Assam Violence

In India it is well said, “AHINSA PARMA DHARMA”, but is this really so? Nowadays all is happening contrary to it. The violence eruption is the result of ethnic, political, communal or sometimes economic conflicts. India got independence on August 15, 1947 after dividing geographically and demographically into two parts- India and Pakistan. Some people acceded to India while some to Pakistan. Even today, after 65 years of independence, the violence continuously ruining the life of innocent people. Perhaps, it is not a cup of tea of both the nations to resolve these conflicts. These kind of conflicts are blot on the face of one’s country. As I think, the major reason behind these conflicts is “Religion”. Religion is the power that binds the people of particular community and encouraged the people to remain together. But what happens when this religion becomes the cause of conflicts?

Today, we are living in a secular country. But does secularism really prevail in our country? Even today, some of the castes are considered to be not fit to touch with a barge pole even after Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who was considered “untouchable” proved himself as a legend.

Indo-Bangladesh conflict is a conflict in which two communities Bodos and Muslims conflicted with each other for their livelihood and somewhat due to demographics. Although this conflict is for the improper partitioning of land but the conflict of religion also prevail there. In Indo-Pakistan, 1971 war, after the creation of Bangladesh, the government of India (GOI) provides grasslands to the Muslim “illegal” immigrants to support them and send all the victims of East Pakistan or East Bengal to the relief camps. But based on what evidence the GOI provide them all these lands and make the local community deprive of their lands? Why the then district administrators allow Muslim immigrants to illegally grab their lands? There is no major evidence found regarding this. The Muslim illegal immigrants in collusion with the local authorities grabbed the lands. This engendered the major conflicts between Bodos and Muslim immigrants which India even today has to face. Not only Indian government, the Bangladesh Government is equally responsible for conflicts. The Bangladesh government now denies the existence of illegal migrants in India and describes them as “trafficked”. 

Nearly 3-4 million such people are living in India. But the question is that are all they “trafficked”? Bangladesh govt. is escaping from providing these people their revenue. During the formation of Bangladesh, if the East Bengalis belong to Pakistan, then why Pakistan govt. refused to provide them appropriate revenue? Now they are seeking help from India. It is not the matter of conflict between India and Bangladesh. It is a matter of conflict between East Pakistan and West Pakistan. India has no role to play in all these issues. But the fingers are also pointing towards Indian Government. If the government provided them land at that time then why didn’t the GOI make provisions for deporting them to their countries? Now the result of these conflicts is that total 11 out of 27 districts in Assam are

under the Muslim community which is illegal as considered by local communities. Why didn’t the government take necessary steps to resolve these conflicts at the time of their beginning ? Is this only because of the poor administration or any other reasons behind these questions prevail? Plethora of Questions,but nobody has answers.

Now, the necessary steps should be taken by government for Muslim illegal immigrants and Bodos so that these conflicts may not recur from time to time and place to place. Necessary negotiations should take place between Government of India and People’s Republic of Bangladesh. If the Government of Bangladesh still does not insist to accept their people back then only for the sake of humanity, Government of India should make different states and the land issues can be solved by providing necessary compensation to the victims. Nearly 4, 00,000 people got displaced during these conflicts and nearly 77 people were killed. The government is now providing shelters to these people under various schemes like Prime Minister National relief fund and Indra Awaas Yojana. One major culprit in this case is also the election commission of India. Why do the election commission not resolve the issue of default voters which are nearly 1.5 million? The problems of the doubtful voters should be tackled while preparing electoral polls of Assam. The armies should be deployed on time in case such conflicts occur. Even today, the Indo-Bangladesh borders are not properly guarded. So these borders should have proper boundaries and engineering techniques should be used to properly safeguard the borders as was done by Israel in the past. The need of the hour is that the government should take necessary steps to make deportation of the illegal migrants instead of becoming a “lame duck” as it was doing till now. If the government won’t resolve these conflicts then these will recur from time to time and place to place.

Prafull Kumar
B.Tech. (3rd year)