Nellie massacre

{{Short description|A pogrom against Miya people in Assam state}}

{{Infobox civilian attack

| title = Nellie Massacre

| partof =

| image =

| image_size =

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| caption =

| map = {{Location map|India|width = 300|float = right|label = Assam |marksize = 8 |lat_deg = 26.111483 |lon_deg = 92.317253}}

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| location = Assam, India

| target = Immigrant Bengal-origin Muslims{{sfn|Kimura|2013|p=1}}"There is a sharp difference between Bengal-origin Muslim in Assam and Bengali Muslim. Often I notice people from outside Assam confusing the two, including the national media in articles published outside the state. We identify ourselves as Bengal-origin Assamese Muslims. We are not Bengali. We are not Bengali Muslims. The Muslims in Assam’s Barak Valley often identify themselves as Bengali Muslims, not us. But we have not been able to make people from the outside see the difference." {{harvcol|Pisharoty|2019}}

| perpetrator = A mob of a several hundred Tiwas{{cite book |last1=Vijayan |first1=Suchitra |title=Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India |date=February 2021 |publisher=Melville House Publishing |isbn=978-1-61219-858-3 |pages=133, 137}}

| coordinates = {{coord|26.111483|92.317253|display=inline}}

| date = 18 February 1983

| type = Deportation, mass murder

| fatalities = 2,000 - 3,000

| perpetrators =

| susperps =

| weapons =

| motive = *Retaliation and revenge (for inciting incidents)

Anti-immigration{{cite web|title=Nellie Massacre: 40 Years Later, a Cautionary Tale for Today's India|url=https://thewire.in/communalism/nellie-massacre-40-years-later-a-cautionary-tale-for-todays-india|quote=The physical violence flowed directly from the emotive violence generated by the agitation, which sought the expulsion of “illegal Bengalis/Bangladeshis” from Assam.}}
Anti-Bengali sentiment and Anti-Miya sentiment
Islamophobia{{cite web|title=Muslim cleansing: A global pandemic?|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/12/22/muslim-cleansing-a-global-pandemic|quote=The roots of Hindu violent mobs attacking Muslims in India is of course as old as British incitement of communal violence to sustain their own rule. The list of systematic Muslim massacres is gruesome: From 1964 in Kolkata and 1983 in Nellie to 1987 in Hashimpura all the way to the Gujarat slaughter of Muslims in 2002, in which Narendra Modi, who is now the prime minister of India, was accused of orchestrating the violence. }}

}}

The Nellie massacre took place in central Assam during a six-hour period on the morning of 18 February 1983."...the majority of the participants were rural peasants belonging to mainstream communities, or from the lower strata of the caste system categorized as Scheduled Castes or Other Backward Classes". {{harv|Kimura|2013|p=5}}{{cite news |last1=Kokrajhar |last2=Dhubri |title=Killing for a homeland |newspaper=The Economist Banyan blog |date=24 August 2012 |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/08/ethnic-fissures-assam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825124214/https://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/08/ethnic-fissures-assam |archive-date=25 August 2012 |url-access=subscription }} The massacre claimed the lives of 3000 people"On February 18, 1983 about 3000 Muslims of East Bengal origin were killed in several villages around Nellie." {{harvcol|Kimura|2013|pp=68}} from 14 villages—Alisingha, Khulapathar, Basundhari, Bugduba Beel, Bugduba Habi, Borjola, Butuni, Dongabori, Indurmari, Mati Parbat, Muladhari, Mati Parbat no. 8, Silbheta, Borburi and Nellie—of Nagaon district.{{Citation

| last = Rehman

| first = Teresa

| title = Nellie Revisited: The Horror's Nagging Shadow

| newspaper = Tehelka

| date = 2006-09-30

| url = http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp?filename=Ne093006the_horrors.asp

| access-date = 2008-02-19

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061111192753/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp?filename=Ne093006the_horrors.asp

| archive-date = 11 November 2006

| url-status = dead

}} The victims were migrants of Bengali Muslim descent.{{citation |first=Makiko |last=Kimura |chapter=The Nellie Massacre |editor1=Meghna Guhathakurta |editor2=Willem van Schendel |title=The Bangladesh Reader: History, Culture, Politics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haGORCJRlOUC&pg=PA480 |year=2013b |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-5318-8 |page=481}}: "In this incident, the local people, including the Assamese and tribes... attacked the Muslim immigrants from East Bengal."{{cite news | last =Mander | first =Harsh | title =Nellie : India's forgotten massacre | date =14 December 2008 | url =http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/12/14/stories/2008121450100300.htm | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081216010719/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/12/14/stories/2008121450100300.htm | url-status =dead | archive-date =16 December 2008 | newspaper =The Hindu |access-date=9 October 2012}}: "A crowd quickly gathered: the older men with checked lungis and beards could easily be distinguished as people of East Bengali Muslim origin." Three media personnel—Hemendra Narayan of The Indian Express, Bedabrata Lahkar of The Assam Tribune, and Sharma of ABC—were witnesses.{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/17665743 |title=Genesis of Nellie massacre and Assam agitation |author=Main Uddin |access-date=5 April 2016}}

The violence that took place in Nellie by natives—mostly rural peasants—was seen as a fallout of the decision to hold the controversial state elections in 1983"The purpose of this study is to assess the verdict, if any, of Assam's controversial elections which were held in February 1983, under conditions of widespread violence and obviously incompetent official arrangements of electoral facilities." {{harvcol|Dasgupta|Guha|1985|p=843}} in the midst of the Assam Agitation, after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's decision to give four million Bengali Muslims the right to vote.{{cite web |url=http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb1908/at02 |title=83 polls were a mistake: KPS Gill |publisher=Assam Tribune |date=18 February 2008 |access-date=2 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207000801/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb1908%2Fat02 |archive-date=7 February 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=14&id=224178&usrsess=1|title=25 years on...Nellie still haunts|last=Goel|first=Rekha|publisher=The Statesman|access-date=2011-12-08}}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} It has been described as one of the worst pogroms since World War II and one of the deadliest pogroms against a minority community in post partition India.{{cite book|last=Hussain|first=Monirul|title=The Fleeing People of South Asia: Selections from Refugee Watch|date=1 February 2009|publisher=Anthem|isbn=978-8190583572|page=261|editor=Sibaji Pratim Basu}}{{Cite web |title=Nellie Massacre: 40 Years Later, a Cautionary Tale for Today's India |url=https://thewire.in/communalism/nellie-massacre-40-years-later-a-cautionary-tale-for-todays-india |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=The Wire}}

Context

In 1978, Lok Sabha member Hiralal Patwari died, necessitating a by-election in the Mangaldoi Lok Sabha Constituency. During the process of the election it was noticed that the electorate had grown phenomenally. Investigation revealed that there had been mass inclusion of alleged illegal migrants.{{citation |first=Kanchan |last=Gupta |title=Beyond the poll rhetoric of BJP's contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill |newspaper=Orf |publisher=Observer Research Foundation |date=2019 |url=https://www.orfonline.org/research/beyond-poll-rhetoric-bjps-contentious-citizenship-amendment-bill-50499/ |ref={{sfnref|Gupta, Beyond the poll rehetoric|2019}}}} "A close scrutiny of the electoral rolls indicated that there had been mass inclusion of names of illegal immigrants, prompting AASU to demand that the by-election be called off..."{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/17665743 |title=Genesis of Nellie massacre and Assam agitation |author=Main Uddin |access-date=5 April 2016}}: "Significantly the Election Commission reviewed the list and found 68.28 percent of the allegations to be true. After Election Commission's assessment it came to light that 45 thousand illegal foreigners are listed in the voter's list." The All Assam Students Union (AASU) demanded that the elections be postponed until the names of 'foreign nationals' were deleted from the electoral rolls. The AASU subsequently launched an agitation to compel the government to identify and expel allegedly illegal immigrants.{{cite web |url=http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/assam/documents/papers/assam_accord_1985.htm|title=Tripartite talks to review the implementation of the Assam Accord held in New Delhi on 31.05.2000|publisher=SATP|access-date=2 August 2012}}

The central government attempted to placate the Assamese by agreeing to proscribe any migrants who entered the state after March 1971 from voting, and proceeded with the elections. The Assamese, demanding an earlier cutoff date, were inimical to the government's decision, as were the Lalung (Tiwa) tribals who resented the proliferation of Bengali immigrants onto their land. Conversely, the Bengali communities (both Hindu and Muslim) as well as the Plains Tribal Council of Assam, an organization composed exclusively of Boro tribals opposed to Assamese hegemony, supported the elections, and subsequent inter-ethnic violence unfolded.{{Cite journal |last=Weiner |first=Myron |date=1983 |title=The Political Demography of Assam's Anti-Immigrant Movement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1973053 |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=279–292 |doi=10.2307/1973053 |jstor=1973053 |issn=0098-7921}}

The ethnic clash that took place in Nellie was seen as a fallout of the decision to hold the controversial Assembly elections in 1983 (boycotted by the AASU) despite stiff opposition from several elements in the state. Police officials had suggested to hold the polls in phases in order to avoid violence. According to then Assam Inspector General of Police, KPS Gill, there were 63 constituencies, where elections could have been held without any trouble. Among the rest, the Assam police had declared there were 23 constituencies where it was "impossible to hold any election." Nellie was cited as one of the "troubled" spots before the elections. 400 companies of Central Paramilitary Force and 11 brigades of the Indian Army were deployed to guard Assam while the polls were scheduled to take place in phases.

Vajpayee's Comments

In a speech, Atal Bihari Vajpayee expressed concerns about the government's inaction towards foreigners: "Foreigners have arrived, and the government remains inactive. Imagine if they had entered Punjab – people would have dealt with them harshly and would chopped them into pieces and thrown them away". Following the speech, violence erupted in Nellie. Vajpayee, returning to New Delhi from Assam, strongly condemned the Nellie massacre. This quote attributed to Vajpayee was presented by former CPI-M MP Indrajit Gupta during a trust vote debate in May 1996, and it went unchallenged in the Lok Sabha.{{cite web|title=The other side of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 3 instances|date=24 August 2018 |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/the-other-side-of-atal-bihari-vajpayee-3-instances-1322548-2018-08-24}}{{cite web|title=Atal Bihari Vajpayee was no liberal. But he could soften or harden his Hindutva to suit his politics|date=18 August 2018 |url=https://scroll.in/article/890832/atal-bihari-vajpayee-was-no-liberal-but-he-could-soften-or-harden-his-hindutva-to-suit-his-politics}}

Inciting incidents

Reports of immigrant Bengali Muslims having "kidnapped five of a family of Lalungs ... word quickly spread that the two young girls among them had been gang-raped",{{Cite book |last=Patrick |first=Hoenig |title=Landscapes of Fear: Understanding Impunity in India |date=2014 |publisher=Zubaan|pages=7-8}} as well as illegally and forcibly cultivating off Tiwa lands and stealing cows, led Tiwa Hindus to assemble "to avenge" the outrages. On 13 February, Miya Muslims had attacked a Bihari village in that area.{{Cite book |last=Rammohun |first=E. N. |title=Countering Insurgencies in India |date=2011 |publisher=Vij Books India Private Limited |isbn=9789381411667 |page=52}} Tiwa chiefs reportedly decided they must kill at least 700 Bengalis for each of their tribesmen killed, and consequently an all-out attack was launched on immigrant areas.{{Cite book |last=Gupta |first=Shekhar |title=Assam, a Valley Divided |publisher=Vikas |year=1984 |isbn=978-0706925371 |page=8}}

Massacre

The massacre itself took place on the morning of 18 February 1983, starting in the village of Borbori, perpetrated by several hundred Tiwas, who targeted Nellie and 14 other Muslim-majority villages in the area. In Nellie, the mob burnt many houses and placed itself at all the roads and exits to the village, killing anyone who tried to escape. The massacre lasted until dusk. Between 1,600 and 3,000 people died, but locals report the number as having been higher.{{cite book |last1=Vijayan |first1=Suchitra |title=Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India |date=February 2021 |publisher=Melville House Publishing |isbn=978-1-61219-858-3 |pages=133, 137}}

The massacre ended with the arrival of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the evening. Many survivors recall that the local police tried convincing the CRPF battalion that there was no violence in the area; the smoke emitted was due to burning of agricultural waste rather than houses. The survivors also recalled that the local police diverted the battalion to patrol the national highway suggesting that no road lead to the area from where the smoke rose. The battalion eventually located the area when a woman from the village stopped the CRPF trucks and led them to the village.{{Cite journal |last=Yasmeen |first=Jabeen |date=2023-06-15 |title=Creating an Oral Map: 'Living On' after the Nellie Massacre, 1983 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00856401.2023.2213531 |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=46 |issue=5 |language=en |pages=903–919 |doi=10.1080/00856401.2023.2213531 |issn=0085-6401}}

Consequences

The official Tiwari Commission report on the Nellie massacre is still a closely guarded secret (only three copies reportedly exist). The 600-page report was submitted to the Assam Government in 1984 and the Congress Government (headed by Hiteswar Saikia) decided not to make it public, and subsequent Governments followed suit.{{cite web|url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp?filename=Ne093006the_horrors.asp|title=An Untold Shame|last=Rehman|first=Teresa|publisher=Tehelka Magazine|access-date=2011-12-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061111192753/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp?filename=Ne093006the_horrors.asp|archive-date=11 November 2006|url-status=dead}} Assam United Democratic Front and others are making legal efforts to make Tiwari Commission report public, so that reasonable justice is delivered to victims, at least after 25 years after the incident.{{cite news | author =Staff Reporter | title =Flashback to Nellie Horror: AUDF to move court for probe report | newspaper =The Telegraph | date =19 February 2008 | url =http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080219/jsp/guwahati/story_8920369.jsp | archive-url =https://archive.today/20130203114607/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080219/jsp/guwahati/story_8920369.jsp | url-status =dead | archive-date =3 February 2013 |access-date=10 October 2012}}

Police filed 688 criminal cases, of which 378 cases were closed due to "lack of evidence" and 310 cases were slated to be charged. However, all these cases were dropped by the Government of India as a part of the 1985 Assam Accord; and, as a result, no one was prosecuted.{{cite news | last =Mander | first =Harsh | title =Nellie : India's forgotten massacre | date =14 December 2008 | url =http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/12/14/stories/2008121450100300.htm | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081216010719/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/12/14/stories/2008121450100300.htm | url-status =dead | archive-date =16 December 2008 | newspaper =The Hindu |access-date=9 October 2012}}

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the Assam Accord with the leaders of the AASU to formally end the Assam Agitation in 1985.

In films and literature

What the Fields Remember, has been produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust.{{Cite news |last1=Rangan |first1=Baradwaj |date=12 September 2015 |title=They remember so we don't forget |url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/baradwaj-rangan-on-what-the-fields-remember/article7641365.ece?homepage=true |newspaper=The Hindu}}
[https://g.co/kgs/s1DKWr1 Nellier Kotha (the Nellie Story)] directed by [https://g.co/kgs/rMMLgK6 Parthajit Baruah's]

References

Sources

{{cite journal |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Keya |last2=Guha |first2=Amalendu |title=1983 Assembly Poll in Assam: An Analysis of Its Background and Implications |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |year=1985 |volume=20 |number=19 |pages=843–853 |jstor=4374393}}
{{cite book|first1=Makiko|last1=Kimura|title=The Nellie Massacre of 1983: Agency of Rioters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRf9AAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Sage Publications India|isbn=9788132111665}}
{{cite interview |last=Pisharoty |first=Sangeeta Barooah |url=https://thewire.in/rights/hafiz-ahmed-assam-miyah-poetry |website=The Wire |title=There is a Conspiracy to Show Bengal-Origin Muslims as Anti-Assamese: Hafiz Ahmed|access-date=2021-04-09|date=2019 }}

=News sources=

{{Citation

| last = Lahkar

| first = Bedabrata

| title = Recounting a Nightmare

| newspaper = The Assam Tribune

| date = 2008-02-18

| access-date = 2008-03-24

| url = http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb1808%5Cedit3

| archive-date = 28 March 2020

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200328100137/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb1808%5Cedit3

| url-status = dead

}}

{{Citation

| last = Gokhale

| first = Nitin

| title = The Simple Safety of Numbers

| newspaper = Tehelka

| date = 2005-07-02

| access-date = 2008-03-24

| url = http://www.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=Ne070205The_simple.asp

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061201051328/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=Ne070205The_simple.asp

| archive-date = 1 December 2006

| url-status = dead

}}

{{Citation

| last = Gokhale

| first = Nitin

| title = Vote banks pay dividends

| newspaper = Tehelka

| date = 2005-07-16

| access-date = 2008-02-19

| url = http://www.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=Ne071605Vote_banks.asp

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080903024917/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=Ne071605Vote_banks.asp

| archive-date = 3 September 2008

| url-status = dead

}}

=Books=

Deka, Lakhi, (2107) Tirakhir Sahid (in Assamese) Shristi Publication.
Chadha, Vivek, Low Intensity Conflicts in India. Sage Publications, 2005.
Saksena, N.S. "Police and Politicians" in Alexander, P.J. (ed.) Policing India in the New Millennium. Allied Publishers, 2002.