Book of Integration Council New - Ministry of Home Affairs

SHRI TARUN GOGOI
CHIEF MINISTER, ASSAM
Respected Dr. Manmohan Singhji, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Home
Minister, Patil, & his Cabinet colleagus, Hon’ble Chief Ministers of All States,
Press & Media, & distinguished guests,
Social Structure- Caste and Identity divisions and rhetoric
Assam is a pluralistic multi lingual, multi religious and multi ethnic society.
However, the society in Assam is not divided on the basis of caste, creed
or religion. Untouchability and religious fanatism are unknown in the State.
The Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs have been living together for
hundreds of years in Assam in peace and harmony. Moreover, the festivals in
Assam also involve the society as a whole without prejudice to any caste,
community or religion. Only recently there have been incidents of violence
among certain ethnic and minority groups. The unfortunate clashes, which
took place recently were restriced mainly to two districts namely Udalguri and
Darrang. This occurred mainly due to the call by various organizations demanding
detection and deportation of illegal migrants from the State besides
the protracted issue of land involving the tribal and minorities. However,
peace was restored within seventy-two hours through firm state action including
strong, effective and unbiased action by law enforcing agencies and the
armed forces. It is highly encouraging to note that despite the disturbances the
Eid and the Durga Puja celebration not only passed off peacefully but also
saw full participation of all communities. The Government was able to deploy
reinforcement very promptly despite the insurgency situation in the state. The
clashes unfortunately resulted in death of 55 persons including 24 killed in
police firing. The number of villages affected is practically the same for both
the communities. As on date as many as 2,25,000 people have taken shelter in
the relief camps established by the State Government.
We are firmly of the view that these clashes cannot be termed as communal
in nature in that the genesis of these disturbances lies in mischievous
propaganda spread by vested interests and also remains rooted in the problem
of land alienation of tribals in tribal belts and blocks. For protection of the
rights of tribals Assam Government had long enacted special provisions in
revenue laws but unfortunately over the years there have been cases of alienation
of tribal land to non-tribals. This has caused resentment among plains
tribals and therefore effective steps were necessary to prevent further alienation
of land. This was one reason why the State Government agreed to sign the
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