The Bodos are known as the earliest inhabitants in Assam.122 They first settled in the Brahmaputra Valley extending westward to the districts of Koch Bihar, Rangpur and Dinajpur in North Bengal.123 History suggests that in the Brahmaputra valley, Bodo- Kacharis were the first natives of the region and they claimed themselves to be the indigenous people or ‘Sons of the Soil’ (Hussain, 1987; Weiner, 1978).124 The Bodos are of
120 Bodo dominated areas are the four districts which were created after the signing of BTC Accord. The four districts are Baksa, Chirang, Kokrajhar and Udalguri.
121 The term movement for autonomy is understood as a movement both peaceful and violent for the autonomous structure or for an autonomous state (Hussain, 1987).
122 The Bodos, known as Bodo-Kachari, is an ethnic group of Assam. Bodos speak Tibeto-Burman language and are of Indo-Mongoloid origin. They are said to have migrated to India through Patkai hills (Endle, 1911).
123 See, Assam State Gazetteer, Vol. 1, 1999.
124 Indigenous people are the original inhabitants with first occupancy or first inhabitants with prior occupancy as described by Jeremy Waldron (Waldron, 2003). In Assam, the debate exists on ‘who is indigenous’, and
the Mongolian origin and as described by Endle, “Bodos are the inhabitants of a country north of the Himalaya and West of China (Endle, 1911). This land was known as Bod which meant homeland. It is also said that there were many parts of the region known as Hor Bod, Kur Bod, and inhabitants of Bod country were known as Bodo-Ficha, where Bodo means land and Ficha means children (Endle, 1911).” Later on, these names were known as Boddo- Bodo-Boro (Brahma, 2008). About the origin of the Bodo S. Endle mentioned,
“The origin of the Kachari race is still very largely a matter of conjecture and inference, in the absence of anything entitled to be regarded as authentic history. As remarked above, in feature and general appearance they approximate very closely to the Mongolian type, and this would seem to point to Tibet and China as the original hole of the race”
(Endle, 1911).
According to the Economic Survey of Assam 2010-11 and the census report of 2001, it is claimed that the Bodo-speaking population constituted of 1296162 people, which was 5.29 percent of the total population of Assam.125 However, scholar like George claimed that during the period of independence half of the population was constituted of the Bodos (George, 1994). Most of them were dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.
Bodos are one of the tribes of Northeast India. They are the inhabitant of the plains of lower Assam in the Brahmaputra valley. As Gait observed, Bodos are the similar group of people known as Mech in Goalpara and in parts of North Bengal. In the history of Assam, the long duration of domination by the Bodos is shown by the frequent occurrence of their claims are made by all the communities as the original settler or the indigenous population of Assam. Based on such claims, there are demands for tribal status by many communities and autonomous regions.
125 See, Government of Assam Report of (2010-11) of Economic Survey of Assam 2010-11, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Assam, Guwahati: Planning and Development Department.
languages in the present names of the rivers. Rivers like Dibru, Dikhu, Dihing, Dihong, Dibong, Disang, Diphang, Dimla, with the use of prefix di or ti is the Bodo word for water (Gait, 1906). In the course of time, Aryan and Bodo languages completely wiped out the earlier Mon-Khmer groups that are found mostly in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills.
There were instances of ‘detribalization’ of tribal or indigenous communities of Assam, a term used to denote embracing other religious beliefs from earlier animist beliefs.
A small section of Bodos adopted the religion preached by Sankardeva who were later known as Saranias.126 Christianity also influenced the Bodo society and some also converted to Christianity. According to 2011 census, there are approximately 9.4% Christians in the four districts of Bodoland.127 Efforts were made by Kalicharan Brahma to bring changes in the politics, society, local economy and education among the Bodos. He organized the
‘Bodo Maha Sanmilan’ for the eradication of social evils; which were later followed by Dwarendra Basumatary, Pramod Brahma, Ishan Mushahary, Rupnath Brahma, Satish Basumatary, Sitanath Brahma Choudhury (Hazarika, 2005). The newly emerging middle class tried to protect the Bodo society and worked for the socio-political consciousness of the Bodo community. They also worked for collective rights, against injustice, discrimination and alienation of Bodos by the caste-Hindu Assamese speaking group in the matter of political and economic development. They tried to mobilize the ethnic group through the formation of Kachari Youth Association/ Kachari Yubak Sanmilan (KYA) in 1920s. In 1929 KYA sent a memorandum to the Simon Commission for separate electorates for the Bodos. KYA demanded protection of the Kachari tribes (Chaudhuri, 1992; Saikia,
126 Sarania Kacharis are the Bodo-Kacharis in origin but they were later influenced by Hinduism and Vaishnavism.
127 See, Religious Census, Census of India 2011.
2011). The ethnic movement led by the Bodos for a separate state was based on political, economic and cultural grievances of the Bodo people. In the pre-colonial and pre-Ahom period, Bodo-Kacharis formed the Bodo-Kachari kingdom in major parts of Assam and North Bengal. But the invasion of the Brahmaputra valley by the Ahoms and frequent wars with Ahoms in the 16th century led to loss of control of the Bodo-Kachari rulers on the territories. After the Treaty of Yandaboo these territories were taken over by the British (Gait, 1906). When the British took over the territories, they tried to categorize the communities and formed the excluded areas (for the hill tribes) and the partially excluded areas (for plains tribes) formulating indirect rule to control these territories and giving charge to the local tribal chiefs to administer their region in exchange of tributes to the British administration at regular intervals.128 It was also under the provision of the Inner Line Regulation Act of 1873 and Assam Land Revenue Regulation Act of 1886 that non- tribal communities were restricted to enter these areas allowing promotion and preservation of land and culture of the tribal communities.129