The Assam government has finally made public the Tribhuvan Prasad Tiwari Commission report on the 42-year-old Nellie massacre. This decision has once again refreshed the memories of the violence of 1983, which is counted among the biggest massacres in the history of independent India. This was the same period when the fire of identity, language, migration and politics was burning simultaneously on the soil of Assam.
The Assam government says that the purpose of bringing out the report now is to give an opportunity to ‘put history before the public and read it again’. However, political analysts believe that this step has been taken at a time when there is a heated debate going on in the state regarding illegal migration, land grabbing and “Miya” politics. This report has once again given rise to a discussion as to how the sequence of events from the background of the Assam movement to the Nellie violence came about and why this tragedy did not find a place in the public discourse for decades.
What happened that cold February morning?
That morning of 18 February 1983 was very cold, the fog had not even cleared when screams started echoing in Nellie area of Morigaon district. From nine in the morning to four in the evening, in just seven hours everything was over. Dead bodies were strewn on the ground in Nellie and 14 surrounding villages of Alisingha, Khulapathar, Bashundhari, Bugduba Beel, Borjola, Butuni, Dongabori, Indurmari, Mati Parbat, Muladhari, Silbheta and Borburi.
This horrific violence shook not only the state but the entire country. Official figures recorded around 1,800 deaths, while many reports put it as high as 3,000. Most of those killed were Bengali-speaking Muslim farmers. In this too, the number of women, children and elderly people was highest, who could not even run away from the furious mob.
How did the violence erupt?
This massacre did not happen suddenly. This was the bloody outcome of the Assam movement that lasted from 1979 to 1985. For decades, there was a fear among the Assamese people that Bangladeshi infiltrators would take away their language, culture and land. This fear erupted after seeing lakhs of suspicious names in the voter list of Mangaldoi Lok Sabha by-election in 1979. All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) started the movement, ‘Detect, Delete, Deport Foreigners’. This slogan used to echo in Assam at that time… expel everyone who came after 1951.
This movement was mostly non-violent… Steps like dharna, bandh, rail roko, election boycott were visible, but sparks were smoldering beneath the fire. Then the Indira Gandhi government at the Center decided to hold assembly elections in Assam in 1983. This further incited the agitators. He said, unless the foreigners leave, elections will not be allowed to take place. But the government did not agree, election dates were announced and Assam started burning.
Voting was on 18 February. On the same day a massacre took place in Nellie. That morning thousands of people armed with country-made weapons entered the villages beating drums. Their target was Muslim families of Bengali origin, whom they called ‘Miya’ or ‘Bangladeshi’. Dawes, spears, arrows, axe, torch… everything was used. Women along with children were slaughtered. Many were burnt alive. Dead bodies kept flowing in the rivers. In a report published then it was written… ‘Dead bodies were scattered in the fields, as if the crop had been harvested. Many families were completely destroyed.
Where were the police?
The statements of police officers highlight the appalling negligence of this tragedy. Zaheeruddin Ahmed, the then officer of Naugaon police station, told the Tribhuvan Prasad Tiwari Commission that he had received information about the gathering of a crowd of 1,000 armed people on the night of 14 February. He sent this message to Jagairod police station and CRPF, but did not tell the Naugaon SP. He told the commission that he was ‘very busy and did not pay attention to this’.
The villages were on fire, people were lying dead, and 150 people were standing on the dam in fear telling them that a mob of thousands had come with weapons and had destroyed the villages by burning them. Gogoi brought 64 injured people with him.
On the other hand, Jagairod Sub-Inspector D. Gogoi said that on the morning of 19 February, he reached the spot with CRPF. There the villages were on fire and people were lying dead. He told that 150 people were standing on the dam in fear and telling him that a mob of thousands had come with weapons and had destroyed the villages by burning them.
The commission asked, why did the police not do anything after receiving such big news? The reply was, ‘We were busy.’ In fact, the entire force was deployed for election duty. There were no police in Nelly.
The police registered 688 criminal cases regarding the massacre, of which 378 cases were closed due to ‘lack of evidence’ and charges were to be framed in 310 cases. However, under the Assam Accord of 1985, the Government of India withdrew all cases and as a result, no one was prosecuted. The six-year long Assam agitation ended with the signing of the accord.
Why two commissions and two reports?
In 1984, the Central Government constituted a one-member inquiry commission of retired IAS Tribhuvan Prasad Tiwari. Its report was tabled in the Assam Assembly in 1987, but only a copy was sent to the Speaker. On the other hand, the agitators themselves formed the Justice TU Mehta Commission. There were contradictory views in the reports of Tiwari Commission and Mehta Commission. The Tiwari Commission had concluded that the decision to hold elections could not be held responsible for the violence, while the Mehta Commission blamed the current central government, the Election Commission and those leaders who wanted to grab power by any means.
The Mehta Report clearly stated that the 1983 elections were against the mandate. The central and state governments knew that the situation was not good, yet they conducted elections to grab power. The Election Commission remained silent. The voter list was not corrected.
What is in Tiwari report?
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma presented the report of Tribhuvan Prasad Tiwari in the Assembly last Tuesday and distributed copies to all the MLAs. Sarma says that ‘Tiwari’s signature was not on this report, hence the previous governments were suspicious. We interrogated the clerk and secretary, got the forensic test done and found out that the report is genuine. It is a part of the history of Assam, so the public should know.
Justice Tiwari’s report also states that all sections of the society had to bear the brunt of this violence. The victims were not limited to any one religious, ethnic or linguistic group. He also said that many witnesses have interpreted the riots as a conflict of economic interest. In many cases, these arose from disputes over land. He described illegal occupation of land by immigrants as one of the biggest problems for the Assamese people.
