Bodos of Assam

 The tribals of Assam – Bodos, Karbis and Adivasis have been involved in collective ethnic mobilisation since 1980s. The Bodos and Karbis are demanding creation of a separate state respectively from within the present Assam. The Bodos and Karbis are the indigenous tribes inhabiting their respective habitats. The former are found in lower Assam districts like Kokhrajhar, and Karbis inhabit Karbi Anlong district of the state.

The Adivasis consist of tribes like Oraons and Santhals who mainly immigrated to the state during the colonial period. As tea plantation labourers principally from Orissa, Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Apart from working as plantation labourers, they also cultivated land as poor peasants. The Adivasis demand protection of their rights in terms of reservation in government jobs, protection from the dominant ethnic tribes as there have been several instances of violent ethnic riots between the Bodos and the Adivasis.

The tribals of Assam participated in the six year long Assam agitation led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) from 1989 to 1985. The movement which was directed against the foreigners united major communities of Assam — tribals and non-tribal Assamese, on the common perception they shared common experience in terms of their belonging to a backward and discriminated state, facing the challenge of the foreign infiltration, especially from Bangladesh and Assam.

In the course of time, however, the differences between the Bengalis who had been living in the state since the 19th century and were the citizens of the country and the Bangladeshi immigrants got blurred.  Led mainly by the students and the middle classes, the movement had become violent on a number of occasions.

But as soon as AASU transformed itself into a political party – the Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) formed the government following its victory in the 1985 assembly elections, the tribes like Bodos and Karbis which had participated in the AASU agitation started agitation for creation of their separate states. They felt that the AASU movement was led by the dominant communities of Assam utilised the support of the smaller tribes like them.

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