Bengali Hindus in Assam

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Bengali Hindus in Assam
Durga Puja A.JPG
Durga Puja Pandal in Assam.
Total population
6,022,677–7,502,012 (est. 2011)[1][2][3]
(19.3%–25% of the Assam's population)Increase
Regions with significant populations
Brahmaputra Valley~4.5 millions
Barak Valley+2 millions
Languages
Bengali and its dialects

Assamese

Sanskrit
Religion
Hinduism

Primary:
Shaktism

Secondary:
Vaishnavism and Shaivism
Related ethnic groups
Bengali Hindus, Assamese Hindus
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Bengali Hindus are the second largest Hindu community in Assam just after Assamese speaking Hindus. As per as estimation, around 6–7.5 million Bengali Hindus live in Assam as of 2011.[4][2] The majority population of Bengali Hindus are native to Assam, though some have migrated from neighbouring state of Tripura and from the neighbouring country of Bangladesh.

History[]

The Barak Valley region of comprising the present districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi is contiguous to Sylhet (Bengal plains), where the Bengali Hindus, according to historian J.B. Bhattacharjee, had settled well before the colonial period, influencing the culture of Dimasa Kacaharis.[5] Bhattacharjee describes that the Dimasa kings spoke Bengali and the inscriptions and coins written were in Bengali script.[5] Migrations to Cachar increased after the British annexation of the region.[5] Bengali Hindus have came into Assam's Brahmaputra valley during the time of British Raj of 1826 (19th century) from neighbouring Bengal region as colonial official workers, bankers, railway employees, businessman, bureaucrats and later on during the time Partition of Bengal in 1947 and before the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 as refugees.[6]

Demography[]

Population[]

Assam has a large Bengali Hindu population as per as estimation research, but however different sources have varied estimation of Bengali Hindu population in Assam, as the census of India, does not allow religious segregation of languages spoken, it is very difficult to arrive at official estimates of a religious-linguistic matrix for the Assam state.[7] It has been said that Bengali Hindus are the third largest community in Assam after Assamese people and Bengali Muslims with a population of 6,022,677 (millions), constituting (19.3%) of state population as of 2011 census estimation figure by Assam government.[8]

Number of Bengali Hindus residing in Assam (2010-2019 est. research by various agencies)
Source/claimed by Population
Confusion, hope run high among Assam's Hindu Bengalis.[9] 5,000,000
Claimed KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi.[10] 10,000,000
Claimed AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya.[10] 7,000,000-7,200,000
BJP government estimation.[11] 6,000,000
2016 Assam election assembly results.[12] 6,000,000
Claimed by NDTV[13] 5,620,000
Claimed by Assam Bengali Hindu organization (ABHO).[14] 6,500,000-7,200,000
Claimed by The All Assam Bengali Hindu Association (AABHA)[15] 7,802,000
Claimed by Times of India[16] 7,500,000
Claimed by Daily O News[17] 7,000,000
Claimed by The Wire[18] 5,900,000-7,500,000
Claimed by The News Web [13] 7,500,000

Geographical concentration[]

Barak Valley, a southern most Bengali majority region of Assam

They are highly concentrated in the Barak Valley region where they a form a slide majority and the population of Bengali Hindus in Barak Valley is 2,000,779 making up 55.2% of the total population of the region.[19][20][21]

Map representing Assamese majority Brahmaputra valley region of Assam

In Assam's Brahmaputra valley region, there is no real data for Bengali hindu population available through census, but it is just assumed that region Brahmaputra valley have around "40 Lakh Bengali Hindus" as per as New president of the All Assam Bengali Youth Students Federation (AABYSF), Mahananda Sarkar Dutta who have stated the above demographic statement.[22]

Social issues[]

Immigration[]

(East Pakistan's Bengali Hindus of Sylhet Division coming to Barak's Cachar district as refugees, 1947)

Since after partition of Bengal in 1947 there were large scale Bengali migration into Assam. Between the period of first patches (1946-1951), around 274,455 Bengali Hindu refugees have arrived from what is now called Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) in various locations of Assam as permanent settlers and again in second patches between (1952-1958) of the same decade, around 212,545 Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh took shelter in various parts of the state permanently.[23][24] After the 1964 East Pakistan riots many Bengali Hindus have poured into Assam as refugees and the number of Hindu migrants in the state rose to 1,068,455 in 1968 (sharply after 4 years of the riot).[25] The fourth patches numbering around 347,555 have just arrived after Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 as refugees and most of them being Bengali speaking Hindus have decided to stay back in Assam permanently afterwards.[26]

Politics and discrimination[]

Bangali Hindus are being targeted by xenephobic Assamese nationalist organization and political party from time to time. They are discriminatively tagged as Bongal (outsiders) in context of linguistic politics of Assam.[27] Bengali Hindus living in Assam from decades before Bangladesh was born in 1971 are routinely called 'Bangladeshis' as because antipathy towards Bengalis is prime mover of Assam politics since the formalition of All Assam Students Union. Bengali Hindus are being victimized due to D voter policy in the state as according to Sudip Sarma, the publicity secretary of the Assam unit of the Nikhil Bharat Bangali Udbastu Samanway Samiti, there are 6 lakh Bengali Hindu D voters in the state.[28] Thousands of Bengalis are being held in Detention Camps. As far as NRC is concerned in the state, 40 lakhs names have been kept out from the second draft of NRC, out of which 12 lakhs were Bengali Hindus.[29] The CAA bill which was passed at 2019 December have promised to give citizenship to Bengali refugees living in the state living in Assam prior to 1971.[30][31] In January 2019, the Assam's peasant organisation Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) claimed that there are around 2 million Bangladeshi Hindus in Assam who would become Indian citizens if the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is passed. BJP, however claimed that only eight lakh Hindu Bangladeshis will get citizenship.[32] The number of Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh in Barak Valley has varied estimates. According to the Assam government, 1.3-1.5 lakh such people residing in the Barak Valley are eligible for citizenship if the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 becomes a law.[33][34]

1960s Assam language riots[]

See also: Assam Movement, Assamese Language Movement, and Bengali Language Movement (Barak Valley)

In Assam's, Assamese dominated Brahmaputra Valley region Bongal Kheda movement (which literally means drive out Bengalis) was happened in the late 1948-80s, where several thousands of Hindu Bengalis was massacred by jingoists Assamese nationalists mob in various parts of Assam and as a result of this jingoist movement, nearly 5 lakh Bengali Hindus were forced to flee from Assam to took shelter in neighbouring West Bengal particularly in Jalpaiguri division in seek for safety.[35][36][37] In the Bengali dominated Barak Valley region of Assam, violence broke out in 1960 and 1961 between Bengali Hindus and ethnic Assam police over a state bill which would have made Assamese mandatory in the secondary education curriculum. On 19 May 1961, eleven Bengali protesters were killed by Assam police fired on a demonstration at the Silchar railway station.[38][39][40] Subsequently, the Assam government allowed Bengali as the medium of education and held it as an official position in Barak Valley.[39]

Statehood demand[]

Barak Valley district map

The native Bengali people of Barak Region demanded a separate state for themselves within the Bengali majority areas of Assam, particularly Bengali majority Barak valley, comprising the three districts Cachar, Hailakandi, Karimganj, to meet the criteria for creating a separate state for themselves by carving out from Assam's Assamese majority Brahmaputra valley post NRC.[41][42][43][44] Silchar is the proposed capital of Barak state.[45] Barak valley is the most neglected part of Assam in terms of its infrastructure development, tourism sector, educational institutions, hospitals, IT industries, G.D.P, H.D.I etc. which is still lagging behind in comparison to the Assam's mainland Brahmaputra valley which have access to all of those facilities mentioned above.[46][47][48][49][50][51] In fact, the Southern most region of Assam that is Barak Valley have a overwhelming Bengali majority population of about (80.8%) as per 2011 census report.[52][53]

Notable personality[]

  • Priyadarshini Chatterjee, is an Indian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Femina Miss India World in 2016.[54] She represented India at the Miss World 2016 pageant.[55][56][57] She is the first Indian Bengali women from Dhubri district to represent India at Miss World.
  • Devoleena Bhattacharjee, is an Indian actress from the Indian state of Assam, was born into a Bengali Hindu family in upper Assam.
  • Jaya Bhattacharya, is an Indian television actress born and brought up in Guwahati, Assam into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Parimal Suklabaidya, is an Indian politician BJP (MLA) born into a Bengali Hindu family in Barak valley region of Assam.
  • Gautam Roy, is an Indian politician born in the Indian state of Assam's Barak valley region into a Bengali Hindu Family.
  • Sushmita Dev, is an Indian politician from congress party born and brought up in Assam's Barak Valley region into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Dipankar Bhattacharjee, is an Indian Badminton player from Assam, born and brought up in Assam into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Santosh Mohan Dev, was a congress political leader and key member of the party was born and brought up in Assam into a Bengali Hindu family. His family was also belonged to freedom fighter lineage.
  • Debojit Saha, is an Indian playback singer born and brought up in Assam's Barak valley into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Antara Nandy, is an Indian singer born and brought up in upper Assam into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Jaya Seal, was a renowned actress and dancer, born and brought up in Assam into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Seema Biswas, is an Indian film and theatre actress from Assam, born and brought up into a Bengali Hindu family from Assam.
  • Amalendu Guha, (30 January 1924 – 7 May 2015) was an historian, economist, and poet from Assam, India. He is born to a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Rumi Nath, Rumi Nath is an Indian politician and was a member of Assam Legislative Assembly, was born into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Ramkrishna Ghosh, a BJP MLA from Hojai.
  • Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya, singer who was born and brought up in Assam's Barak valley into a Bengali Hindu family.
  • Radheshyam Biswas, former member of Lok Sabha), AIUDF, who was born and brought up in Assam's Barak valley into a Bengali hindu family.

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ a b "Bengali speaking voters may prove crucial in the second phase of Assam poll". April 2021.
  3. ^ "Help Hindu Bengalis in Assam to save them from becoming refugee again".
  4. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: BJP Govt plans to evict 70 lakh Muslims, 60 lakh Bengali Hindus through its Land Policy (2019) in Assam". SabrangIndia. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Baruah, Professor of Political Studies Sanjib; Baruah, Sanjib (29 June 1999). India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-8122-3491-6.
  6. ^ Khalid, Saif. "'We're sons of the soil, don't call us Bangladeshis'". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Assembly polls 2021: Assam politics' tryst with religion and language | Deccan Herald".
  8. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: BJP Govt plans to evict 70 lakh Muslims, 60 lakh Bengali Hindus through its Land Policy (2019) in Assam". SabrangIndia. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Confusion, hope run high among Assam's Hindu Bengalis". Deccan Herald. 17 December 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Citizenship Amendment Act: BJP chasing ghosts in Assam; Census data shows number of Hindu immigrants may have been exaggerated". Firstpost. 18 December 2019.
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  12. ^ "Assam Assembly Elections 2016: Assamese are minority, Muslims are largest electoral group in this poll battle!". 8 April 2016.
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  14. ^ "Hindu Bengali youth body flays 'government neglect'". The Sentinel. Guwahati. 2 January 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
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  16. ^ "Over 1 crore Bengali refugees living outside Bengal | Kolkata News - Times of India". The Times of India.
  17. ^ "Citizenship Amendment Bill — What is it the Assamese fear the most".
  18. ^ "Assam on the Boil Again, this Time over Hindu Migrants from Bangladesh".
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  24. ^ http://iussp2005.princeton.edu › ...PDF The Brahmaputra valley of India can be compared only with the Indus ...[Link to precise page]
  25. ^ "iussp2005". iussp2005.princeton.edu. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  26. ^ "Adelaide Research & Scholarship: Home". digital.library.adelaide.edu.au. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
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  28. ^ "Pincer attack on D-voters". The Telegraph. Kolkata. 26 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
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  30. ^ "BJP using CAA-NRC to reach out to Bengali-speaking Hindu voters in Assam, Bengal". Hindustan Times. 19 December 2019.
  31. ^ Bhalla, Abhishek (14 December 2019). "Citizenship Amendment Act creates more confusion for Bengali Hindus in Assam". India Today.
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  33. ^ Naqvi, Sadiq (11 December 2019). "Bengali Hindu refugees in Assam's Barak Valley hope for CAB's passage in RS". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
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  53. ^ https://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-16/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS-1800.XLSX
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  55. ^ "Priyadarshini Chatterjee is Femina Miss India 2016". The Kaleidoscope Of Pageantry. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  56. ^ "Guwahati Girl Priyadarshini Chatterjee Wins Coveted Femina Miss India Title". Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  57. ^ "Priyadarshani Chatterjee bags the coveted Femina Miss India World 2016 crown!". www.hindustantimes.com. HindustanTimes. 11 April 2016.
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