Nellie Massacre: Four Decades on, Assam Govt Tables Two Conflicting Reports on 1983 Poll Violence
New Delhi: The Assam government tabled two contrasting reports in the state assembly – one of them unofficial – reviving the memories of the tipping point of the anti-immigrant agitation in Assam four decades ago, also known as the Nellie massacre.
According to a report by The Hindu, the Himanta Biswa Sarma government tabled the Justice (retired) T.U. Mehta Commission report, which is not an official report, distributing hard copies only to the MLAs. Meanwhile, it also distributed copies of the official Tribhuvan Prasad Tewary Commission report among all members of the 126-member House.
Both these reports deal with the series of violence during the controversial three-phase assembly elections held in 1983, while Assam was under President’s Rule.
Notably, the Mehta Commission was formed by Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan and organisations spearheading the Assam agitation from 1979-85.
According to The Hindu report, the Mehta Commission report attributed the violence largely to the imposition of the polls against the wishes of the people, criticising the Election Commission for letting the violence grow.
The commission also reportedly stated that the then state and Union governments were fully aware that the situation was not conducive for holding elections. The “situation was not at all congenial for holding a truly free and fair election, and that the governments – state as well as central – knew it and the Election Commission ought to have known it,” it stated, as quoted by The Indian Express.
It also stated that the elections were held without correcting the electoral rolls, much to the anger of the people.
The Tewary Commission was formed by the Hiteshwar Saikia-led Congress government to “look into the circumstances leading to the disturbances which took place in the State of Assam during January to April 1983”.
In contrast to the Mehta panel, this report clearly stated: “In our considered view, the decision to hold the elections cannot be blamed for the outbreak of the violence of 1983.”
“The evidence produced before the Commission clearly brings out that the issues of foreigners, language, etc., have been agitating the minds of the people for the last several decades, exploding into violence on several previous occasions,” the report said, as quoted by The Hindu.
The Tewary Commission report focused on the Nellie massacre, pinning responsibility largely on the “agitationists”.
It stated that the violence killed 3,023 people across 11 districts between January 1 and April 30, 1983, including 1,811 in Nagaon district.
Nellie, then a part of this district, was the epicentre of the massacre, witnessing the killing of migrant Muslims, mostly women and children, on February 18, 1983. People belonging to the Assamese, Bengali Hindu, and other communities were also killed in other districts.
“AASU and the AAGSP are primarily responsible for launching the agitation and for its consequences. There is overwhelming evidence that, with a view to preventing the holding of elections, arson, riots, destruction of public properties like buildings, roads and bridges, sabotage of railway tracks, intimidation, picketing, ‘bandhs’, etc, were organised in a pre-planned and extensive scale,” the report said, as quoted by Express.
Addressing the assembly as the two reports were tabled, Sarma said that the Tewary panel report, although tabled in the Assembly in 1987 when the Asom Gana Parishad – now an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party – was in power, was restricted to one copy submitted to the speaker.
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