DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i03.011

Pages: 547-551

Assam has been the historic “melting pot” of diverse ethnic identities. However this “melting pot” is now considered to have become an “ethnic cauldron”. Assam has witnessed numerous conflicts in the recent times. These conflicts have demonstrated themselves in many ways. They were sometimes demands for recognition of a particular language as the official language, at times upsurges for separate state, sometimes stir for greater share in development and in the most extreme cases were secessionist demands. The phenomenon started immediately after Independence with Naga insurgency demanding secession from India. This was intensified in the 1980s as demand for secession or separate homeland spread to various groups in the region. It started with the ULFA, then the Bodoland movement. Then the Karbis of the Karbi Anglong district launched a movement for autonomous state. In return, the demand for “ethnic” homeland was adopted by various other groups of the state such as the Mising, the Tiwas, and the Rabhas etc. Each of these groups today has its own autonomous district council with varying powers, with or without well-defined territorial boundaries. The process has not attained a closure yet. Since many years the Koch-Rajbonshis have been agitating for a separate Kamatapur state incorporating 11 districts in the Brahmaputra valley and 6 districts in North Bengal region. The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) contention for ‘Nagalim’ (Naga homeland) incorporates a large tract of land which is habitat of several tribes of Assam like the Karbis, Dimasa-Kacharis etc. Together with these, there is the looming immigrant’s issue that has been propelling immense tension in the social and political context of Assam.