Colonial Intervention to a New Equation of Politics in India’s Northeast
![](https://spaceandculture.in/public/journals/2/cover_issue_35_en_US.jpg)
Abstract
Colonialism has its impact on Indian politics and society even after the colonialism. Pre-colonial Assam was able to maintain its independent status till 1826. After incorporating into the company’s holdings, colonialists gradually extended their controls to the hill areas surrounding the Assam and Bengal plains. Subsequent to annexing the hills, the areas were designated as “tribal” areas and continued to be ruled as a distinct administrative regime. However, the strategy of divide and rule system had fundamentally changed the practices of both hills and the plains. For segregating the hills from the plains, a line was drawn, known as Inner line of 1873. The gradual separation and sharpening of identity had led to the formation of ‘Bordoloi Sub-committee to render autonomy to the hill people. However, the recommendation made by the ‘Bordoloi Sub-committee’ were not able to fulfil the aspirations of the hill tribes, and they started demanding for more autonomy in the form of statehood, backed by insurgent activities, which paved the way for the reorganisation of Assam. And in the present juncture, the Plain tribes of Assam have been demanding for re-reorganisation of Assam. Hence, this study specifies the colonial subjectivity and subjugation and its consequences to new equations of contemporary politics.
Keywords
Colonial intervention, Politics, Identity, Autonomy, Reorganisation, Assam
References
- Baruah, S. (2003). Nationalising Space: Cosmatic Federalism and the politics of Development in Northeast India. Development and Change, 915-939, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2003.00334.
- Baruah, S. (2003). Protective Discrimination and Crisis of Citizenship in North East India. Economic and Political Weekly, 1624-1626, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4413479
- Baruah, S. (2008). Territoriality, Integrity and Rights in the North-East India. Economic and Political Weekly, 15-19, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40277273.
- Baruah, S. L. (2015). A Comprehensive History of Assam. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
- Bhattacharjee, J.B. (2018). The Northeast: The Evolution of the idea of a region. Studies in Peoples History, 5 (1), 65-71, DOI: 10.1177/2348448918759869. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2348448918759869
- Bhattacharyya, R. (2009). Examining the Changing Status and Role of Middle Class Assamese Women: Lessons from the lives of University Students. PhD Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU.
- Bhaumik, S. (2009). Troubled Periphery, Crisis of India's North East. New Delhi: Sage Publication. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9788132104797
- Bob, H and Vijoy, M. (2005). What was Postcolonialism ?. New Literary History, 36 (3), 375-402, DOI: 10.1353/nlh.2005.0045. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2005.0045
- Castro, Juan E. De. (2014). Colonialism and Post Colonialism. 383-390, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295400645.
- Constituent Assembly Debates, Official Report (1949). New Delhi: Jainco Art India.
- Das, D. (2018, 17 February). Colonial Construction of a Frontier Debating the Inner Line Regulation in Sibsagar- Naga Hills. Economic & Political Weekly, LIII (7), 52-61, https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/7/special-articles/colonial-construction-frontier.html.
- Fernandes, W. (1999, 18-24 December). Conflict in Northeast: A Historical Perspective. Economic and Political Weekly, 34 (51), 3579- 3582, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4408734.
- Functioning of Autonomous Councils in Sixth Schedule Areas of North Eastern States. 2016, https://www.actionaidindia.org/aadocument/Report.
- Gohain, H. (1997). Ethnic Unrest in the North-East. Economic and Political Weekly, 32 (8): 389-391, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4405112.
- Guha, A. (2006). Planter Raj to Swaraj, Freedom Struggle & Electoral politics in Assam. New Delhi: Tulika Books.
- Guha, R. and Spivak, C. G. (1988). Selected Subaltern Studies. Foreword by Edward W. Said. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Hansaria, V. (2005). Justice B.L. Hansaria's Sixth Schedule to the Constitution. New Delhi: Universal Law Publishing.
- Hussain, M. (1987). Tribal Movement for Autonomous State in Assam. Economic and Political Weekly, 1329-1332.
- Karlsson, B. G. (2014). Indigenous Politics: Community Formation and Indigenous Peoples struggle for Self- Determination in Northeast India. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 6-45, DOI: 10.1080/1070289X.2001.9962683. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2001.9962683
- Lahiri, R. M. (1975, Reprint). The Annexation of Assam (1824-1854). Calcutta: Firma KLM.
- Mack-Canty, C. (2004). Third-Wave Feminism and the Need to Reweave the Nature/ Culture Duality. NWSA Journal, 16 (3), 154-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/NWS.2004.16.3.154
- Mc Duie-Ra, D. (2009). Civil Society, Democratisation and the Search for Human Security: The Politics of Environment, Gender and Identity In Northeast India. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
- Mukerjee, D. (1969). Assam Reorganisation. Asian Survey, 9 (4), 297-311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2642547
- Ngaihte, S. T. (2013). The Reality of North East as an Entity. Economic and Political Weekly, XLVIII (50), 13-15.
- Pachuau, L. (1997). In Search of A Context for A Contextual Theology: The Socio Political Realities of" Tribal" Christians in Northeast India. National Council of Churches Review 117, 760-772, https://edfo.pw/ufas2drsgo8.pdf.
- Piang, L. Lam K. (2013). Ethnic Mobilisation for Decolonisation: Colonial Legacy (the case of the Zo people in Northeast India). Asian Ethnicity, 14 (3), 342-363, https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2012.688670. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2012.688670
- Samaddar, R. (edited, 2005). The Politics of Autonomy, Indian Experiences. New Delhi: Sage Publication.
- Sarmah, B. (2016). The Cauldron of Conflict: Politics of Peace, Governence and Development in India's North-East. Social Scientist, 15-36, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24890258.
- Singh, B. N. and J. P. Garg (1969, May). Reorganisation of Assam: A Study in the Politics of Regional Alienation in India. The Modern Review, 354-358.
- Singh, M. A. (2008). Ethnic Diversity, Autonomy and Territoriality in Northeast India: A Case of Tribal Autonomy in Assam. Strategic Analysis, 32 (6), 1101-1114, DOI: 10.1080/09700160802404588. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09700160802404588
- Singh, S. (2017, March- April). Micro- history lost in a Global Narrative? Revisiting the Grant of the "Diwani" to the English East India Company. Social Scientist, 45 (3/4), 41-51
- The Gazette of India (2019, 12 December). No. 71, New Delhi, http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214646.