Jagdamba Mall
Located on the Western edge of Assam along the state border with West Bengal on the West and Bhutan on the North, Kokrajhar distt. is a cauldron of simmering communal tension. Four major ethnic clashes over the last 60 years-involving Bodos, the first settlers, Bangladeshi Muslims and tea-garden labourers-have been born out of mistrust among the communities. The mistrust is based on land. While Bodos continue to see a separate political identity, the Adivasis (tea-garden labours) live in apprehension of losing the land and getting ousted and their resistance is manifested in waves of clashes. The Bangladeshi Muslims are foreign national who have migrated illegally from neighbouring distt. in Assam. They continue encroaching lands of Bodos.
The current clash is also a result of mistrust, the seeds of which were sowed on May 25 when a NDFB militant was killed at Howraguri in Kokrajhar distt while extorting money from a Muslims. The slain militant was not only found to be fake but he was a Muslim as well. On June 30, a Muslim carpenter was killed in Sapkata in the district and all the people of community took out the body of deceased and blamed the Bodos for the crime. The killers were later found to be members of an Adivasi militant outfit. On July 5, two more Muslims were killed at Antihara under Dotoma police station in the district and this time, too, the killers were not Bodos but from the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO).However, the Muslims’ backlash against the Bodos only gained momentum which culminated in the killing of four Bodo youths on Friday-the July 20. The next day, three more Bodos , all elderly persons, were killed.
It was in 1952 when the Bodo Hindus first clashed with Muslims. But then, the Bodos were only a part of a larger battle between the Hindus and Muslims when several Muslims wanted to join parts of Assam, mainly Goalpara distt. with East Pakistan now Bangladesh. Kokrajhar was then part of the undivided Goalpara district. In 1993 and 1994, Bodos clashed against the Muslims after the Bodo Accord, giving autonomy to Bodos, was signed by the Centre. More than 100 people were killed and at least 60,000 others from both the communities were rendered homeless. The Accord did not work but the scars of hatred only deepened. As the Accord of 1993 failed, Bodos resumed their struggle for identity and turned so fierce that there were merciless killing of Santhals in two back-to-back clashes in 1996 and 1998 when over 300 people were killed and more than 3 lakh rendered homeless. The last time, the Bodos clashed with the Muslims was in 2008 but that was far away from the heartland in Udalquri district where the dominant Bodos are surrounded by areas dominated by Bangladeshi Muslims. The two major non - Bodo land owners in the Bodo heartland are the Adivasis and Bangladeshi Muslims. While the Adivasis have occupied the forest areas, the Muslims migrants from Bangladesh live on the chars (riverine areas) and nearby land. The population of Bodos which is largest janjati group among the 23 notified STs,is just over 5% of total population of state while Muslims mostly Bangladeshi, constitute nearly 33% of the population.
The Hindu (Bodo)-Muslim communal clash which broke out on July 20 in Kokrajhar district has claimed atleast around 45 lives officially, though unofficially, the toll is reported to be at least 100 (till 25.7.12). Nearly two lakh people are rendered homeless who are leaving in 128 relief camps. Nearly one thousand houses from over 50 villages are burnt to ashes and properties worth several crores have been destroyed. The army has staged flag march in four district of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Dhubri. Eleven trains including Rajdhani Express were cancelled and 15 other regulated. The 30,000 passengers were stranded in New Jalpaiguri and Kamakhyaguri stations.
The current ethnic violence has drawn the Bodo Hindus and Muslim communities into the vortex of communal violence. Several questions are raised as to why the violence has spread like wild fire during the past 48 hrs. It appears that Bangladeshi Muslim migrants have been preparing for long to display the combating and striking strength. Kokrajhar has a population of around eight lakhs of which a little over one lakh are reported to belong to Muslim migrants. The fear of being swamped by illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators, who have been getting easy ingress from other parts of Assam, also exists among the Bodo Hindus as with the other communities in Assam. The Muslims have posed a serious threat to the very existence of Bodos. And the state Government is miserably failed to check the Muslim influx because it is their vote bank. It is pertinent to point out that the population of migrants form Bangladesh who have succeeded in permanently setting down in Assam, has become a major issue. This may be seen from the fact that out of 23 districts in 2001 census, six districts-Dhubri (74.3%), Barpeta (59.3%), Hailakandi (57.6%), Goalpara (53.7%), Karimganj (52.3%) and Nagaon (51%)- have a Muslim majority population. In Marigoan, they constitute 47.6% and in Cachar 36.1%. In 8 of 23 districts, they constitute a very small proportion ranging from 1.6% to 8%. Another point that has been noted with regard to Kokrajhar is that Muslim migrants have been used in the similar way by foreign forces to turn Assam into a Lebensraum. These Muslim forces who are well entrenched within Bharatvarsh’s northeast, have created their armed cadres to suit the insurgency prone region. And it is alleged that armed Muslim cadres are used to foment the clash. The foreign force is alleged to instigate the migrant Muslims on communal line. It is strange to notice that when Assam is burning because of attack from Bangladeshi Muslim migrants, the national media have just reported casually. The Central leaders too appear very causal in there approach. And where are the Human Rightists? It seems that they don’t find any violation of human rights of Bodos by Muslim infiltrators and by the state sponsored Muslim terrorism. What a strange?
