvii. 1887-92; Harivamsa., cxxi. 6791-9; cxxii. 6873 etc.)[3]  F.E. Pargiter states that the people of Pragjyotish were all Mlechhas.[4]  An Assamese scholar named Dr. Tarun Chandra Sharma also confirms this when he writes, “From the records in the Epics – the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (dated c. +1000 – 800 B.C.), it is known that the northeastern frontier Kingdom of India, a Mlechha territory ruled by the Bodo kings, referred to as Danabas and Asuras by the Aryans of the Ganga valley, was known as Pragjyotisha (the eastern land of Astrology) and later as Kamarupa with its central shrine of mother goddess Kamakhya on the Nilachal hill overlooking the mighty Brahmaputra within the present metropolitan complex of Gauhati.”[5]

The greatest testimony to the Bodos being descended from Narak and his son Bhagadatta is conclusively confirmed by Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji when he said, “The Great Bodo people of Assam (are) the Offspring of the Son of Vishnu and Mother Earth.”[6]  Who was this son of Vishnu and Mother Earth? He was none other than Narak Asur, the father of celebrated king of Pragjyotish named Bhagadatta who had been indiscriminately described as Kirat or Mlechha.

That Mlechhas of Pragjyotish were later called Mech has been widely accepted by distinguished scholars like B.C. Allen,[7] J.N. Farquhar, [8] Grierson, [9] Rev. Endle[10],  Vasu,[11] and many others who state that the word Mech is derived from the Sanskrit word Mlechha.  We may therefore presume that the population of Pragjyotish or Kamrup was chiefly consisted of Mlechha or Mech race.  Even today in many parts of Assam there are people who call themselves Mech. In Dimapur in the state of Nagaland they are still

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known as Mech.  The British, however, knew them as Kacharis. In Western Darrang and North Kamrup, however, they spoke of themselves as Bodo. In Goalpara they were commonly known as Mech, but presently they are known as Bodo. At the foot of the Garo Hills they were known as Hojai or Hajong. In Nowgaon, Hojai Kacharis were found but they were locally known as Lalung. The Kacharis of North Kachar Hills spoke themselves as Dimasa.[12] In Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Cooch Behar they are known as Mech.  As late as 1881, the Bodo group of people constituted one-third of the population of the Brahmaputra valley.

We are then persuaded to say that the forefathers of the Bodo people were abhorrently given the name of Mlechha by the Vedic Aryans and their language was called Mlechha language. In the course of time these Mlechha people were again designated by their neighbours variously as Mech, Kachari, Koch, Tripuri, Dimasa, Garo, Rabha etc. It was B.H. Hodgson who for the first time used the name Bodo to describe the Mech or Kachari people. [13]  The Report of the Census of Assam 1881 has rightly remarked that Hodgson has “conferred the genuine name of Bodo, being the title given to themselves by the most numerous branch of the race, namely, the Kacharis.”[14] Subsequently in 1903, G.A. Grierson while compiling his famous Linguistic Survey of India, adopted this generic name Bodo to denote the Meches, Koches, Kacharis, Garos, Rabhas, Dimasas, Lalungs, Tripuris etc.

Language of the ancestors of the Bodos

If the people of Pragjyotish were all Mlechhas then their speech is supposed to be of Mlechha tongue. The Mahabharata distinctly mentions of a language called Mlechha which was the language of the Mlechhadesh otherwise also known as Kiratdesh. This country is identified with Pragjyotish which was known in the medieval period as Kamrup and finally it received the modern name of Assam.  

It is interesting to note that Krishna-Dvaipāyana Vyāsa distinctly states that Yudhishthira and Vidura spoke in Mleccha language so that others except Yudhishthira might not know what Vidura wanted to pass on to Yudhishthira. He also says that Vidura was conversant with the Mlechha language and Yudhishthira too was conversant with that language (Adi Parva, Section CXLVII). This reveals that during the time of the Mahabharata Mlechha language was used for clandestine communication or exchange of secret information in written form or verbally. There are several internal evidences in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana that people in those days spoke multiple languages. However, it cannot be ascertained for sure whether the Mlechha language spoken by Vidura and yudhishthira was akin to

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the Mlechha language spoken by king Bhagadatta. It requires further investigation to be undertaken by linguistic scholars.

Recent linguistic researches made by Scott Delancey of University of Oregon, confirms the high antiquity of Bodo. He says that Proto-Bodo-Garo preceded Indo-Aryans and during the time of Kamrup kingdom and probably several centuries before, Proto-Bodo was a lingua franca throughout the Brahmaputra plains and up into the surrounding hills.[15]

According to Franҫois Jacquesson, archaeologically there is no evidence to show Indo-Aryan cultures east of the river Karatoya border before Christian era and Assamese and Bengali languages were latecomers in northeastern India.[16]

Bodo-speaking areas

The languages of the Bodo group were spoken by peoples living on both sides of the Brahmaputra and Surma rivers, and up the Brahmaputra Valley and into the northern Naga Hills. The Assamese who occupied the valleys of these two rivers were comparatively late intruders. From the distribution of the Bodo peoples and their linguistic ties with other branches of Bodo group across these two rivers clearly indicated that the Bodos occupied both valleys before the Aryans came.[17]

Robert Shafer postulates that the languages of the Baric (Bodo) division of the Sino-Tibetan family such as  Meches, Koches, Tipras and Dimasas, were spoken on both  sides of the Brahmaputra and Surma Valleys and before the Aryans came there these two valleys were under the control of the Baric or Bodo people.[18]  He also postulates that the ancient kingdoms of Anga, Vanga and Kalinga were ruled over by the Tibeto-Burmans and these names have been sanskritised from Tibeto-Burmic  Aṅ, Waṅ or Vaṅ and Ka-liṅ or Kliṅ.[19] He argues that the termination ṅg is not rare in Sanskrit, neither is it particularly common, but ṅ is particularly common as a final Sino-Tibetan languages. Therefore he concluded saying, “We may suspect that the non-Aryan names of the Ganges and of the three kingdoms at its mouth were originally Gaṅ, Aṅ, Waṅ or Vaṅ and K-liṅ or Kliṅ; that when the Aryan invaders took over the words they added the usual endings – ā for rivers and a for peoples, and, although Sanskrit could have final - ṅ, it could not have final ṅā or - ṅa and so a – g – had to be inserted.”[20] According to him “the Baric people are not only the closest Tibeto-Burmans to the old kingdoms of Vaṅga, Aṅga and Kaliṅga but these rivers

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provided them easy descent to the mouth of the Ganges, from which they could spread down the coast and up the Ganges.”[21] 

Dr. Chatterji has also corroborated this view. He states, “At one time Bodo or Boro group of speeches were current throughout the entire valley of the Brahmaputra, in North Bengal up to northern Bihar, and in East and South-East Bengal. This very extensive Bodo block is, however, broken up due to the intrusion of the Aryan Assamese and Bengali.”[22]

The population of North-Eastern Bengal and Lower Assam as well as of all the lower eastern hills was chiefly Bodos. In this regard in 1874, G. Campbell furnished a clear picture of Bodo-speaking areas which is as under:

“In the border plains of Eastern Bengal, Assam, and Cachar, and the lower hills bounding these countries, we come on a group of tongues evidently very nearly allied to one another, and which show that a large number of tribes, extending, under very different conditions, over a wide extent of country, and known by different names, are in fact closely cognate. This fact is the more important, because a large part of the population of Eastern Bengal is universally recognized to be cognate to the tribes speaking these languages. This group comprises the Cooches and Meches of Cooch Behar the sub-Himalayan Dooars and Goalpara, the Cacharees and Mekirs of Assam and Cachar, the Garos of the Garo Hills, and the Tipperahs of Hill Tipperah. Most of the civilized Cooches have lost their language, but all their traditions acknowledge their relationship to the Meches, who speak a language regarding which there can be no doubt under the name of Rajbunsees, Pullees, &c., people nearly allied to these form a large proportion of the population of the great districts of Rungpore and Dinagepore, as well as of Julpigoree, Goalpara, and parts of Assam. They are also found in the Dacca and Mymensingh districts. Probably then these people form the main stock of the population of North-East Bengal and Lower Assam as well as of all the lower eastern hills.”[23]   

About twenty-five years later, H.H. Risley stated that the linguistic evidence shows that at one time they extended over the whole of Assam. He writes:

“Linguistics evidence shows that at one time they extended over the whole of the present province west of Manipur and the Naga Hills, excepting only the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, which are inhabited by people speaking another language akin to the Mon-Khmer dialects of Indo-China. To the north of the Khasi Hills

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they occupied the whole or nearly the whole of the Brahmaputra valley. To the west they made the Garo Hills their own. To the south they extended over the plains of Cachar, and further, over the present state of Hill Tippera.”[24]

Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji has identified certain tracts where, he conjectures, Bodo was spoken about 1000 years ago. He delivered a series of lectures on 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd November 1947 at Jorhat, Assam, which became the nucleus of his work called Kirata-jana-Kriti. Now if we deduct 1000 years from the year 1947 A.D. we get approximately 947 A.D.  So during 947 A.D. Bodo was spoken not only in Brahmaputra valley but in almost all the districts of Eastern Bengal-Pakistan-Bangladesh. Regarding the wide extension of Bodo language Dr. Chatterji writes thus:

“Judging from the wide range of extension of their language, the Boḍos appear first to have settled over the entire Brahmaputra valley, and extended west into North Bengal (in Koch Bihar, Rangpur and Dinajpur districts); they may have pushed into North Bihar also, and the Indo-Mongoloids who penetrated into North Bihar might equally have been either Bodos or ‘Himalayan’ tribes allied to the Newars. They skirted the southern bend of the Brahmaputra and occupied the Garo Hills, where, as Garos, they form a bloc of Boḍo speech. South of the Garo Hills they spread in northern Mymensing, where the semi-Bengalised Haijong tribe is of Boḍo origin. From Nowgong district in Assam their area of occupation extended to Cachar district (particularly in the North Cachar Hills) and into Sylhet, and from Cachar and Sylhet they moved further to the south, to Tripurā State, where there is still a Boḍo-speeking bloc in the shape of the Tipra tribe which founded the State; and from Tripurā they spread into Comilla and possibly Noakhali districts: and thus they occupied the mouths of the Ganges by the eastern sea.”[25]

Bodo Influence

There is a great reason to believe that Bodo was at one time widely spoken over a great portion of the Brahmaputra Valley, as well as in the adjoining districts of north-east Bengal.[26]  Thus said Endle about the influence of Bodo …“ the names of many of the principal rivers of Assam begin with the syllable, “Di,” which is perhaps the Kachári (Bodo) word (“dŭі,” “dі”) for “water,” e.g., Dі-hong, Dі-bong, Dі-bru, Dі-hing, Dі-sáng, Dі-khu, Dі-soi, Dі-ju, Dі-mu, Dі-mangal, Dі-krang, Dі-kurai, Dі-puta, Dі-má gasum (“black water”), Dі-ang, &c., (cf. Dimápur – Dŭіmápúr, e.g., River-town, the old Kachári capital on the Dhansiri River).”[27] This has also been corroborated by the famous historian of Assam named Sir Edward Albert Gait who wrote thus: “The wide extent and long duration of Bodo domination is shown by the frequent

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occurrence of the prefix di or ti, the Bodo word for water, in the river names of the Brahmaputra valley and the adjoining country to the west, e.g., Dibru, Dikhu, Dihing, Dibong, Disang, Diphang, Dimla, etc. In some cases the old name is disappearing – the Dichu river, for instance, is now better known as the Jaldhāka – while in others it has already gone, as in the case of Brahmaputra, which in the early days of Ahom rule was known as the Ti-lao.”[28]

Dr. Praphulladatta Goswami has also acknowledged the influence of Bodo on Assamese. He found Kachari or Bodo substratum in Assamese language and states that a number of words of a domestic type and even verb roots have come from Kachari or Bodo. He opines that the Kacharis or Bodos have even indirectly contributed to Assamese culture. The first important work of early Assamese literature is the translation of the Ramayana and the translator Madhava Kandali records: I have made – that everyone might understand – the sweet verses of the Ramayana at the request of King Mahamanikya.”[29] Mahamanikya was a Bodo king belonging to the second half of the 14^th century. This is one of the instances to state that Bodo kings took keen interest to develop Assamese language. Had King Mahamanikhya not patronized translation of the Ramayana then today’s Assamese scholars could not have possessed such early Assamese literature.

 Modern Assamese people brag of their rich literature and refer to the 13^th century A.D. as the beginning of Assamese literature. They however forget the hands of Bodo rulers behind the development of Assamese language. It was the Bodo ruler of Kamatapur in West Assam under whose instance Hema Saraswati composed “his Bhāgavata Purāṇa story of Prahlāda in Assamese verse.”[30]

Plight of Bodo till 1952

The Bodos suffered much from external pressure like the Ahoms who came from the east and occupied the Brahmaputra valley and ruled it for centuries till the British annexed it. Risley says:

“The Bodo country was also invaded from the south, and this within the last two centuries…But the most important invasion was that of Aryan culture from the west. With its language it has occupied the plains of Dacca, Sylhet, and Cachar, so that the Bodos of the Garo Hills are now separated from their kinsmen of Hill Tippera by a wide tract filled with a population speaking an Aryan language. So, too, with the valley of the Brahmaputra. It is almost completely Aryanised, and the old Bodo languages are gradually dying out.”[31]

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The Bodos confronted Aryan invasion, colonization, and above all, movement for assimilation in Assamese culture by Sankardev, the greatest religious reformer of Assam. In course of time a great many Bodos became ashamed of their own language, and used it less and finally stopped passing their language to their children which caused a great decline in number of Bodo speakers.

The impact of the Aryan culture had been so much so that the Bodos completely abandoned their original tongue in some tracts of the Bodo country. As for example, the Bodo-Kachari kings of Cachar like Ramchandradhwaj Narayan, Surdarpa Narayan, Krishnachandra Narayan and Govindachandra Narayan became experts in Bengali language that they began composing verses in Bengali language.[32]  The ancient Bodo Kingdom of Cooch Behar claimed Bengali as its language abandoning its proper tongue. “In Kamrup and Goalpara, the former head-quarters of the Kingdom of Kamrup, the speakers of the Aryan Assamese and Bengali are counted by hundreds, while those of Bodo are counted by tens.”[33] 

Disappearance of Bodo language was becoming imminent. Having acutely observed this trend among the Bodo speakers, the famous Assam historian Sir Edward Albert Gait in 1906 had prophesied: “The Bodo dialects, though still spoken in Assam by more than half a million persons, are in their turn giving way to Aryan languages (Assamese and Bengali), and their complete disappearance is only a matter of time.”[34]

Emergence of Bodo as a distinct Language

From such a deplorable state and despite having lack of script, written language and literature, transmission of Bodo language continued from children to grandchildren in a number of domains.  Bodo language emerged as a distinct language from the middle of the 20^th century when a pioneering effort in preserving Bodo and popularizing the Bodo literature was stamped by forming Bodo Sahitya Sabha on 16 November 1952, the biggest literary body of the Bodos in Eastern India. In fact, this organization has been playing a crucial role in coordinating effort of the Bodo poets, scholars and authors. They hold an Annual Conference every year, with pomp which is attended by numerous big and small Bodo literary organizations, from both far and near.  A highpoint in the history of the Bodo language is the socio-political movement that was launched by Bodo organizations since the second half of the last century onwards. It was due to their relentless effort that this language was finally introduced as the medium of instruction in the primary schools in Bodo dominated areas in 1963.

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Bodo is now one of the famous languages of Northeast India. It has become one of the official languages of the Indian state of Assam.  Bodo is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Bodo people of West Bengal, Tripura, Nepal and Bangladesh, apart from Indian state of Assam. It is one of the 22 languages recognized by the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Bodo language is enriched inherently. It is regarded a substantial language of the Bodo group under the Assam-Burmese group of languages. There are no records indicating the origin of Bodo language. However, it is known to be a branch of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The language also bears a close links with the Dimasa language of Assam and the Garo language of Meghalaya. Bodo is further regarded as a closely related language of Kokborok language spoken in Tripura. Bodo language is officially scripted employing Devanagari script, although it also has a prolonged history of utilizing the Roman Script. Some researchers also are of the view that the language originally made use of a now-lost Script called Deodhai.     

Today Bodo is at par with Assamese in terms of constitutional status. Once the Bodo children were taught through Assamese medium why not then Assamese children are taught now through Bodo medium? While studying in Assamese medium schools Bodo children retained their own tongue, with certain exception, similarly, Assamese children can study in Bodo medium schools and at the same time retain their tongue. After all Bodo is now a language of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Long before the present status of Bodo, Upendra Nath Brahma (now fondly and popularly called Bodofa) foresaw importance of Bodo. That is why in 1987 he urged the Assamese people to read, speak Bodo and accept it as link language. Thus he said:

 “…the Bodos the Kacharis – the original master ruler of Assam whose language is the most aboriginal and widespread in Assam can also ask – why not the Assamese people read, speak and accept Bodo as a whole for a link language and for the integrity of Assam? Will the Assamese agree?”[35]     

I wonder in awe and amazement that despite the onslaught of the Aryan language and Indo-Aryan languages in the past, our Bodo language has managed to stay alive. Though the Bodo language was unwritten, without a script and without recorded literature, it has survived the ravages of time. Imagine how great and wonderful it is to know that Bodo language still exists in the world to this day and age. Today Bodo is a language of literature and a language of Bodoland.

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REFERENCES

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[1] Robert Shafer, “Classification of the Northernmost Naga Languages”, Journal of the Bihar Research Society, Vol. XXXIX, September 1953, Part III, pp. 225-226.

[2] K.L. Barua, ‘Prehistoric Culture in Assam’, in The Journal of the Assam Research Society, Vol. VII, July 1939, No. 2, p.38.

[3] F.E. Pargiter, The Markandeya Purana. Translated with Notes, 1904, p.328.

[4] F.E. Pargiter, The Markandeya Purana, Translated with Notes, 1904, p.328

[5] Dr. T.C. Sharma, “The Culture and Civilization of Assam” in Nagen Saikia, ed. Assam and the Assamese Mind, 1980, pp. 15-16.

[6] Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, The Place of Assam in the History and Civilization of India, 1955, p.18

[7] B.C. Allen, Assam District Gazetteer, Vol. III, 1905, p. 46

[8] J.N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movement in India, 1915, p. 134

[9] J.N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movement in India, 1915, p. 134

[10] Rev. S. Endle, The Kacharis, 1911, Appendix-I p. 81.

[11] N.N. Vasu, The Social History of Kamarupa, Vol. II, Reprint 1983, p.157

[12] Rev. S. Endle, Outline Grammar of the Kachari (Bara) Language, 1884, p. vi.

[13] B.H. Hodgson, ‘On the Origin, Location, Numbers, Creed, Customs, Character and Condition of the Koch, Bodo and Dhimal People with a general description of the Climate they dwell in,’ Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1849, Vol. XVIII, pp. 702-747.

[14] Report on the Census of Assam, 1881, p.63.

[15] Scott Delancy, On the Origins of Bodo-Garo. Available at http://www.academia.edu/226363/On_the_Origins_of_Bodo-Garo

[16] www.ohll.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/pages/documents.../francois-jacquesson-2.ppt

[17] Robert Shafer, ‘Classification of the Northernmost Naga Languages’, in the Journal of the Bihar Research Socieyt, Vol. XXXIX, September 1953, Part III, p. 225.

[18] Robert Shafer, JBRS, Vol. 39,  1953, Part III, p.226

[19] Ibid.

[20] Robert Shafer, Ethnography of Ancient India, 1954, p.14.

[21] Robert Shafer, JBRS, Vol. 39,  1953, Part III, p.226

[22] Suniti Kumar Chatterji, ‘Adivasi Languages and Literatures of India’, in The Cultural Heritage of India, Vol. V, 2^nd  Edition, 1978, p.667.

[23] G. Campbell, Specimens of Languages of India, 1874, p.3.

[24] H.H. Risley, Census of India 1901, Vol. I, India, Part-I – Report, p.263

[25] Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Kirāta-Jana-Kŗti, The Indo-Mongoloids their contribution to the history and culture of India, Reprinted in April 1998, p. 46

[26] Rev. S. Endle, Outline Grammar of the Kachári (Båṛå) Language as spoken in District Darrang, Assam, 1884, p.iii.

[27] Rev. S. Endle, Outline Grammar of the Kachári (Båṛå) Language, 1884, Preface, iv.

[28] E.A. Gait, A History of Assam, 1906, p.5

[29] Dr. Praphulladatta Goswami in his Introduction to the book Boro Kacharis Janashitya written by Bhavendra Narzy, 1957, pp.2-4.

[30] Suniti Kumar Chatterji, The Place of Assam in the History and Civilisation of India, 1955, p.65.

[31] H.H. Risley, Census of India 1901, Vol. I, India, Part-I – Report, p.264

[32] Manicharan Barman, Hoirimba Bhasa Prabesh, 1320 B.S. pp. ১৷৷৵-১৸৴৹

[33] H.H. Risley, Census of India 1901, Vol. I, India, Part-I – Report, p.264

[34] E.A. Gait, A History of Assam, 1906, p.6

[35] U.N. Brahma, Why Separate State, 1987, pp.31-32

Delinquency of a Scholar

                               Hira Charan Narjinari

An article entitled “Thomnaloi Goichilo”, written by Dr. Ramesh Chandra Kalita, which appeared on 29 January 2014 in an Assamese Daily called Asomiya Khabar, drew my attention. As I went through the article I had found that once again Dr. Kalita has used his pen to attack and decry the Bodo people in a way which is unbecoming of a scholar like him.

It appears that Dr. Kalita is having a bee in his bonnet which is why he is frequently writing in an eccentric way against the Bodo people and against their demand for a separate State. He is beating about the bush to prove that Bodo people do not possess any history and that their demand for a homeland is unjustified. Furthermore, he believes heart and soul that creation of Bodoland Territorial Council was undemocratic. However, it has been observed that, whenever he writes he writes without giving chapter and verse for his statement.

His thoughts are all moonshine in that that he compares Bodoland Territorial Council with the ancient Roman Amphitheatre. He accuses Sonia-Manmohan-Rahul of Delhi and Tarun Gogoi of Dispur for turning Bodoland Territorial Council area into an ancient Roman Amphitheatre where live human beings(probably he means non-Bodos) are being left to be devoured by fierce animals (he certainly means Bodo people) and accuses them for watching and enjoying hilariously the plight of those live human beings from afar. By equating Bodo people with fierce animals Dr. Kalita has shown his absolute hatred towards the Bodo people and it shows his debased nature. On the other hand, however, he had cautiously secreted the fiercer character of his own people which may be made out from the latest edition of Crimes in India.

Dr. Kalita is perhaps not aware of the fact that according to the latest edition of Crimes in India 2012 Statistics, published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, East Block-7 R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110066 Assam has emerged as the State with the highest rate of violent crimes during 2012. While the share of violent crimes of the total IPC crimes in the whole of India was 11.5%, the State of Assam reported the highest rate of 54.2%. Under the crimes against women, Assam has topped the chart with 89.5% as compared to the national average of 41.7 per cent.   

If we look at the district-wise IPC crimes then we will find that in the four districts of Bodoland Territorial Council area, murder constituted 16.15% (221) while in the rest of the districts of Assam it constituted 83.85% (1147). Rape in BTC area constituted only 6.24% (107) while in the rest of Assam it was 93.76% (1609). Kidnapping & Abduction in BTC area constituted only 6.56% (250) while in the rest of Assam it was 93.44% (3562). The only deviation in 2012 was the case of Riots (Sec. 143-145, 147-151, 153, 153A, 153B, 157, 158, 160 IPC) in BTC area in which out of 5077, BTC area constituted 56.27% (2857) while in the rest of Assam it constituted 43.73% (2220). This was an exceptional case as during 2012 there had been clashes between the Bodos and the immigrants Bengali Muslims.

The 2011 edition of Crimes in India 2011 Statistics also revealed that during 2011 the IPC crimes in the four districts of the Bodoland Territorial Council area were much lower than the rest of the other districts of Assam. According to Table 1.14, District-wise Incidence of Cognizable Crime (IPC) During 2011, page 251, total murder (Section 302 IPC) in Assam was 1303 out of which only 159 murders in four districts under BTC, have been reported. That is to say, total percentage of murder in 2011 in BTC area constituted only 12.20 while in the rest of the districts of Assam the percentage constituted 87.80 (1144). Total Rape (Section 376 IPC) in Assam in 2011 was 1700 out of which in BTC area only 139 rape cases have been reported. That is to say, in BTC area rape cases constituted only 8.18% (139) while in the rest of Assam it constituted 91.82% (1561). Total Kidnapping & Abduction (Sec. 363-369, 371-373 IPC) in Assam in 2011 was 3764 out of which kidnapping & abduction in BTC area was only 283 (7.52%) while in the rest of Assam it was 3481(92.48%).

From the above any average person will be able to say that BTC area is safer than the rest of Assam districts. NCRB reports for 2011 and 2012 respectively clearly reveal the fact that what Dr. Kalita has tried to educate readers through his article by furnishing fabricated story does not conform to the Government reports.

Now, for the sake of argument, based on the Government of India’s statistics on high rate of IPC crimes in Assam, we may equally term the districts of Assam save four districts under BTC following Dr. Kalita’s own words as the Roman Amphitheatre, simply because murders, rapes, and kidnapping & abductions are more rampant in other districts of Assam than in the four districts of BTC.  Will Dr. Kalita publicly condemn the Assam or Gogoi government for turning Assam into a den of murderers, rapists, kidnappers and abductors? He alleges that BTC has been given the power to oppress, rape, and kill one section of the communities (Read non-Bodos). If so, then, why not he also holds the Assam government equally responsible for violent IPC crimes which are much higher than IPC crimes committed in the BTC area?

Having considered the above statistical information furnished none other than by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, we are persuaded to say that Dr. Ramesh Chandra Kalita has deliberately taken up his pen to rouse public animosity against the Bodo people of Assam by furnishing make-believe story. Why is he holding back his pen from writing strongly against high rates of crimes under the Assam or Gogoi government? He should come out with a proposition that as IPC crime rate in Assam is higher than the national average, the creation of the State of Assam was undemocratic.  

Dr. Kalita has made outlandish statement with regard to the formation of ministry in Dispur. He states that in the present Legislative Assembly of Assam the Congress Party under the leadership of Tarun Gogoi has got absolute majority with 79 members while its ally BPF has 10 or 11 members in the Legislative Assembly, and then he argues, but Tarun Gogoi or Congress Party did not allow BPF party to form the Government because of its being minority in number. Citing this example he argues that if and when 27/30 per cent Bodo people can rule over 73/70 per cent people and if such democratic method of rule is created for the benefit of BTC then the same method should be introduced in Dispur. By saying so Dr. Kalita means that BPF party should have been allowed to form Government in Dispur. Dr. Kalita must have forgotten the fact that India is a Constitutional Democracy with a Parliamentary system of Government and at the heart of the system is a commitment to hold regular free and fair elections. These elections determine the composition of the Government, the membership of the two Houses of Parliament, the State and Union Territory Legislative Assemblies, and the Presidency and vice-Presidency.

By drawing illogical analogy, Dr. Kalita has proved himself to be utterly devoid of knowledge on the Constitutional Democracy of India. He should start studying the Constitution of India so that he might acquire knowledge as to how the democracy functions.  

Dr. Kalita states that it was the custom of the Kacharis to erect stone-pillars on the grave of deceased persons and that evidence of this kind is found in Dimapur and elsewhere which proves that in the lands where these relics are found there was Kachari kingdom. From his thesis it may be said that the ruins of Dimapur was the graveyard of the Kacharis. In all probability, Dr. Kalita’s view is not correct. In 1874, Major H.H. Godwin-Austin, the then Deputy Superintendent, Topographical Survey of India, had visited Dimapur who has left for us a vivid description of the ruined site. While describing about the stone-pillars Major Godwin-Austin states that it is difficult to say what they are intended to represent, but some thought it to be a form of lingas. He however considered that the setting up of the stone-pillars is more likely “an act of propitiation of their deities or of handing down the memory of its foundation to posterity.” I had personally visited the ruins of Dimapur in 1995 and had examined the ruined site but no trace of grave was seen or found at that time. Based on what facts Dr. Kalita, stated that it was the customary of the Kacharis to erect stone-pillars on the grave of deceased persons is best known to him. However, we shall look forward to his publishing a scholarly thesis on the subject in order that our ignorance on the matter may be removed.

According to him, Kachari and Bodo are two different septs of Mongoloid origin and at the same time he states that no stone-pillars like that of Dimapur exist in the present BTC area and therefore, he argues, the Bodos cannot claim that the said tract was their ancient homeland. Isn’t it contradictory in his conception of Kachari and Bodo? 

He states that on his way to Thomna from Nathkuchi on 8 January 2014 to attend a mass rally of O-Boro Suraksha Samiti he happened to pass through two or three Bodo villages when he observed that even at that cold season he could not see Bodo people wearing good warm attires except torn-out attires. He also remarked that women folks wrapped their bodies with torn-out gamocha (napkin) and their huts looked deplorable. He then asks as to whom BTC is for? His intention is certainly to show BTC’s indifference to economic development of the area. His description will, no doubt, sensitize the readers and create sympathies. However, Dr. Kalita has failed to acquaint his readers with the over-all economic condition of the people of Assam.

In this connection, Dr. Kalita should have gone through the Planning Commission estimates, released on 19^th March 2012, about the population of Assam living below poverty line during 2009-10. The estimates found that Assam had 37.9 per cent (116.4 lakh) population living below poverty line during 2009-10, as against 34.4 per cent (97.7 lakh) population during 2004-05. According to the 2011 Census the total population of Assam is 31169272 out of which the total population of four districts of BTC numbers 3155359 (10.12%) while in the rest of the 23 districts of Assam the total population numbers 28013913 (89.88%). Now according to Planning Commission estimates the population of Assam living below poverty line was 1 crore 16 lakhs 40 thousand. Supposing out of total population living below poverty line we consider the entire population of 3155359 (27.11%) in BTC area as living  below poverty line (which is unlikely) still then the population of the rest of Assam living below poverty line is 8484641(72.89%) which is much more on the higher side. If that is the case, then, will Dr. Kalita still shut out his eyes against the high rate of poor people in Assam living below poverty line and remain tight-lipped against the Gogoi government? Come on, Dr. Kalita, you are a lover of people you must do something to attract the Assam government to the burning issue of high rate of poverty in Assam. Will you do that through your pedagogic writing? 

The last but not the least, from the facts and figures as referred to above it is apparent that Dr. Kalita’s frenzied venture to present the Bodo people as undeserving for geo-political power and BTC as undemocratic has only revealed his ugly face. However, writing volumes with his edgeless pen against the Bodos and BTC with a jaundiced eye will not bear any fruit whatsoever.       

Where does Assam lead demographically?                                                               

                    Hira Charan Narjinari

The greatest and the most spectacular single event that took place in the history of Assam during the first half of the twentieth century was the immigration of enormous number of peasants from Bengal. Out of these immigrants an overwhelming majority of more than 90% of the land-hungry immigrants consisted of Muslims alone. And the second half of that century was wrought with infiltration of illegal East Pakistanis/Bangladeshis into Assam.  Assam and Bengal were two separate provinces with distinct languages, cultures and religions. Naturally, inflow of Bengali-speaking Muslims into Assam meant invasion by people of different ethnic community. Therefore, while writing the 1931 Census Report C.S. Mullan had employed military term like ‘army corps’ to describe the Bengali Muslim immigration into Assam.  How the Bengali people of Bengal/Eastern Bengal province invaded Assam and settled there permanently against the wishes of the indigenous Assamese people has been brilliantly described by early Superintendents of Censuses.

Although the British annexed Assam in 1826, en masse movement of Bengalis from Bengal/East Bengal to Assam took almost a century from that time. It was only during 1901-1911 that a great change in the demography of Assam was noticed when the men of Mymensingh began to advance to Assam, “driven apparently by pressure on the soil at home.” They were joined by people of other Eastern Bengal districts, in less numbers. There had been extraordinary increases of migrants to the Char lands of Goalpara from the Bengal Districts of Mymensingh, Pabna, Bogra and Rangpur, and only few cultivators from Eastern Bengal went beyond Goalpara, and the colonists formed an appreciable element of population in all the four lower and central districts. Persons censused in the other districts of the Brahmaputra Valley were mostly clerks, traders and professional men who numbered only a few thousands.

During the whole of twentieth century the activities of Eastern Bengal peasants concentrated chiefly in the Brahmaputra valley which consisted of the districts of Goalpara, Kamrup, Nowgong, Darrang, Sibsagar and Lakhimpur. The opening of the Assam-Bengal Railway and the extension of the Eastern Bengal State Railway to Guwahati had not only greatly improved communications but had facilitated an influx of settlers to the Brahmaputra Valley from North and East Bengal. Almost every train and steamer used to bring parties of Bengali Muslim settlers and it was believed that their march would extend further up the valley and away from the river before long. It was also believed that once the good news spread in the more distant districts like Dacca and Rajshahi divisions, colonists from those divisions would begin to come to Assam.[1] Hutton remarks that “Since then these settlers have not refrained from breeding and their progeny born in Assam was not distinguishable in the Census returns, except in so far as it was predominantly Muslim which the indigenous population was not.”[2]  R.B. Vaghaiwalla as Deputy Commissioner of Goalpara during the 1940s personally saw hundreds of Muslim immigrant persons coming by trains to Goalpara. He had the same experience as Deputy Commissioner of Cachar during 1948-49 when he saw hundreds of Muslim immigrants regularly travelling by the Hill Section Railway from Badarpur to Lumding in order to go to the Brahmaputra Valley for settlement.[3]

As Goalpara was the nearest district to the Bengal frontier, settlers from East Bengal were initially most active in that district. In 1881-1891 the population of Goalpara increased by 1.4% and in 1891-1901 by 2% only but in 1901-1911 the increase shot up by 30%. E.A. Gait commented in the 1911 Census of India that the large increase of 30% was due mainly to “the extensive immigration of Muhammadans along the course of the Brahmaputra from Mymensingh, Rangpur and Pabna.”  In 1941 the total Muslim population of the district was 468924 forming 46.23% of the total population of Goalpara.

Kamrup felt the impact of immigration only in 1931 when the decadal variation rate rose suddenly from 14.20% to 27.93%. Throughout the 1921-1931 the Bengal Muslim settlers continued to immigrate into Barpeta. They filled up all the chars and riverain tracts and gradually occupied all available waste lands. There was an unprecedented increase of 69% in the population of Barpeta in 1931 which is stated to have been solely due to Eastern Bengal immigrants, chiefly from Mymensingh.[4] In the 1941 Census the population of Kamrup was 1264200 which was an increase of 287454 over 1931 population of 976746. In 1951 the population of Kamrup increased by 226192. The density of population in Kamrup had doubled in the 30 years from 198 per square mile in 1921 to 387 per square mile in 1951. In 1951-1961 the population increase of Kamrup was 38.39%.

In the Darrang district the impact of immigration was felt first in 1921, when decennial variation suddenly shot up from 11.89% to 26.67%. The increases in 1931, 1941, 1951, 1961 and 1971 were 22.68%, 26.07%, 24.25%, 39.64% and 34.62% respectively. In 1941 the total Muslim population in the district was 120995.

In Nowgong during 1911-1921 the percentage increase was being 31.9 per cent. But during 1921-1931 there was a largest percentage increase of 41.3 percent in Nowgong. During the decade immigration continued unabated and there were 56,000 more persons in Nowgong district who were born in Mymensingh. The greatest increase of population had been in mauzas Bokoni (295 per cent.), Lahorghat (163 per cent.), Laokhowa (140.5 per cent.), Dhing (126 per cent.), Namati (108 per cent.) and Juria (101 per cent.). It has been stated in the Report that those enormous increases were due almost entirely to the influx of new settlers – mainly from Mymensingh. In 1941 the total population of Muslim in the district was 250113.

Sibsagar showed in 1901 an increase of 117,310 persons or 24.4% which was  due in equal proportion to immigration and natural increase. Since 1872 Sibsagar added 280,000 to its population or 88%.[5] Of the three subdivisions of Golaghat, Sibsagar and Jorhat in 1931 the highest rate of increase had been recorded by Golaghat with 18.4 per cent. Sibsagar subdivision showed an increase of 14.4%, as against 20.5% in 1911-1921, and Jorhat, the Sadar subdivision only 8.5% as against 18.2% in 1911-1921. In 1941 the total Muslim population was 51769.

The population of Lakhimpur district was 117343 persons or 46.1% in 1901 – 16% from natural growth and 30% from immigration. The growth of Lakhimpur district had been continuous and the population had trebled since 1872.[6]  The total population of the district in 1941 was 954960 which had increased to 1126294 or 17.94% in 1951. In 1941 the total population of Muslim was 44579.

G.T. Lloyd in 1921 estimated that including children born after their arrival in Assam the total number of settlers was at least 300,000 in that year. Mullan placed their number in 1931 to be over half a million. The number of new immigrants from Mymensingh alone had been 140,000 and the old settlers were undoubtedly increasing and multiplying. It was pointed out in the Census Report for 1921 that the colonists had settled by families and not singly. This has been confirmed by the fact that out of the 338,000 persons born in Mymensingh and censused in Assam over 152,000 were women.

During the decade 1921-1931 the principal districts that were affected by Muslim invasion were Nagaon, Kamrup and Darrang where Muslims increased by 152%, 115% and 85% respectively.[7]  It was noticed in 1931 that Sibsagar and Lakhimpur were still untouched. Mullan reports: “Sibsagar and Lakhimpur are now the only districts in the Assam Valley which have remained practically untouched by the invading army of Muslim immigrants. One-fifth of the entire population of the Assam Valley is now Muslim.”[8]

By 1931, the whole complexion of the population of Assam was being altered by the permanent immigrants from Mymensingh in Bengal. This had for years been an obvious and disturbing change to all native residents in the Assam Valley.[9] It will be best to quote C.S. Mullan, the Census Superintendent for Assam himself.  

“Probably the most important event in the province during the last twenty five years – an event, moreover, which seems likely to alter permanently the whole future of Assam and to destroy more surely than did the Burmese invaders of 1820 the whole structure of Assamese culture and civilization – has been the invasion of a vast horde of land-hungry Bengali immigrants, mostly Muslims, from the districts of Eastern Bengal and in particular from Mymensingh. This invasion began sometime before 1911, and the census report of that year is the first report which makes mention of the advancing host. But, as we now know, the Bengali immigrants censused for the first time on their char lands of Goalpara in 1911 were merely the advance guard – or rather the scouts – of a huge army following closely all their heels. By 1921 the first army corps had passed into Assam and had practically conquered the district of Goalpara”[10] 

As to the change at the 1931 Census, C.S. Mullan, the Census Superintendent may again be quoted:-

“I have already remarked that by 1921 the first army corps of the invaders had conquered Goalpara. The second army corps which followed them in the years 1921-1931 has consolidated their position in that district and has also completed conquest of Nowgong. The Barpeta subdivision of Kamrup has also fallen to their attack and Darrang is being invaded. Sibsagar has so far escaped completely but the few thousand Mymensinghias in North Lakhimpur are an outpost which may, during the next decade, prove to be a valuable basis of major operations. Wheresoever the caracase, there will the vultures be gathered together – Where there is waste land thither flock the Mymensinghias. In fact the way in which they have seized upon the vacant areas in the Assam Valley seems almost uncanny. Without fuss, without tumult, without undue trouble to the district revenue staffs, a population which must amount to over half a million has transplanted itself from Bengal to the Assam Valley during the last twenty-five years. It looks like a marvel of administrative organization on the part of Government but it is nothing of the sort; the only thing I can compare it to is the mass movement of a large body of ants. It is sad but by no means improbable that in another thirty years Sibsagar district will be the only part of Assam in which an Assamese will find himself at home.”[11]

The trend continued even after the partition of India in 1947. Partition however did not “assuage the land hunger in East Pakistan.”  The border failed to create territories that acted as self-enclosed containers of human resources because it was imposed on a region with an expansionary population. People crisscrossed the border in their thousands, and most of these population movements were not authorized by the new states.[12] A booklet was produced by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in August 1963 on the subject of ‘Influx.’ In this booklet continued influx of large number of Muslims from Pakistan (East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) even after partition, has been acknowledged by the Central Government. The following extract confirms this:

“The new international boundary was not physically marked on the ground, was largely unguarded and virtually unpatrolled. Interplay of economic forces continued despite Partition. Large numbers of Muslims from East Pakistan continued to move across the open frontier into Assam, Tripura and West Bengal – for land, work, and opportunity. Their passage was illegal but economic forces proved more potent than passport and visa regulations.”[13]

In 1951, persons born in Pakistan and enumerated in Assam reached the enormous total of 833 thousand persons, out of whom excepting a bare 37 thousand enumerated in the Assam Hills Division, the vast majority of 796 thousand was enumerated in the Brahmaputra Valley alone. These huge numbers included the large number of refugees born in Pakistan who had migrated to Assam during the partition. The number of refugees in Assam in 1951 was 274 thousand, out of whom, all excepting 14 thousand were in the Assam Plains. [14]  These figures are a striking testimony to the vast number of East Bengal settlers in Assam. Even the setting up of two Dominions of India and Pakistan did not deter these settlers from continuing to pour into Assam.

The East Bengal immigrants were not natives of Assam yet enormous amount of land had to be settled with them throughout the Brahmaputra Valley. Till 1930 no exact amount of land settled with East Bengal immigrants is available. But from 1930 to 1950 we possess Reports of the Land Revenue Administration which reveal startling truth about land settled with East Bengal immigrants other than ex-tea garden labourers. During the years 1930-40 land settled with East Bengal immigrants in the Brahmaputra Valley alone was 5967 thousand acres, 58 thousand acres in Sadiya and Balipara and 137 thousand acres in Cachar. During the decade 1940-50 land settled with East Bengal immigrants was even larger in area viz. 8926 thousand acres, out of which 8702 thousand acres were settled in the Brahmaputra Valley alone and 165 thousand acres in Cachar and 59 thousand acres in Sadiya and Balipara. Thus during 20 years from 1930 to 1950, apart from Sadiya and Balipara and Cachar, 14669 thousand acres of land in the Brahmaputra Valley alone were settled with East Bengal immigrants. Can you believe the immensity of the figure? It is almost unbelievable. How many states/provinces in India during those decades siphoned off such huge amount of their lands and settled with immigrants? 

It may be noted that at a time when Muslims in Assam even did not constitute majority in no districts, they produced crimes of violence, disregarded government officials, openly announced that they were the kings and the law was not made for them.[15] Rai Bahadur P.G. Mukherji, the then Commissioner of Nowgong reports in 1931 thus:  “Their hunger for land was so great that, in their eagerness to grasp as much as they could cultivate they not infrequently encroached on Government reserves and on lands belonging to the local people from which they could be evicted only with great difficulty. In the beginning they had their own way and there was frequent friction with the indigenous population who did not like their dealings as neighbours.”[16]

But now they are stronger in number and it will be natural that they would become more aggressive in their activities. Some intellectuals have criticized C.S. Mullan’s prophecy that “in another thirty years Sibsagar district will be the only part of Assam in which an Assamese will find himself at home” is rather exaggerated and the prophecy is not likely to be fulfilled.[17] Just consider the total Muslim population of Sibsagar in 1872. They were in that year only 12619 persons but in 2001 they had increased to 85761. Mullan’s “thirty years” might be taken figuratively, but what he meant by saying this, I presume, is that a day will come when Assam will become a Muslim majority State. The 2001 Census Report on the total Muslim population in Assam is pointing towards the fulfillment of the prophecy though in a slow pace but the trend tells us that the destiny of Assam as a secular State is under great threat.

According to Mr. Pakyntein, the Superintendent of Census operation, Assam, 1961, at least 5,20,000 people migrated into Assam during 1951-61. The number of Muslim immigrants into Assam from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during this period had been worked out to be about 220,000. So the remaining 300,000 must be Hindu displaced persons and other non-Muslim persons who came to Assam from other parts of India.[18]

In 1965, Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, drafted a scheme for the prevention of Infiltration from Pakistan into Assam states under sub-title “The Problem of Illegal Immigration” in which it has been remarked thus:

“The number of illegal immigrants into Assam from Pakistan over the course of the last 12 years has been very conservatively estimated at about 250 thousand. Local unofficial estimates, however, put this figure even higher. The fact that such a large number of immigrants succeeded in illegally crossing the frontier and settling down unnoticed would prove that the measures so far taken have not been effective. Indeed very large pockets in Nowgong, Darrang, Goalpara, North Lakhimpur districts are inhabited almost entirely by Muslims, a very large proportion of whom are new immigrants.”[19] 

Nilim Dutta, Executive Director of the Strategic Research and Analysis Organisation, Guwahati, states that “the high population growth rate in Assam has declined since 1971 and has remained lower than that of India, categorically refuting assumptions of continuing illegal immigration from Bangladesh”.[20] How would Sri Dutta explain out the exclusion of about 9-10 million population of Bangladesh in 1991 from the computation? Sarifa Begum, a Bangladeshi demographer has rightly attributed the ‘missing millions’ to unregistered ‘out-migration’.[21] A study by Irvine Kamal Sadiq also reveals that the highest percentage growth rate of population of Assam occurred during 1971-1991 which registered a growth of 53.56 percent.[22] This shows that Sri Dutta’s claim that high population growth rate in Assam has declined since 1971 is not tenable.

That the Muslim population has been going on increasing decade after decade is conclusively confirmed by the Censuses since 1872. The 2001 Census reveals startling truth about this. In 2001 out of 23 districts in Assam at least 14 districts are found Muslim majority districts. Out of 14 districts 6 districts viz. Dhubri (74.29%) Barpeta (59.37%), Hailakandi (57.63%), Goalpara (53.71%),Karimganj(52.30%) and Nagaon(50.99%) Muslims form absolute majority; 4 districts viz. Marigaon (47.59%), Bongaigaon (38.52%), Cachar (36.13%), and Darrang (35.54%) are closely following and 5 districts viz. Kamrup (24.79%) Nalbari (22.10%), Kokrajhar (20.36%) Lakhimpur (16.14%)and Sonitpur (15.94%), are slowly but steadily advancing.

The first formal Census of 1872 shows that immigrant Bengali Muslims in the Brahmaputra Valley numbered only 176108 or 4.24% but now they are the malik of a few districts in the Valley.  Will critics give rational explanations as to how from an insignificant number of population in Assam, Muslim population has grown so spectacularly? Shall we disagree with the Census figures of the Muslim population in Assam enumerated in 2001?  What does the 2001Census indicate about the Muslim population compared to the 1872 Census? In 1872 the total Muslim population in Assam, excluding Sylhet and including Cachar, was 250469 persons only and in 1941 they increased to 3442479 persons but in 2001 they had shot to 8240661 persons. How did it happen? Is this solely due to natural growth?  Is migration/illegal immigration a myth or a reality?

The latest 2011 Census of India shows that the population of Assam has increased by 4513744 or 16.93% and the total population now stands at 31169272. Kamrup (Metro) has registered the highest density of population of 2010 persons per square kilometer followed by Dhubri (1171 persons per sq.km.). Once the religion-wise population of Assam as per the 2011 Census is published then it will be ascertained as to whether there was in-migration or not. In 2005 D.N. Bezboruah, Editor, The Sentinel, lamented saying, “The biggest problem facing Assam and the north-eastern States of India today is large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh. The problem is very serious today because at the present rate of influx, there is the very real danger of Assam being annexed to Bangladesh in just a couple of decades from now, and the irony of the situation is that the problem has stemmed from greed on both sides – greed for cultivable land on one side and greed for votes on the other. And now there is the remarkable poetic justice of the greed for power having infected the providers of easy illegal votes as well.”[23]  

The question of illegal Bangladeshi infiltration into Assam is still a matter to be sorted out once for all. How and when this issue will be finally settled rests with the seriousness, interest and intention of the State and Central governments.  

---

[1] G.T. Lloyd, Census of India, 1921, Vol. III, Assam, Part-I, Report, p. 42.

[2] Census of India, 1931, Vol. I, India, Part I – Report, p. 65.

[3] R.B. Vagjaiwall, Census of India, 1951, Volume XII Assam, Manipur and Tripura, Part 1-A Report, p.75.

[4] C.S. Mullan, Census of India, 1931, Assam, Volume III p.14

[5] H.H. Risley & E.A. Gait, Census of India, Volume I India Part I Report, p.46.

[6] H.H. Risley & E.A Gait, Census of India, 1901, Volume I India Part I Report, p. 46.

[7] C.S. Mullan, Census of India, 1931, Assam Vol.III Part I Report, p.193.

[8] C.S. Mullan, Ibid.

[9] J.H. Hutton, Census of India, 1931, Volume I, India, Part I, Report, p.65

[10] C.S. Mullan, Census of India, 1931, Vol. III, Part I Report, pp. 49-50.

[11] C.S. Mullan, Census of India, 1931, Volume III Assam Part I Report  p.52

[12] Willem Van Schendel, The Bengal Borderland Beyond State and Nation in South Asia, 2005, p.210.

[13] DAVP, Ministry if I&B, for Min. of External Affairs, GOI, August 1963, quoted by Sekhar Gupta in Assam: A Valley Divided, Appendix 3 p.191.

[14] R.B. Vaghaiwalla, Census of India 1951 Vol. XII, Assam, Manipur and Tripura, Part I-A Report, p. 74

[15] Harendra Nath Barua, Reflections on Assam Cum Pakistan, 1944, pp.65-66.

[16] C.S. Mullan, Census of India, 1931, Volume III, Assam, Part I, Report, p.52.

[17] H.K. Barpujari, North-East India Problems, Policies & Prospects, 1998, p.37.

[18] Census of India, 1961, Vol-III, Assam, Part I-A, General Report, p.72.

[19] Annexure 4 in Shekhar Gupta’s Assam a Valley Divided, 1984, p.201-202. 

[20] Nilim Dutta, The Myth of the Bangladeshi and Violence in Assam, available at http://kafila.org/2012/08/16/the-myth-of-the-bangladeshi-and-violence-in-assam-nilim-dutta/

[21] Bibhuti Bhusan Nandy, Space Invaders, The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, February 14, 2003.

[22] Irvine Kamal Sadiq, Paper Citizens: How Illegal Immigrants Acquire Citizenship in Developing Countries, 2009, p.42.

[23] The Sentinel, January 02, 2005.