Demographic invasion and definition of Assamese

Finding a definition of the term ‘Assamese’ is a challenging task. ‘Assamese’ as a language has been clearly defined through a landmark scientific treatise by the great scholar Banikanta Kakati way back in 1935. But when it comes to defining who an Assamese is, one has to look beyond the term that denotes a mother tongue. Yes, every person whose mother tongue is Assamese is definitely an Assamese. But being an Assamese is much more than that. And there is a specific circumstance in the backdrop of which this definition is required to be ascertained, once and for all. It must be kept in mind that Assamese as a language has experienced a series of trials and tribulations in the past two hundred years. While Siu-ka-pha, founder of the Ahom kingdom, established a strong foundation of the Assamese identity way back in the early 13th century, the Assamese identity has been, in the past two hundred years, shaped largely around the language. This was necessitated first when the British East India Company regime removed the Assamese language from government use and educational institutions in 1837 and imposed Bengali in its place. It was only after a long struggle that the status of the Assamese language was re-established in 1873, thanks primarily to the untiring efforts of Anandaram Dhekial Phukan. A well-drawn conspiracy, however, has been at work since then against the Assamese language on the one hand and against the Assamese and all other indigenous communities of the state on the other. In the immediate post-independence period, the number of immigrants from erstwhile East Bengal—irrespective of their religious affiliation—has increased at such a rapid pace that the Assamese-speaking people as well as all other indigenous communities speaking their respective languages have come under a serious threat to their identity. Census reports released every decade since 1901 will reveal how the Assamese and other indigenous communities of the state have been increasingly facing this threat. To be specific, the threat is two-pronged, and so is the conspiracy. One, the threat is to the Assamese language, and along with it to all other ethnic indigenous languages, and two, to the Assamese and indigenous cultures of the state. In simple terms, while Assam has been facing a demographic invasion in the shape of “land-hungry” Muslims having roots in erstwhile East Bengal/Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh, it is simultaneously also facing a linguistic threat. What must be recalled in this connection is that while the threat to the language had increased in the immediate post-independence decade, the immigrant Muslims tried to take advantage of the situation by pretending to declare Assamese as their mother tongue. This pretension was part of the larger design to carry forward the demographic invasion on one front and to cause a rift between the Assamese/indigenous people and the Bengali-speaking Hindus. In fact, the large majority of immigrant Muslims had, during as many as four Census operations (1961, 1971, 1991, and 2001), returned Assamese as their mother tongue. Unfortunately, the Axam Xahitya Xabha and a section of Assamese intellectuals, in a hurry to prove the numerical superiority of Assamese-speaking people, miserably failed to understand the reality. Some even went to the extent of inventing a term called ‘Na-Asamiya’ for the Muslim immigrants and infiltrators, failing to realise their real intention behind returning Assamese as their mother tongue. A verification of the language data of the past five Census reports will reveal that a large section of the same immigrant Muslims who had declared Assamese as their mother tongue in the Censuses from 1961 to 2001 had declared Bengali as their mother tongue in the 2011 Census. It is important to note that the Government of India had way back in 1951 foreseen such a threat to Assam—be it to her language, culture, or demography. That exactly was why the Union Home Ministry had, in 1951, prepared a National Register of Citizens (NRC) exclusively for Assam alongside the Census report of that year. The 1951 Census had tried to define the term ‘Assamese’. In later years, a few individuals like Bishnuram Medhi, Bimala Prasad Chaliha, Ambikagiri Rai Choudhury, Harendra Nath Barua, and Bhupen Hazarika had tried their best to awaken the Assamese/indigenous people to the stark reality. The Assam Accord created confusion by restricting itself to ‘Assamese’ people without realising that the demographic invasion has affected every indigenous community of Assam. Bhupen Hazarika, in one song, stated that the Assamese were not only on the verge of being reduced to a minority in their own home, but even to a refugee. Hazarika had, in one of his songs, also given a definition of who an ‘Assamese’ is. But then, ‘Assamese’ is not just about language. It has to be defined in the context of the demographic invasion.