Nellie massacre report highlights demographic change, says Himanta ahead of its tabling

The Nellie massacre of February 18, 1983 is one of the biggest acts of mass violence in independent India. Officially, 1,800 people — mostly Bengali Muslims — were killed and homes torched. Unofficial accounts put the death toll at around 3,000. No one was ever arrested.

Following the massacre, the Congress government in the state set up an inquiry commission headed by IAS officer Tribhuvan Prasad Tewary. Its report was never made public.

Sarma said Thursday: “As far as I have studied, the commission said that initially, there were various incidents that took place before the Nellie incident which antagonized the tribal population. As retaliation, the tribals attacked the immigrant Muslim community. However, the highlight of the report is not about the incident. The highlight is about the demographic changes that have happened in Assam since 1951, how farmlands for the local citizens of Assam were reducing in those days, and how Assamese at large were losing their economic, political and cultural identity.”

He added: “The report is still relevant. It is a part of our history, so we should not keep it under lock and key. That’s why we decided to circulate the report for better understanding.”

The killings had taken place amid the controversial 1983 Assam Assembly election, which was held while the state was under President’s Rule and in the grip of the mass Assam Agitation. The agitation had begun in 1979 to demand the detection and deportation of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The election had been boycotted by the agitationists — led by the All Assam Students’ Union and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad.
Following the election, the Congress government led by Hiteshwar Saikia, in July 1983, constituted the ‘Commission of Enquiry on Assam Disturbances’ led by Tewary.

The commission’s terms of reference were to ‘look into the circumstances leading to the disturbances which took place in the State of Assam during January to April 1983’; ‘to examine the measures taken by the concerned authorities to anticipate, prevent and deal with these disturbances and to assess adequacy whereof and indicate whether there were any deficiency or failures on the part of any authority or individuals’; and ‘to suggest measures to prevent recurrence of such incidence in future and to make such other recommendations as the commission may deem fit to make’.

On the report never being made public, the Chief Minister said Thursday: “When we inquired, we found that in 1987, the then chief minister Prafulla Mahanta placed the report in the House but promised that he was going to supply printed copies in the days to come. However, printed copies were never provided with the MPs, MLAs. Even our Assembly library does not have a copy. The state Cabinet has decided that in the coming Assembly session, we will circulate the report among MLAs and also place copies in the library on November 25.”