The tale of illegal migrants into Assam is old, told by all observers but swept under the carpet by the Congress and its Muslim supporters

What happened in Darrang district a few days ago, whereby two alleged infiltrators were killed, was sad but reflected the historic agony of the Assamese people. Under the Government of India Act of 1935, provincial governments were formed by political parties. Soon enough, a Sir Mohammed Saadulla of the Muslim League became the Premier. In the 1937 elections, the League led by MA Jinnah was disappointed with its meagre winnings in UP, the largest province. Talk of a distinctly separate Muslim holy land began in seriousness.

The idea was first concretely mooted by the poet Iqbal who presided over the 1930 League session at Allahabad. A few years later, Cambridge University scholar Chaudhry Rehmat Ali worked out a theoretical note and innovated the name Pakistan, the land of the devout. Jinnah’s idea was that five provinces should form the holy land including Assam, Bengal, North-West Frontier, Punjab and Sindh. Balochistan came in later. From the Muslim majority angle, Assam appeared touch and go to Jinnah although the Hindu impression was that they had a clear majority. Premier Saadulla got down to the business of facilitating as many east Bengali Muslims to come across and settle in Assam. A whispering campaign was started that the Adivasis were not really Hindus but worshipped animals or were Christian. There was thus a race to somehow prove that there were more Muslims in Assam than Hindus.

In the course of a discussion at Shillong in 1945, Viceroy Lord Wavell noted in his diary that while the reason for the encouragement of this migration was officially justified as being to grow more food, the real object was to increase Mohammadans (as recorded by BK Nehru in his book Nice Guys Finish Second). The tale of illegal migrants into Assam is an old one told by all observers but swept under the carpet by the Congress and its Muslim supporters. Other distinguished Muslims like Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and late Pakistan PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who openly expressed the view that without Assam, the economy of East Pakistan could not be complete.

The entire episode is heart rending for those who care for Assam. The writer has often visited the state and seen all its tea growing sub-districts. He was there for some ten days during the 1983 elections, which were boycotted by those who loved Assam. In many of the assembly constituencies, the voting was pathetically low although the Hiteswar Saikia Government had ensured perfect law and order. Most of the electoral officers in the heartland constituencies and the booths therein were manned by men flown in from other States. Nevertheless, for five days, the Assamese districts seemed as dead as graveyards.

Quoting from the Hindustan Standard, a well patronized Kolkata daily of those days, Rajendra Prasad in his book India Divided, stated: “It is sad but by no means improbable that in another 30 years Sibsagar district will be the only part of Assam in which an Assamese will find himself at home.”

The Census Report of 1941 completes the story with a short but significant sentence, quoted: “The most noticeable rise in the Muslim population is in Assam and once again represents migration from Mymensingh and east Bengal generally.” This policy of colonisation of Assam by the Muslims of Bengal was continued under the joint auspices of the Muslim League ministries of Sir Saadullah in Assam and Sir Nazimuddin in Bengal, as the following Bengal Government communique published in the press, in the last week of October 1944, shows. It goes on to quote the Census Report of 1941: “The Government of Assam in their resolution dated the 21st June 1940 prohibited settlement of land with persons coming from outside the province after the 1st January, 1938 — The Bengal Legislative Council went on to appeal to the Governor to ask for the Viceroy’s intervention in Assam.

Dr Prasad quoted a retired SP Desai (ICS) writing in Hindustan Standard of December 1944: “Every day, new bamboo sheds and temporary huts are springing up in the reserves. I found that the immigrants absolutely ignore the local officers.” The few Nepali graziers and Assamese Pamuas finding no protection from anywhere give ‘dohai’ in the name of the King Emperor. Verily, the cup of humiliation for the Assamese was full.

Thus the Indira Gandhi Government in collaboration with Assam CM Hiteswar Saikia suppressed the people of Assam and their sentiments. They continued to protest and agitate but to no avail. As if to rub salt on their wounds, the Central Government passed the pernicious Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act in 1983. Hereby, in Assam the onus of proving that a particular person is an infiltrator rested with his complainant or the Government of Assam, not on the suspect. The Foreigners Act of 1946, whereby the onus of proving his bona fides is on the suspect, continued to apply to all other States in India. The only exception made was Assam to help out the illegal migrants. When travelling from Guwahati to Shillong, one does not spontaneously realise when one has crossed from Assam to Meghalaya. Yet in the latter State, the Central law was the old 1946 Act! Such was the discrimination against the Assamese people.

(This is part of an ongoing series on India making multi-dimensional advancement across States and nations).

(The writer is a well-known columnist, an author and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. The views expressed are personal.)