India - Assam: Politics of Space and Violence in Bodoland

Economic and Political Weekly,Vol - XLVIII No. 23, June 08, 2013

Politics of Space and Violence in Bodoland
by Nani Gopal Mahanta

Ethnic conflicts in Assam have occurred often but the Bodoland conflict of 2012 has polarised the local community and immigrant Muslims more sharply than before. Bodos and the non-Bodo indigenous people, who were fighting with each other for space and identity till 1998, have arrived at a tactical alliance. The crisis in Bodoland is a reflection of the abdication of responsibility by the Indian state. It has failed to address the structural issues that confront the indigenous tribes (the Bodos), like the encroachment of their land. It has also failed to address the multicultural, multi-linguistic and multi-ethnic composite culture of the region.

Nani Gopal Mahanta (ngmahanta@gmail.com) is with the Gauhati University, Assam.

This paper was presented at a social science faculty seminar at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati on 26 September 2012. The author would like to thank Chandan Sarmah, Akhil R Dutta, Pahi Saikia, Dilip Gogoi and various research scholars for their comments. The usual disclaimers apply.


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