According to Subir Deb, the author of Story of Bengal and the Bengalis, anti-Bengali sentiment in Assam was deliberately fomented by the British in the colonial times.[11] The British designated Bengali the official language of colonially administered Assam between 1836 and 1873, which included the Bengali-majority region of Sylhet divisioninAssam Province. However, they also defined the map of Assam in such a way that many languages and communities (ethnic and indigenous) overlapped, creating language strife among the communities.[12] Colonisers also introduced the infamous "line system", which segregated Bengali settlers in Assam from its indigenous people, starting the system in Nowgong district in 1920.[11] From 1921 to 1931, the system was enforced in Nawgaon district, where immigrants constituted 14 percent of the population. It was also implemented in Barpeta sub-division of Kamrup and Darang. In 1937, a 9-member Line System Committee was formed by the government. The general consensus of the committee was that "the line system was a temporary mechanism created to check the unrestricted inflow of the immigrants into open areas and to protect the demographic composition against disruption and disturbance".[13] However, even after successive governments, the line system was not abolished, continuing to segregate Bengalis from the indigenous and tribal people.[11]
On 10 October 1960, Bimala Prasad Chaliha, the then- Chief Minister of Assam, presented a bill in the Legislative Assembly to declare Assamese as the sole official language of the Assam.[10] Ranendra Mohan Das, the then- MLA from Karimganj (North) assembly constituency and an ethnic Bengali, protested against the bill, arguing that it would impose the language of one third of the population over the remaining two thirds.[10] On 24 October, the bill was passed in the Assam legislative assembly, thereby marking Assamese as the only official language of the state. The law forcefully imposed Assamese on Bengalis in terms of employment and education. This resulted in massive protests from the Barak Valley, which was home to many East Bengali refugees. These protests succeeded in establishing Bengali as an additional official language, which led to reactive insurgency against Bengalis in Assam and numerous massacres.[12]
In 1960, the Assamese demanded to purge Bengalis from Assam.[citation needed] In June 1960, frequent attacks on Bengali Hindus started in Cotton CollegeinGuwahati and then spread to the rest of the state.[14] An Assamese mob attacked innocent Bengali Hindu settlements in the Brahmaputra Valley. The District Magistrate of Guwahati, who was a Bengali Hindu, was attacked by a mob of around 100 people inside his residence and stabbed.[15] Another Bengali Hindu, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, was also stabbed.[15] Bengali students of Guwahati University, Dibrugarh Medical College and Assam Medical College were forcibly expelled from these institutions.[16]InDibrugarh, Bengali Hindu houses were looted and burnt, and their occupants were beaten up, knifed, and driven out.[14] 500,000 Bengalis were displaced from Assam and taken to West Bengal.[8]
The Goreswar massacre was a planned attack on Bengali Hindus living in Goreswar in the Kamrup district (now the Baksa district). As per a secret July meeting at a school in Sibsagar, a students' strike was organised for the next day at Sibsagar. Groups of students and youths were sent to Jorhat, Dibrugarh, and other adjoining areas to communicate the decision of the meeting.[17] In the Brahmaputra Valley, Assamese mobs started attacking Bengalis. On 14 July 1960, riots began in Sibsagar with the looting of Bengali shops and assaults on several Bengalis. In lower Assam (Kamrup, Nowgong and Goalpara), intense violence occurred in 25 villages in Goreswar. An Assamese mob of 15,000, armed with guns and other weapons, attacked Bengali shops and houses,[18] destroying 4,019 huts and 58 houses.[17][19] According to the inquiry commission, at least nine Bengalis were killed, one woman was attacked and raped, and nearly 1,000 Bengali Hindus fled from the area during the riot.[20] The violence continued for months. Between July and September 1960, nearly 50,000 Bengali Hindus fled to West Bengal.[17]
In some districts of lower Assam, Kamrupi Bengali Hindus were harassed as foreigners and became the target of violence. On 3 January 1980, a group of students of Baganpara High School were visiting Barikadanga to supervise a three-day strike in response to a call given by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) for supporting the anti-Bengali movement.[citation needed] In 1981, the Assamese killed nearly 100 Kamrupi Bengali Hindus. Along with Assamese locals, Kamrupi Muslims attacked the Bengali Hindus and spread violence.[21]
After the Partition of India, Bengali Hindus from India and Bengali Hindu refugees from East Bengal settled in Khoirabari in the Mangaldoi sub-division of the Darrang district. During the assembly election on 14 February 1983, the activists of the Assam Agitation blocked access and cut communications to the Bengali enclaves. Indigenous Assamese groups, who held resentments toward the immigrant Bengalis, took advantage of the resulting isolation and surrounded and attacked the Bengali villages at night.[citation needed] As result, the Central Reserve Police Force and polling agents could not be sent to Khoirabari. Immigrant Bengali Hindus had taken shelter at the Khoirabari School,[22] where the indigenous Assamese mob attacked them.[22] According to Indian Police Service officer E.M. Rammohun, more than 100 immigrant Bengali Hindus refugees were killed in the massacre.[23] According to journalist Shekhar Gupta, more than 500 immigrant Bengali Hindus were killed.[24][25] The survivors took shelter in the Khoirabari railway station.[23]
In Silapathar, undivided Lakhimpur district, Assam, Bengali Hindus had been residents for two decades, as an ethnic minority in the region. In February 1983, Assamese mobs attacked the Bengali villagers with machetes, bows and arrows, burnt houses, and destroyed several bridges which connected the remote area. The villagers escaped into the jungle, and spent days without adequate food or shelter.[citation needed] Journalist Sabita Goswami claimed that according to government sources, more than 1000 people were killed in the clashes.[26] The survivors fled to Arunachal Pradesh.[27]
In the assembly elections of 1983, Indira Gandhi gave the right to vote to 4 million immigrants from Bangladesh. After the decision, the All Assam Students Union made a pogrom[28] and on 18 February 1983 attacked Bengalis in 14 villages.[29] The massacre claimed the lives of 2,191 people, with unofficial figures estimating more than 10,000 dead.[30]
No one was held responsible for these mass killings as a part of the 1985 Assam Accord.[31]
Agitation in 1979 led to frequent curfews and strikes called by the AASU and other local organisations. Trains were attacked, and central government employees of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Indian Airlines and the Railways were intimidated and asked to leave the state.[33] Various incidents of unrest occurred, including a young Assamese man stabbing his childhood Bengali friend, who had just joined the Indian Air Force, to death in the middle of the street.[2] Bengali settlements were attacked throughout the Brahmaputra Valley. In 1983, Bengali Hindus were attacked numerous times during the anti-foreign agitation.[citation needed] Abusive graffiti targeting Bengali Hindus became commonplace and Assamese rioters referred to former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu as the "Bustard son of Bengal".[5] Effigies of then- West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, hung from light posts and trees.[33]
On 1 November 2018, five Bengali Hindus were killed on the banks of Brahmaputra near Kherbari village in the Tinsukia district of Assam. United Liberation Front of Asom were suspected to be responsible for the massacre.[34]
In 2021, two Bengali Muslims were killed during an eviction drive by the Government of Assam.[35]
Bengali Hindus living in Assam are routinely called 'Bangladeshis' and harassed.[citation needed] Bengali Hindus are being targeted by Assamese nationalist organisations and political parties from time to time. They are discriminatively tagged as Bongal (outsider Bengalis) in the context of Assam's linguistic politics.[citation needed]
Some examples of discrimination include:
Morjina Bibi, from Fofanga Part I village in Assam's Goalpara district, spent nearly nine months in detention from December 2016 to July 2017, for a case of mistaken identity which was a Government fault.[citation needed]
Gopal Das, 65, committed suicide after receiving a notice from the Foreigners Tribunal in Udalguri district in spite of having his name in the 1966 voters list.[citation needed]
Sajahan Kazi, a government school teacher from Barpeta district, spent 20 years from 1997 trying to prove his citizenship.[citation needed]
Moinal Mollah of Barpeta district's Bohri village was kept in Goalpara detention camp, even though his parents and grandparents were declared as Indian citizens with the necessary documents. After three years, an NGO provided free legal assistance to Mollah, and the Supreme Court ordered his release.[7]
On 31 August 2019, the names of more than 13 lakh Bengalis were removed from the final list of N. R. C., though many of them claimed to have submitted documents of their citizenship to the Assam Government.[36]
Two Bengali Hindus were killed by the militant formation HNLC, but the killings neither drew any political or Governmental attraction and those responsible were not arrested.[37]
In the first half of the 20th century, Bihar had a large population of middle class and professional Bengalis from Madhubani, Ghatshila, Hazaribagh, Purnia, Mithila, Darbhanga and Bhagalpur. During the 15 years of RJD rule and Congress rule in the 1980s, Bengali families faced several cases of "house-grabbing," forcing the Bengali community to sell their homes and migrate to other places.[1]
During 1948, the Manbhum district forcibly imposed the Hindi language, restricting use of Bengali and eventually making Hindi the sole official language of Bihar, which resulted in massive protests.[38]
1979's Khasi Bengali riot was the first major riot in Shillong which was directed against the local Bengalis as a minority. Most of the Assamese left the area after Assam was formed, but Indian Bengalis and refugees from East Bengal stayed there.[39] Assam's Bongal Kheda influenced Meghalaya to drive Bengalis and other minorities out of the state. The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) was created on 20 March 1978 for this purpose.[citation needed]
On 22 October 1979, a fight between Khasis and Bengalis took place after a Khasi man allegedly damaged the Kali idol of Lal Villa.[40] Afterwards, Bengali houses across Laitumukhra in Shillong were burnt down by the Khasi tribes.[33] The riots escalated strife between these communities, which would continue through the 1980s and 1990s. Nearly 20,000 Bengalis were displaced from the state in 1979, mainly from the capital Shillong, following the anti-Bengali riot.[41][42] A separatist militant outfit, Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), was created, and instigated several riots in 1992.[citation needed] Most of the Bengalis moved to West Bengal or the Barak Valley of Assam, or became internal refugees in Assam.[39][43]
After 2008, the situation was relatively peaceful in Shillong. From 2006 to 2017, the HNLC members increased from 4 lakh to more than a million.[43]
In February 2020, the HNLC warned all Bengali Hindus to leave the Ichamati and Majai areas of the district within one month. In a statement, HNLC general secretary Sainkumar Nongtraw warned of “mass bloodshed” if the Bengali Hindus did not leave Meghalaya.[44] After two days, more than a dozen non-tribals (including Bengalis) were assaulted by a group of masked tribal assailants in different parts of the Khasi Hills, and ten men were stabbed in Shillong.[citation needed] Members of the Student's Union tried to burn down a house, which led to retaliation from the local non-tribals.[45]
KSU, continuing its influence in Meghalaya, put up banners and posters, saying “All Meghalaya Bengalis are Bangladeshis”.[46]
According to royal census reports, in 1947, 93 percent of Tripura's population consisted of tribal citizens who came from Mongolia, Tripuri and other parts of the world.[4][3] After the partition of India, Hindus from neighbouring Comilla, Noakhali and Chittagong districts of then East Pakistan, as well as Dacca district, fled into Tripura, the majority of them being Bengali.[citation needed] They triggered a population explosion from 646,000 in 1951 to 1.15 million in 1961 and 1.5 million in 1971. This resulted in the Tripuri tribal population shrinking to 28.5 per cent.[3] In 1977, a section of the Tripuris formed a political party called Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti (TUJS), which began to back extremist movements.[citation needed] Their motive was to drive out "foreigners," i.e. Bengalis, from the state.[citation needed] TUJS leaders drew up an action programme for Bengali expulsion in the 1980s.[47]
Mandwi, an obscure village located about 60 km north east of Agartala, is inhabited primarily by Tripuri with a Bengali minority. On the night of 6 June 1980, armed Tripuri tribal insurgent groups began to block the nontribal localities and to commit arson, violence and murder.[citation needed] Thousands of Bengalis took shelter near the National Highway 44, and a relief camp was established at Khayerpur School where initial relief was administered to the Bengali refugees.[citation needed]
From the afternoon of 7 June, the situation worsened, with reports of large-scale arson and looting in Jirania block, as well as arson on Bengali villages in Champaknagar and the foothills of Baramura. Many Bengalis had taken shelter at the police outpost in Mandwi, which remained unmanned. An entire village was fired in Purba Noabadi. In Mandwi almost all houses and huts were destroyed, and 350-400 Bengalis were killed.[citation needed] Those who survived were given shelter across different schools of Agartala.[48]
Bagber is a village under the Kalyanpur police station in the West Tripura districtofTripura.[49] In May 2000, during the ongoing ethnic riots, scores of Bengali Hindus had taken shelter at a refugee camp in Bagber.[50] On 20 May, a heavily armed group of around 60 NLFT militants raided the Bagber village.[51] The militants then targeted the inmates at the refugee camp, where they killed around 20 and injured several others. The CRPF personnel deployed at Bagber didn't protest when the massacre took place.[52]
The governments of Tripura and Mizoram and representatives of Bru organisations signed an agreement on 16 January 2019 to allow nearly 35,000 Bru tribal people, who were displaced from Mizoram and lived in Tripura as refugees since 1997, to settle permanently in Tripura.[9] The Tripura government selected 12 places including Kanchanpur.[53] This resulted in conflicts between the Brus and the local Bengali non-tribal people who used to live there for decades.[6] Protests took place against the settlement, and the state government used violence in despersing the mobs.[citation needed] Over 6,000 people were thrown out of their homes by Bru migrants.[4] After the violence of 10 December, Nagarik Suraksha Mancha was formed for the protection of Bengalis.[6] On 21 November 2020, one Bengali was killed and more than 20 were injured in open fire from police.[53]
Myanmar
On 25 August 2017, Hindu villages in a cluster known as Kha Maung Seik in the northern Maungdaw DistrictofRakhine State in Myanmar were attacked, and 99 Bengali Hindu villagers were massacred by Muslim insurgents from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). A month later, the Myanmar Army discovered mass graves containing the corpses of 45 Hindus, most of whom were women and children.[54]
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With the growth of the Hindi-speaking population, in many areas Bengalis are forced to speak in Hindi and not in Bengali. Two Bengali women in Burra Bazar, West Bengal were lynched and harassed by non-Bengalis, because of talking in Bengali. They were termed as "Bangladeshis" when they were attacked.[55]
Bengali-speaking daily wage workers in Bangalore have accused the police and government of harassing them for identification, even sometimes forcing them to leave jobs. At Thubarahalli in the eastern outskirts of Bengaluru, around 12,000 Bengali-speaking people in the city live in unrest and fear. They allege that police demand a long list of documents branding them as 'Bangladeshis', and that many have been forced into hiding.[56]
Anti-Bengali and accused to be anti-Bengali organisations
The "Bharatiya Janata Party" (BJP) is considered in some cases to be anti-Bengali, due to its non-Bengali culture and anti-Bengali demands and controversial anti-Bengali comments. [citation needed]
According to Nobel laureateAmartya Sen, BJP defines Bengalis with a narrow mindset and pursues aggressive policies of parochialism, in contrast to what Sen considers a quintessential Bengali pluralism.[57]
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused, "They (BJP) brought miscreants on hire from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, specifically to go on the rampage here and destroy heritage in Bengal".[57]
BJP MP John Barla demanded a partition of Bengal to create a separate state or union territory for the north,[58] which was not supported by ethnic groups in North Bengal.[59]
In Tripura, the BJP-lead Central Government has agreed to the Bru-resettlement where more than 3000 Bengalis lost their land. Also, Tripura chief minister from BJP, Biplab Kumar Deb, says non-Hindi speakers do not love their country.[65]
The Nagarik Suraksha Mancha, a jointly-formed organisation for Bengalis, has blamed TIPRA Motha (The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance) for the plight of Bengalis in Tripura. On 9 February 2021, an FIR was lodged against Debbarma and TIPRA for allegedly spreading anti-Bengali sentiment to the people.[6][better source needed]
Protests against discrimination and linguistic imposition
80 percent of Assam's Barak Valley are Bengali and speak the Bangla language, but a bill was passed in the Assam legislative assembly making Assamese the sole official language of the state.[66] On 5 February 1961, the Cachar Gana Sangram Parishad was formed to protest the imposition of Assamese in the Bengali-speaking Barak Valley. People soon started protesting in Silchar, Karimganj and Hailakandi.[67] On 24 April, the Parishad flagged off a fortnight-long padayatra in the Barak Valley to raise awareness among the masses, which ended after 200 miles reaching to Silchar on 2 May.[66]
On 18 May, the Assam police arrested three prominent leaders of the movement, namely Nalinikanta Das, Rathindranath Sen and Bidhubhushan Chowdhury, the editor of weekly Yugashakti. On 19 May, the dawn to dusk hartal started. Picketing started in the sub-divisional towns of Silchar, Karimganj and Hailakandi. A Bedford truck carrying nine arrested activists from Katigorah was fired and the truck driver and the policemen escorting the arrested fled the spot.[67] Soon after that the paramilitary forces, guarding the railway station, started beating the protesters with rifle butts and batons without any provocation from them. They fired 17 rounds into the crowd. Twelve persons received bullet wounds and were carried to hospitals. Nine of them died that day. Two more persons died later. One person, Krishna Kanta Biswas survived for another 24 hours with a bullet wound in chest.[68]
On 20 May, the people of Silchar held a procession with the bodies of the martyrs in protest of the killings.[66] After the incident and more protests, the Assam government had to withdraw the circular and Bengali was ultimately given official status in the three districts of Barak Valley.[69][70]
Organisations protesting against anti-Bengali sentiment
United Bengali Liberation Front: United Bengali Liberation Front (UNLF), designed as a militant group, was created to protect Indian Bengalis against Tripuri militants and other tribal groups. The UBLF came into existence in 1995 after the ATTF was formed with the aim of decimating Bengali Hindus living in Tripura.[citation needed] The UBLF, though not a proscribed outfit under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002, has been banned by the State government for its involvement in the activities of separatist killings and murders.[71]
United Bangal Liberation Army: United Bangal Liberation Army (UBLA) is a Bengali outfit that claims to stand upright for the Bengalis. They condemned atrocities and discrimination against the Bengali people in Meghaloya since 1979. They released an ultimatum against anti-Bengali activities, warning of serious consequences.[72]
Amra Bangalee: In 1981, amid anti-Bengali violence in Northeast India, Amra Bangalee sparked protests.[73] The socio-political party is based on Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar's Progressive Utilization Theory.[74][75] The party's primary goal was to stop Bengali eviction in Assam and North East. They won some gram panchayat seats in the elections. In the 1980s, they entered the Tripura Legislative Assembly. Amra Bangalee also demands a separate state as a homeland for Bengalis, where the Bengali language would be used in all official and non-official works.[76]
Lok Sewak Sangh was formed during the Manbhum Bengali language movement to promote use of the Bengali language in Bengali-dominated areas in southern Bihar state.[77] They labelled the imposition of Hindi as 'linguistic imperialism'.[78] After breaking with the Indian National Congress, their elected officials resigned and were re-elected on LSS tickets.[78]
Nagarik Suraksha Mancha was formed during the 2020 Bru-resettlement in Tripura, when Bengali lands were given to the Bru tribals and police violence against Bengalis occurred.[6] The organisation provided the government with an 11-point demand, which includes repatriating Bru migrants to Mizoram and compensating those affected by violence during anti-CAB protests.[4] They placed strikes and protests against the government to secure land for Bengalis. They also accused Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, scion of the Tripura royal family, to be the cause of recent discrimination of Bengalis and anti-Bengali sentiment in Tripura.[6]
Bangla Pokkho during its first national conference
Bangla Pokkho was founded in 2019 by Indian Statistical Institute professor Garga Chatterjee, to protest Hindi and Urdu linguistic and cultural imposition. The organisation demands 100% reservation of government jobs for residents of West Bengal[79] and 90% reservation in other job sectors, education, military, and administrative works.[80] Bangla Pokkho's demands resulted in the beginning of domicile reservation in Calcutta University [81] and Jadavpur University,[82] the cancellation of expelling Bengalis in WBSEDCL,[83] and allowing majority Bengali players in Cricket Association of Bengal as well as the inclusion of Bengali language in online platforms.
Bangla Pokkho, along with Kanchanpur Nagarik Surakkha Mancha, cultivated a protest in Tripura that gathered more than 30,000 Bengalis to complain about social discrimination of Bengalis and the Bru-resettlement by the Tripura state BJP Government.[84]
Bangla o Bangla Bhasha Bachao Committee: Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee (BOBBBC) is a Siliguri-based organisation that protested against the Gorkhaland formation. They accused GJM of anti-Bengali works in Darjeeling.[85][86]
Jatiya Bangla Sommelan: Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan was created on 9 December 2019 as a split from Bangla Pokkho. Both Jatiyo Bangla Sommelon and Bangla Pokkho came into being to counter the "imposition of Hindi" and "north Indian culture".[87] Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan has demonstrated against the Citizenship Amendment Act in different parts of West Bengal.[88] In 2020, Jatiyo Bangla Sammelan protested against performing Chhath puja at two ecologically important lakes (Rabindra Sarobar and Subhas Sarobar). Although performing rituals in these lakes was prohibited by National Green Tribunal (NGT), the West Bengal government had appealed before the NGT and moved to the Supreme Court of India to allow Chhath puja in Rabindra Sarobar, the plea was rejected. But the Supreme Court also gave the state government no relief. The organisation set up a night-long vigil at the entry points to the lake to prevent anyone from entering the premises. Thousands of devotees had entered the lake and performed puja. The personnel of Kolkata Police were reluctant in enforcing NGT orders.[89] Jatiyo Bangla Sommelon has held and led various protests against "Hindi-imposition" in Kolkata and elsewhere in West Bengal. The aim of these protests was to counter the imposition of Hindi on Bengalis, the Central Government's National Education Policy and a perceived threat to the culture of west bengal.[90][91]
Bhumiputra Unnayan Morcha of India: Bhumiputra Unnayan Morcha of India (BHUMI) was founded on 16 July 2020 with a vision to spread political and social awareness among the people of Bengal and India to achieve constitutional rights and social justice and resist the forceful impose of any foreign language and culture.[92][93]
^Dutta, Uddipan (31 December 2012). "Chapter 4: Communal Riots on Language Issues"(PDF). The Role of Language Management and Language Conflict in the Transition of Post Colonial Assamese Identity (PhD). Gauhati University. p. 98-99. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
^Hussain, Monirul (1 February 2009). Sibaji Pratim Basu (ed.). The Fleeing People of South Asia: Selections from Refugee Watch. Anthem. p. 261. ISBN978-8190583572.
^Van Schendel, Willem (2005). The Bengal Borderland: Beyond State and Nation in South Asia. Anthem Press. p. 197. ISBN978-1-84331-145-4. Bengali-speaking Indian citizens living in India ... resented being portrayed as infiltrators ... Fearing for their position, they began creating organizations to protect their interests, e.g. 'Amra Bangali' ... 'If the eviction of Bengalis from Assam does not stop, all Bengal will be set afire!' Slogan of the political group Amra Bangali ... 1981.
Others: Anandabazar Displaced People's Committee, All India Bengali Refugees Association, Unnayan Mancha, Bangalee Oikya Mancha, Tripura Joint Movement Committee, Nikhil Bharat Bangali Udbastu Samanway Samiti, Banglabhasha Bachao Samiti, Jana Jagaran Morcha etc. are some other small scale organisations protesting against anti-Bengali sentiment in India.
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