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The Spectre Of “Hindu Bangladeshi”

T he Spectre Of “Hindu Bangladeshi” By Jyotirmoy Prodhani  The phrase ‘Hindu Bangladeshi’ is a curious term. Let us be honest that when we utter this word in Assam we actually mean the Hindu Bengalis. The term has turned out to be a very handy euphemism to target the classical adversary of the Assamese people. Though one cannot deny the historical factors leading to such a deep seated antagonism against the Bengalis, the continuation of the same sentiment, however, against an imagined prospect of doom is necessarily misplaced. One has a strong reason to believe that the recent belligerent outcry against the “Hindu Bangladeshi” is not only against the Bengalis but also a clever ploy to target several tribal and ethnic communities to strategically dislocate and dispossess them. This is quite well known that among the so called ‘Hindu Bangladeshis’ the second largest chunk of people, after the Bengali Hindus, are the people belonging to various tribal and indigenous co...
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A tale of two valleys: What’s behind the demand for a separate Union Territory in southern Assam?

"The Barak Valley, which wants to separate from the state, has always had a strained relationship with the Brahmaputra Valley." There is a new surge in the old demand for the creation of a separate Union Territory out of Assam’s Barak Valley. The area consists of three districts of southern Assam – Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi. The Union Territory Demand Committee, an organisation spearheading the movement, has promised to take up the matter with New Delhi in the next few weeks. Sanjit Debnath, president of the committee, said a rally would be organised on January 16 in Silchar, the valley’s most important urban centre, to solicit public support. “People of the valley have been deprived by Assam for a long time now so, slowly, people have started to realise that separation is the only way out,” Debnath said. He alleged that successive governments, no matter which party, have neglected the region. Said Debnath, “The so-called leaders of Assam have not s...
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Handle with care

On Assam citizenship, government must acknowledge that modern nations are made of many migrations By: Editorials | Updated: January 3, 2018 12:03:34 am assam, nrc draft, national register for citizens, assam nrc first draft, illegal migrants assam, supreme court, nrc 2018, indian expressOn Assam citizenship, government must acknowledge that modern nations are made of many migrations That 1.29 crore out of a total of 3.29 crore applicants did not find their names in the first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam points to the enormity of the challenge the state is facing in identifying illegal migrants. A massive bureaucratic exercise has been on in Assam since the Supreme Court ordered that the NRC, which the state government had prepared along with the national census in 1951, be updated and set December 31, 2017 as the deadline. The NRC is meant to decide who is a bona fide Indian citizen and those who fail to enlist in the register will be ...
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