The conviction that a 42-year-old dark chapter of Indian history needs to be re-read completely by people is believed to have prompted the Assam government to make the “official” Tribhuvan Prasad Tewary Commission report on the “Assam Disturbances” of 1983 public last Tuesday. The report extensively covered the Nellie massacre which occurred during the height of the Assam Agitation, also called Anti-Immigrants Agitation. Copies of the report were circulated among legislators in the assembly. The government also laid the report of the “unofficial” T U Mehta Commission – which studied the same events – at the request of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).
The Assam Agitation
The Assam Agitation was a six-year-long bloody movement that began in 1979 and a significant chapter in Assam and India’s history which ended with the Centre’s signing of the historic Assam Accord with AASU and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) in 1985. The two organisations spearheaded the movement, mobilising public support across the state. It followed deep rooted anxieties among the Assamese people after decades of influx of migrants from East Pakistan and then, Bangladesh. The Assamese viewed the migration as a serious threat to the state’s demographic balance and their cultural and linguistic identity.
The flashpoint reached when the 1979 Lok Sabha by-election draft electoral rolls of Mangaldoi had names of a large number of suspected illegal migrants, triggering anger and protest among the local population. Soon, there was a statewide demand to “detect, delete and deport” the migrants who had entered Assam after 1951 even as the agitation escalated beyond student activism. People from cross-sections — farmers, government employees and various civil society organisations — became part of it.
The protesters largely followed non-violent means—picketing, strikes, civil disobedience, rallies, bandhs, economic blockades, boycott of elections etc which severely crippled normal life and daily activities of the people. Over time, the agitation was marked by several stray incidents of violence leading up to the Nellie massacre of civilians.
The Assam Accord fixed March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting the illegal immigrants, irrespective of religion. In other words, illegal migrants, who entered Assam after this cut-off date are to be detected and deported. Clause 6 of the Accord promised constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect the cultural, social, and linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people. The 1951 Assam National Register of Citizens or NRC was updated based on the March 24, 1971 cut-off date. Over 19.06 lakh people were left out of the much-talked-about NRC. Though the Assam Accord was signed and NRC updated, the state’s problem of illegal migrants remains.
Nellie massacre
The killings took place on the winter morning of February 18, 1983. Within a span of just seven hours, migrant Muslims from 14 villages in the Nellie area were killed. The official death count was around 1,800 although many believed it was significantly higher. The victims were mostly women, children and elderly people who were unable to flee. It was one of the deadliest episodes of post-partition India.
During his deposition before the Tewary Commission, Jahiruddin Ahmed, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Nagaon police station, stated that at noon on February 15, 1983, some people came to his police station to inform him that on the night of February 14, about 1,000 people assembled with deadly weapons at Nellie by beating the drums. The visitors told him that they could not go to Morigaon. Ahmed immediately sent a wireless message to the Commandant of 5th Assam Police Battalion camp at Morigaon with information to the OC of Jagiroad police station and sub-divisional police officer of Morigaon. He produced a copy of the original message sent by him.
Ahmed told the Commission that he did not inform the Nagaon Superintendent of Police or any other officer of Nagaon about this message as they were not available at that moment. He stated that it was his duty to inform the SP but as he was very busy, he could not apply his mind.
Police sub-inspector D Gogoi, who was a second officer at Jagiroad police station, told the Commission that at the instruction of the OC of his police station, he left for Amlighat with CRPF and reached the place at 11.30 am. He said as he did not see any occurrence there, he went towards Nellie side and saw that some houses had been set on fire near the National Highway. With the help of the CRPF personnel, he tried to extinguish the fire. Thereafter, he left the vehicle because he could not proceed in the paddy field and rushed to Demol side, around 3 km from Nellie, on foot along with CRPF personnel.
He saw smoke and houses on fire at Demol and its neighbouring areas. Gogoi further stated that they had gone up to Muladhari after crossing a Nullah and were able to go through the paddy field and Nullah, and found about 150 people there standing on the embankment. They told him that thousands of people with deadly weapons came and assaulted, and a large number of houses were set on fire. When he proceeded towards Muladhari from Demol, he saw three to four dead bodies lying on the ground but did not see the rioters. He returned to Demol, bringing about 64 injured persons with him. He met the sub-divisional officer there and asked him to inform the OC to send more forces and doctors. Since he apprehended an attack at night, he came to Demol and lodged an FIR. During the night, he conducted a search and recovered spears, empty cartridges etc. Gogoi further stated that he reached Nellie around 10.30 am the next day and arranged medical relief for the injured.
2 reports, conflicting viewpoints
The Commission, headed by former Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Mehta, was formed by Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan and those who took part in the agitation. According to the Commission’s report, a major reason behind the violence was the imposition of elections against the wishes of the people. The report said the situation was not conducive to hold elections and the then state and central governments were fully aware of it, yet the party in power at the Centre wanted the polls to grab power.
The report further mentioned that the Election Commission could have decided against holding the 1983 polls to stop the violence but it failed to do that. Also, the report said, the polls were held without correcting the electoral rolls, much to the chagrin of people.
The Tewari Commission report, however, said, “In our considered view, the decision to hold the elections cannot be blamed for the outbreak of the violence of 1983.”
“The evidence produced before the Commission clearly brings out that the issues of foreigners, language, etc. have been agitating the minds of the people for the last several decades, exploding into violence on several previous occasions,” the report further said.
It put the death toll at 3,023 in 11 districts — 1,811 of them in Nagaon alone. Nellie was then part of Nagaon. It now falls under Morigaon district.
According to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, although the Tewary Commission report was tabled in the assembly in 1987 when the Asom Gana Parishad was in power, only one copy was sent to the Speaker. The Mehta Commission report was tabled in the House on Tuesday, November 25. This was for the first time in Assam’s history that the report of a Commission, formed by non-government organisations, was placed in the assembly.
The Tewary Commission report said the violence had no “communal colour” but added that the fear of the Assamese of “being overwhelmed” numerically by migrants was “not imaginary”. It held AASU and AAGSP primarily responsible for launching the agitation and for the consequences. The report highlighted that the incidents of destruction and bandhs were organised on a “pre-planned and extensive scale”, eventually spreading out of control.
Why now
It is perceived that Sarma followed up his aggressive eviction campaign against predominantly Bengali-speaking Muslims by making the Tewary report public. The government felt it was necessary for the people of Assam to revisit this entire brutal chapter of history. Having been accused of being communal and targeting Muslims, Sarma’s tabling of the report has a strange twist of irony. The report stated that the Nellie incident was not communal violence, although a large number of Muslims were the victims.
The details of the report may work as a shield for Sarma’s campaign. The eviction drives can now be shown in new light by the government as a pre-emptive strike to prevent more Nellies in the future. After all, the report explains how the entire conflict built up to the horrifyingly violent climax at Nellie. Several relatively smaller incidents of violence elsewhere, affecting both Muslims and non-Muslims, preceded the Nellie massacre.
As political parties joust for supremacy in the next elections which are due in less than six months, the Nellie report will be a major point of debate between the BJP and the Congress. While communalism is obvious to many, Assam’s discourse has to be nuanced: Bengali-speaking Muslims are ‘Miyas’ (a pejorative term used in Assam to refer to Bengali Muslims), ones seen as adversaries; and other ethnic Muslims are seen as those who are part of the composite Assamese identity.
Govt’s take
Sarma said as copies of the Nellie report did not have the signature of Tewary who was a retired IAS officer, successive governments held back its public release, doubtful about whether it was genuine or not.
“We interviewed the clerks and the secretaries who were involved in its preparation, followed by a forensic test. We came to know that the report is genuine,” Sarma stated. “There was a need to take a bold step. We thought we should table it in the assembly since it is part of Assam’s history,” he added.
Stating that social scientists and historians had presented the report in various ways, he said people would get to know the facts – what exactly happened at that time – following the publication of the report.
Later, he said although the report was tabled in the assembly in 1987 when the Asom Gana Parishad was in power, only one copy was sent to the Speaker and therefore, the government decided to provide the copies to all the MLAs.
A BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, said people at large were aware about the Nellie massacre but many of them had no idea about the events leading up to it as these were not in the public domain.
“There was increasing aggression on land in areas including protected tribal belts and blocks, and there was pent-up anger among people against the migrants. The then Congress government did not share the details of what led to the incidents other than sharing the number of deaths of people. The Tewary Commission narrated everything. We wanted to let the new generation know this. It is up to them how they take it. We talk about “jati” (community), “mati” (land) and “bheti” (foundation). This chapter is connected to that. Making the report public has nothing to do with the upcoming elections,” the BJP leader claimed.
Build-up to reports’ tabling
The tabling of the two reports followed the introduction of a law against child marriage, process to ban polygamy (a bill has now been passed by the assembly) and eviction drives. More than 3,000 people were arrested during a series of operations by the police last year for their involvement in child marriage and for facilitating them. The state government’s zero tolerance approach led to 81% decline in child marriages across 20 districts of Assam between 2021-22 and 2023-24, a report released by the India Child Protection stated last year.
“Stop Madrassa education, bring students to general education, stop polygamy, stop child marriage, give equal rights of property to girls or females,” Sarma had stated ahead of last Lok Sabha elections, mentioning that his approach towards the minority community is on a positive platform.
Over the past few months in Assam, the government carried out a series of eviction drives which largely affected Bengali Muslims. The BJP claimed that 1.5 lakh bighas of land belonging to “Satras” (Vaishnavite monasteries), forests and tribal communities had been reclaimed through the eviction drives. To buttress the claim that a significant progress had been made in securing the political and land rights of the state’s indigenous population under the leadership of Sarma, the BJP said over 103 of the state’s 126 assembly constituencies would now show a stronger “indigenous presence,” thanks to the delimitation exercise of 2023.
Sarma’s politics invariably revolves around Bengali Muslims. “I will not let suspected Miyas to live in peace as long as I am in office. The eviction drive will continue while polygamy will be stopped,” he had stated last week. Then last month, he said Miyas would emerge as Assam’s largest community after the next census. According to last estimates, Muslims account for about 33% of the state’s population.
AASU’s take on reports
AASU president Utpal Sarma said when the chief minister made an announcement on the state government’s move to lay the Tewary Commission report in the assembly, the student body had requested him to also lay the Mehta Commission report.
“The people of Assam had boycotted the 1983 election, calling it illegal. They had no faith in the government-constituted Tewary Commission. The report was one-sided, for the Commission did not record the statements of the agitators. People also did not go to get their statements recorded. When the government decided to distribute the copies of the report to the members of the assembly, we had nothing against it. But it was not an exhaustive report because it missed the agitating side’s versions,” the AASU president said.
After the formation of the Tewary panel, he said the Mehta Commission was formed by Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan to study the same disturbances of 1983. The Mehta Commission recorded the statements of the people including agitators and additionally, it discussed the role of the then government, he said.
“When the government decided to lay the Tewary Commission report, AASU’s position was that if the new generation wants to know about the Assam Agitation or study the events leading up to it, the same should not be biased or one-sided. Since the report of Tewary Commission does not have the agitators’ side of the story unlike the Mehta Commission, we thought it is imperative that the Mehta Commission report also comes to the public domain so people get a balanced and impartial view,” he explained.
The Mehta report is rarely available now and AASU, which had a copy, shared it with the chief minister, requesting him to also lay it in the House in case the government was laying the Tewary Commission report.
“If I am not mistaken, the decision on forming the Mehta Commission was taken in November 1983 during the Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan’s state general assembly held in Mangaldoi of Darrang district. The report was published in October 1985 and in all likelihood, a copy of it was submitted to Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan. Why the government brought the Tewary Commission report to the public domain now can be best explained by the government only. That is not our lookout,” the student leader said.
Nellie survivors’ accounts
The survivors of the Nellie massacre do not wish to recall the events. Two of them said they would never forget this chapter of Assam history. Awal Uddin Ahmed (now 70) was newly married when the violence broke out. The self-proclaimed social worker, who lost his mother, sister and a relative in the carnage, said he vividly remembers all that happened.
“It’s a long story on how I survived. I can only say that I managed to escape death along with several others. We, the affected families, will carry the memory of the massacre until we die,” he said. “Many people became ministers and MLAs since the violence occurred but none ever spoke about it at an appropriate platform,” he lamented.
Nabi Hussain, a fellow villager, had sustained injuries but his family members escaped unscathed. “I was a farmer, aged 24 years then. The violence left me severely injured and it took about three to four months for the wounds to heal,” he said.
Both Ahmed and Hussain said, the government paid ₹5,000 as compensation for every death and ₹1,500 for the injured. “Some of us moved the NHRC. We stayed in Delhi for 18 days and staged protests,” he said.
