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B.A., LL. B (Hons.)/ First Semester- December 2021

TOPIC: Political History of Assam

Submitted by:

Annangi Surya Kartikeya

A053

B.A., LL. B. (First Year)

School of Law, NMIMS (Deemed-to-be-University)

Submitted To:

Ms. Saranya Nair

School of Law, NMIMS (Deemed-to-be-University)

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Table of contents

S.R NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1 Introduction 3
2 Nineteenth century 4
3 Post-colonial era 6
4 Conclusion 9
5 References 10
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1) INTRODUCTION:

Assam is the eastern most sentinel of India endowed with enchanting and

picturesque natural beauty. The state is adorned with beautiful lush cover

of greenery, a chain of hills and rivers mainly the Brahmaputra the

Barak. It has been the living place of various races, tribes and ethnic

groups since time immemorial. The dynamics of the synthesis and

assimilation of the races make Assam glorified and rich.

Assam lost much of its territory to new states that emerged from within

its borders. The British annexed Cachar in 1832 and Jaintia Hills in 1835

In 1874, Assam became a separate province with Shillong as its capital.

Sylhet was merged with East Bengal on partition of India. With the

partition and independence of India in 1947, the district if Sylhet was

ceded to Pakistan (the eastern portion later became part of Bangladesh).

Assam occupies a unique position in the politics of the country in view

of its socio-political culture based on ethnic, culture and linguistic

diversity. The state has two natural divisions: the Brahmaputra and
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Barak valleys. Half of the land is covered by forests and hills and

another half by plains. One significant feature of Assam is that largest

area of the state is utilized for tea cultivation, covering more than 750

tea gardens and employing several lakhs of people most of whom are

non- assamese.

Assam’s backwardness is reflected in its general dependence on

primaeval agriculture with low productivity, high vulnerability to

onslaught of frequent floods, relative geographical isolation and

extreme poor transport and communication facilities. The influx of

foreign nationals, mainly from Bangladesh caused a serious socio-

political problem in state. We propose to explore the political change

in Assam from nineteenth century to the present.

2) Nineteenth century:

Nineteenth century has given rebirth to Assamese people in political,

economic, academic, linguistic, cultural and literary manner. This time

is the witness of confliction and union of heritage and western

modernism. Is’s the British ruled era starts from 1826 AD to 1794AD.

As modern Era, it is filled of own character and specifications. The

change occurs in every era has different factors in its background. Due

to such reason belongs to colonial issue, Assamese people had to face

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lots of problems, but it’s paved the way of different possibilities in

socio-cultural fields.

The nineteenth century is a very significant period in the history of

Assam. It witnessed the collapse of the Ahom monarchy which had

ruled Assam foe over six centuries and the entry of the British who

steeped in to fill the political void in the kingdom. The transition was

swift. The changeover from the old order to the new was characterized

by a complete overhauling of the administrative machinery which

heralded far-reaching political, economic and social changes in Assam.

The birth of Indian National Congress emerged a nationalist movement

in India as a whole. Beginning from the first conference of congress to

the last, the Assamese middle class of Assam representative stand

make this remarkable: Devicharan Barooah, Gopinath Bordoloi,

Satyanath Borah, Radhanath Chaangkakoty, Laxmikanta Borkakoty are

the names worth remembering. In 1888, Assamese students stayed in

Kolkata organized “Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha” inspired by

social unity and nationalist thought.

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3) POST-COLONIAL ERA:

By the term post-colonial, that means the post-independent political

status. But the fact is that the nature of Assam politics manifests a

neo-colonial trend generated by the new group of elites in independent

India.

At the outset it is worth-reviewing that at the advent of independence

Assam had to face a significant historic event, i.e., the grouping system

as suggested by the Cabinet Mission Plan. The main purpose of this

mission was to arrange the framing of a constitution setting-up of a

constitution-making body and to establish full self-government in

India. The grouping plan proposed to divide the country into three

groups, i.e., ‘A’ group comprising of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa,

Madhya Pradesh, Bombay and Madras; ‘B’ group comprising of

Panjab, North west Frontier province and the province of Sind; ‘C’

group comprising of Assam and Bengal. The grouping Plan created

uneasiness among the people of Assam.

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Except the Muslim League, the leadership of Assam viewed the idea of

group of provinces as ominous. It was feared that this idea would

negate the prospects of provincial status of Assam. It also become clear

that the groupings would be according to The Hindu and Muslim

dominated provinces, which induced the people of Assam to think that

the province might be tagged into the Muslim dominated Bengal.

Therefore, the people of Assam vehemently opposed the plan for

incorporating it into Bengal/Pakistan. Thus, Assam reacted sharply to

the grouping plan under the leadership of Gopinath Bordoloi.

The year 1947 was the watershed in the political history of Assam. The

tide of reorganizations was raising almost at the dawn of independence.

Following the separation of Sylhet Assam had lost the Eastern Duars

and was taken over by Bhutan, since this was entirely a Bhutanese

inhabited area. As a result of partition, culturally different refugees

entered Assam. This considerably affected demographic composition

in Assam. Then came the Naga question to the fore.

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From the beginning a section of people of Naga hills sought

secession. After several bargaining, Naga hills district was separated

from Assam and became a full-fledged state in 1963. The Mizo

National Front (MNF) under the leadership of Lal Denga demanded

independence for Mizoram. The Mizo hills were separated from

Assam and constituted into a Union Territory in 1972. In 1987,

Mizoram was elevated into a state. Later Meghalaya, Tripura,

Arunachal Pradesh were also elevated as states. Thus, the process of

reorganization began in 1947 had completed by 1987 resulted in the

formation of seven states in the North East.

The government and policies of Assam was largely dominated by the

Indian National Congress during 1946-79. Further, expect for a short

break of 19 months between 1978-79 and nearly 5 years break

between 1985-91 and 1996-2001, the congress has been the ruling

party in the state.

Another important issue of post-colonial politics of Assam is the rise

and growth of the United Liberation front of Assam (ULFA) a by-

product of Assam movement. The ULFA was founded on the

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7th April, 1979 at Sibasagar and upon the premises of historic

Ranghar built by ancient Ahom Kings. The ULFA members

reportedly took up guerilla warfare training largely in Kochin in Indo-

Burma boarder. They believe, as they claim in armed struggle to

achieve “scientific socialism” in a sovereign Assam by Overthrowing

the Indian bourgeois state machinery, which allegedly controls and

subjugate the people of Assam.

4) CONCLUSION:

During the entire post-colonial period, Assam experienced

innumerable social and political movements mainly based on

ethnicity plank having both peaceful political mobilization and

violent manifestations. Distinctively, the nascent middle classes of

various ethnic groups have led these movements.

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REFERENCES:

i
Rao, V.V., & Hazarika, N., A Century of Government and Politics in North

East India, Vol. 1 (Assam : 1 874- 1 980), S.Chand & Company, New Delhi,

1983, p.32)
ii
Bhuyan, A.C. et. Al., Political History of Assam, Vol.3, Government of

Assam, Dispur, Guwahati, 1980, p. 35

iii
Hazarika, Niru. “POLITICS IN ASSAM.” The Indian Journal of

Political Science, vol. 55, no. 3, Indian Political Science Association, 1994, pp.

211–20, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41855693.
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i
Bhuyan, A.C. et. Al., Political History of Assam, Vol.3, Government of Assam,

Dispur, Guwahati, 1980, p. 352.

ii

iii