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
Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) which was formed in 1952, the Plain Tribal Council of Assam (PTCA), and All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) formed in 1967 reflected the desire of Bodo people for political power and self-determination (Saikia, 2011; Basumatary, 2014).
The newly emerging Bodo middle class took lead to preserve their culture and to protect their socio-political rights.
The question of identity of the Bodos became prominent when Simon Commission visited Assam in 1929. Various Bodo organizations submitted a memorandum to the commission about the situation and perceived exploitation of the tribal communities by upper Hindu caste-Assamese speaking group (Saikia, 2011). Subsequently, in the 1920s there were demands for proper representation and rights for the tribal communities. The rise of a small section of educated middle class among the Bodos led the process of the movement for their rights. In 1933, a meeting of the all tribal communities was held in Nagaon to mobilize the tribal communities. The outcome of the meeting was the formation of All Assam Tribal League (AATL) which was later known as Tribal League (Datta, 1993).
Memorandums for a separate electorate were put forwarded by Bodo leaders so that there would be proper political representation of the Bodos. The Simon Commission accepted the proposal and granted four reserved seats and political status to the plains tribes under the Government of India Act, 1935 (Datta, 1993). Along with that, there was a demand for a separate homeland for the tribal communities living in Assam.
about liberal democracy and democratization and about the “Chilean race” (Barr-Melej, 2001). The rise of such middle class brought consciousness among the groups for mobilization forming different organizations and groups to pressurize the government for social and political reforms. Even in Assam, the emergence of Assamese middle class after independence set the platform for mobilization against the dominance of Bengali language and increasing migration to Assam (Weiner, 1978).
Land issues played a crucial role in the demand for a separate homeland for the Bodos. In the Assam legislative Assembly, there were debates on land rights of tribal communities and demands were made by immigrants to withdraw the Line System (Misra, 2012; Weiner, 1978).131 In 1937, a committee was formed by the Assam assembly headed by F. W. Hockenhull to assess the issue of land (Weiner, 1978). In the report, he insisted that Line System should continue and the government should take concrete steps to reduce alienation of tribal land. Gopinath Bordoloi took measures for protecting tribal lands from encroachers, but permission was granted for the settlement of landless farmers, Assamese and immigrants. In 1939, Bordoloi ministry resigned and Syed Mohammad Saadulla came into power under the banner of Muslim League. Though Saadulla signed an agreement with the Assam Tribal League, he tried to accommodate more immigrants from East Bengal in the wastelands of Assam. During his second term, Saadulla Ministry took a new resolution for opening up the grazing grounds in the districts of Nowgong, Darrang and Kamrup to accommodate the immigrants to grow more food in Assam (Misra, 2012). The justification was that for a booming economy and to grow more food, Assam needs cheap labor which could be brought in from East Bengal. Tribal communities were not satisfied with the move made by the government to accommodate immigrants in the lands occupied by them though those lands were non-cultivable lands. To quote Weiner on this issue,
“The 1937 elections produced a minority Muslim League government under Mohammad Saadulla which, except for a one-year interlude of Congress rule, governed the state until the close of World War II. The Saadulla ministry had
131 Before independence of India, labor force to the state of Assam was migrated from present Bangladesh and other parts of India. However, in the British colonialism line system was imposed to restrict migration of other communities to tribal areas, especially in the hill areas. The line system/inner line also restricts other communities to settle in the areas inhabited by tribal communities to reduce violence in such areas. However, the workforce which was brought from other parts of India demanded withdraw of the line system so that migrants can work and settle in the unused lands in the tribal inhabited areas.
aroused fears among Assamese that the entire province might be incorporated into the Muslim state of Pakistan, a fear made more credible by the increasing influx of Bengali Muslim migrants into the state in the late thirties and early forties.”
(Weiner, 1978)
Thus 1920-30s witnessed the rise of socio-political consciousness and political mobilization of the Bodos. The next section discusses ethnonationalism and identity politics of Bodos in the post-independence period.