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'Indigenous Assamese' issue irks Bodos

Nitin Gogoi in Guwahati

The Bodo tribals, said to be the original inhabitants of Assam, are up in arms over a recent proposal aimed at identifying 'indigenous Assamese' and making 100 per cent seat reservation in legislatures for this group.

A meeting of Bodo intellectuals, convened by the all-powerful All Bodo Students Union, rejected forthright, the tripartite move undertaken by the Union home ministry, the Assam government and the All Assam Students Union to make the National Register of Citizens of 1951 as the basis for identifying 'indigenous Assamese.'

'This is nothing but a ploy of the ruling clique to deprive the aboriginals of Assam like the Bodos and Misings (another tribe) of their due protection and safeguards from the intrusion of newcomers,' the meeting said. But what is the controversy all about?

A seemingly innocuous proposal put forward by AASU to evolve a definition of who is an 'Assamese,' has raised the hackles of several political parties and given rise to new social tensions in a state already riddled with multitude of problems.

According to AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya, the tripartite meeting, chaired by Joint Secretary (home) G K Pillai, agreed in principle that those people whose names figure in the NRC for Assam and their descendents would be regarded as 'Assamese people.'

In the seven districts where the NRC is not available, the meeting decided that the electoral rolls of 1952 would be taken as the base document. "Under the proposal, only these two category of people would be eligible to avail of the proposed 100 per cent seat reservation for election to local bodies, the state assembly and the Lok Sabha," Bhattacharyya said.

The AASU proposal is in the context of Clause VI of the Assam Accord signed in August 1985. This clause specifically stated that the Centre would provide 'constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.' Bhattacharyya says the formula evolved at a tripartite meeting between the Centre, the Assam government and AASU on April 10, is the best possible way to 'protect and preserve' the identity of the Assamese people.

Counters social scientist Amalendu Guha: "This proposal has very ominous portents. The base year formula will be very unfair to post-Partition immigrants who have been welcomed into India." This is precisely what AASU is opposed to. "Our proposal is not aimed at deporting or harassing post-1951 migrants. All that we are asking for is that they or their descendants may not be allowed to contest elections," Bhattacharyya counters.

This proposal raised several protests from different interest groups. The objections mainly came from different tribes and the Muslim parties. Holiram Terang of the Autonomous State Demand Committee and a Karbi tribal leader says: "The issue cannot be decided unilaterally. Neither AASU nor the state government can do it alone. The Centre must take the tribals and minorities into confidence. Such a definition of 'indigenous people,' cannot be accepted. So long as the foreigners continue to vote, reservation for indigenous people is meaningless."

ABSU, the most influential organisation among the Bodo tribals, is also unhappy with the turn of events. Says its resident Urkhao Gwra Brahma: "The entire proposal is ambiguous and confusing. The question is, who is an 'indigenous Assamese.' This attempt is nothing but a ploy to perpetuate the exploitation of the ethnic groups by the ruling clique, and to deprive the real indigenous people of their rights." Brahma said: "From an anthropological and historical point of view, the groups of Bodo people are the most indigenous people of Assam."

The minority organisations are also up in arms over the issue. The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has threatened a communal conflagration if all minority organisations and groups are not taken into confidence. In a statement, Mohammad Shamshul Ahmed, secretary of the Jamaat's northeast zone shura said: "Since the issue involves the question of constitutional safeguards, it is incumbent upon the government to take us into confidence. If that is not done, a communal flare-up is likely."

The United Minorities Front, a political party with sizeable influence among the 28 per cent Muslim population in the state, has also opposed the proposal to have 1951 NRC as the cut off date to identify or define the 'indigenous people' of Assam. After an executive meeting, the UMF said the definition will exclude a vast section of the people belonging to various religious and linguistic groups who had returned to India under the Nehru-Liaquat pact. It wanted the government to stick to the earlier agreed March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for identifying foreigners in Assam.

Under the August 1985 accord, all those who came into India after March 25, 1971 would be treated as foreigners and all the migrants who entered India before that date would be treated as Indian citizens.

Interestingly, mainline political parties have been cautious in their reaction to the raging debate. A spokesman of the ruling Asom Gana Parishad says: "As far as we are concerned, all those people belonging to tribal, non-tribal and other local ethnic groups living within the geographical boundaries of Assam are indigenous people. Moreover, all those genuine Indian citizens who have decided to live or have been living in Assam and decided to embrace or have already embraced the culture and language of Assam, are indigenous people."

The Congress is not so categorical. Says its spokesman Pankaj Bora: "The issue needs thorough discussion by all political parties. Moreover, we have only seen newspaper reports in this regard. Neither the Centre nor the state government has come up with any official statement so far. But they have neither contradicted the claims. As far as we are concerned an all-party consensus will have to emerge on the issue. The greater Assamese nationality is an all-embracing entity."

Former officials and experts also differ on what the definition of indigenous people should be and the question of seat reservation for them. Says former director general of police N N Changkakoti: "March 25, 1971 has been identified as the cut-off date to determine foreigners in Assam. All those who came into Assam after that date are foreigners so whoever came before that date are Assamese. Therefore, seat reservation should take place for all those who have been in Assam before March 25, 1971."

On his part, a former director of census operations in Assam, Nagen Dutta prefers the NRC as the base document for identifying indigenous people. "The NRC is the best document for the purpose. It is a generous document as the flow of migrants to Assam increased after 1911 but the names of all those who entered Assam up to 1951 were included in the NRC."

With an election to the state assembly slated within a year, this issue may dominate the campaign in the run-up to the poll.

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