Is that the basis of the so-called strategy of Greater Bangladesh?
Umesh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam
British AssamUnder British administration, Assam was made a part of the British
Indian province called the Bengal Presidency with its capital at Calcutta.
Sometime about 1905-1912, Assam was separated and with parts of Bengal, a
separate province of Eastern Bengal and Assam was established, with Dhaka as
the capital.
At the time of independence of India, it consisted of the original Ahom
kingdom, the present-day Arunachal Pradesh (North East Frontier Agency), Naga
Hills, original Kachari kingdom, Lushai Hills, and Garo, Khasi and Jaintia
Hills. Of the Assam province on the eve of Independence, Sylhet chose to join
Pakistan in a referendum; and the two princely states Manipur and Tripura
became Group C provinces. The capital was Shillong.
[edit] Post British period In the Post British period since 1947,
unfortunately economic indexes of the region, which were above average before
independence, began to fall compared to the rest of the country. Separatist and
militant groups began forming along ethnic lines, and demands for autonomy and
sovereignty grew, resulting in the new states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and
Mizoram in the 1960s and 1970s. The capital of Assam, which was in Shillong in
present Meghalaya, had to be moved to Dispur, now a part of an expanding
Guwahati. After the Indo-China war in 1962, Arunachal Pradesh was also
separated out.
At the turn of the last century (1900s), people from present-day Bangladesh
migrated to Assam. The British tea planters imported labour from central India
to work in the estates adding to the demographic canvas. In 1961, the
Government of Assam passed legislation making the use of Assamese language
compulsory. The legislation resulted in widespread protest in Barak Valley,
particularly by the Bengali speaking majority. Coming under intense pressure,
the Government withdrew the legislation.
In the 1980s the Brahmaputra valley saw a six-year Assam Agitation [17] that
began non-violently but became increasingly violent. The movement was triggered
by the discovery of a sudden rise in registered voters on electoral rolls. The
movement tried to force the government to identify and deport foreigners who,
the natives maintained, are illegally inundating the land from neighbouring
Bangladesh and changing the demographics, gradually pushing the indigenous
Assamese into a minority. The agitation ended after an accord between its
leaders and the Union Government. Most of the accord remains unimplemented,
causing simmering discontent. However, political parties have increasingly used
the Bangladeshi card as a vote bank rather than addressing the concerns of the
Assamese populace. Former Governor of Assam (Retd) Lt Gen. S. K. Sinha reported
explicitly on the burning problem in his report to the Government of India.[18]
Like indigenous peoples in other parts of the world, the many ethnic groups of
this region struggle to maintain their cultural heritage resulting into active
autonomy movements in the Bodo and Karbi dominated regions in the 1980s and
1990s. At the same time, added by economic stagnation, high aspirations for
development and failure of public policies in the region in almost all the
fronts, the period experienced the growth of armed secessionist groups like
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) [17] and National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB). In November 1990, the Government of India deployed the Indian
army to control the situation, leading to claims of human rights violations.
The Indian army deployment has now been institutionalised under a "Unified
Command". The low-intensity military conflict has been continuing for more than
a decade now without an end to the insurgency at sight. In recent times,
ethnicity based militant groups have also mushroomed (UPDS, DHD,
KLO, HPCD etc.) leading to violent inter-ethnic conflicts (e.g. the
Hmar-Dimasa conflict).
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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