Current situation in Nellie

By Anju Azad and Diganta Sharma for TwoCircles.net

Part 6: Nellie 1983

After 25 years of the carnage, Nellie and its infrastructure remain the same. People of Nellie in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister and others expressed their hardship and demanded basic facilities required for a human living. They argued that through the process of Illegal Migration Determination Tribunal Act, they were proved as Indian citizens. Then why their rights are not same as that of other citizens of this country?

Regarding communication and transportation facilities in Nellie the memorandum said that Nellie massacre could not be avoided due to absence of road – the 10th Battalion of CRPF couldn’t reach on time in the massacre site. This situation is same till date in spite of several promises by political leaders. Therefore it is highly essential to construct the long pending road connecting Nellie with other places.

About health facilities, the nearest hospital is situated at a distance of 10 to 11 kms. There is no primary health centre or sub centre anywhere in the villages. It is extremely difficult for children and pregnant women to access health care.

As for drinking water, there is no drinking water facility for Nellie and neighbouring villages. The villagers collect drinking water from unhygienic ponds wherein the cattle also quench their thirst. Water-borne diseases like typhoid are a common feature of these villages because of unhygienic drinking water. Moreover housewives and children have to travel long distance for collecting water from ponds and they spend most of the time in collecting water.

Proper irrigation and flood control mechanism is missing in Nellie. This prevented the Nellie inhabitants from becoming economically empowered. Schools opened soon after the organized mass killing in Nellie have not been granted financial help till date in spite of continuous demand from the people.

Inquiry commissions – a ritual to answer a public outcry

Inquiry commission usually constituted in India under the Commissions of Enquiry Act 1952 has become a ritual in India to answer a public outcry. There were nine inquiry commissions concerning the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. There are two inquiry commissions headed by Justice S N Sarma and Justice K N Saikia into the secret killings of the members of the armed opposition groups, United Liberation Front of Assam and their relatives in late 1990s. Justice K N Saikia in his report submitted on 15 November 2007 reached different conclusions. Second, some commissions like the Liberhan Commission investigating into the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992 are yet to complete its investigation and only in November 2007 another extension was provided. Third, the findings of majority inquiry commissions like the Justice Upendra Commission of Inquiry into the killing of Ms Thangjang Manorama Devi on August 2004 in Manipur is yet to be published. Fourth, when reports of commissions of inquiries such as the Justice Sri Krishna Commission inquiring into the Mumbai pogrom in 1992-1993 are made public, no action has been taken. Fifth, even when the High Court orders to place the reports of inquiry commission such as the massacre of the Dalits in Kuhmer in Rajasthan, the government in contempt of the High Court order even refused to place before the State Assembly. Sixth, during the investigation processes by the Inquiry Commissions such as the Nanavati-Shah Commission of Inquiry into the Gujarat genocidal carnage of 2002, all attempts are made to ensure that the truth never comes out. Tiwari commission constituted to enquire Nellie massacre met the same fate. The report is not made public till date.

End note

Nellie massacre has enormous impacts on Assam movement. The agitation was rushed to closure soon after Nellie massacre. Assam Accord was signed and Illegal Migration Determination Tribunal Act (IMDT) was passed in 1985. (Later on, in 2006, IMDT was declared unconstitutional.) Nellie, a forgotten massacre, is hardly a matter of discussion at present. General opinion is that if Nellie is brought forth, there is a possibility of emergence of communal tension. Still a few questions remain unanswered. Legal proceeding remains unclear for Nellie massacre. Chargesheeted cases were dropped to maintain communal harmony in the state. No arrests were made. No one was made accountable for this massacre. Enquiry commission report became a secret document. Who will answer these questions? For governments, all files related to Nellie massacre are closed now. Nellie massacre reminds a famous Sarajevo joke, “When someone kills a man, he is put in prison. When someone kills twenty people, he is declared mentally insane. But when someone kills 200,000 people, he is invited to Geneva for peace negotiations’. There will be no better example for this joke except Nellie massacre.

Bibliography on Nellie and Assam agitation:

Books

1. P. S Dutta – Autonomy Movements in Assam (Documents), Omsons Publication, 1993
2. Meeta Deka – Student Movement in Assam , Vikas Publication, 1996
3. Giren Gohain, Assam : A Burning Problem, Spectrum Publication, 1985
4. Amalendu Guha – Planter –Raj to swaraj: freedom struggle and electoral reform in Assam 1826-1947, Indian Council of Historical Research Publication, 1977
5. Sanjib Baruah , Indian against itself, University of Pnnysylvania Press
6. Amiya Kumar Das, Assam Agony, Lancers Publication, 1982
7. Sanjoy Hazarika , Strangers of the Mist, Penguin Publication, 1994
8. Sanjoy Hazarika, Rites of Passage, Penguin Publication, 2001
9. Sujata Miri, Communalism in Assam, 1993
10. Udayan Mishra, The Periphery Strikes Back, IIAS, Shimla, 2000
11. Alaka Sharma, Immigration and Assam Politics, Anjanta Publication, 1999
12. Hemendra Narayan, 25 years on...Nellie still haunts, 2008
13. Sanjib Baruah, Beyond Counter Insurgency, Oxford Publication, 2009

Articles and news items

• GOVT STALLS SEMINAR ON NELLIE MASSACRE, The Assam Tribune, Guwahati, Thursday, November 11, 2004
• Kimura, Makiko. "Memories of the Massacre: Violence and Collective Identity in the Narratives on the Nellie Incident." Asian Ethnicity 4, no. 2 (2003): 225-239.
• Ahmed, Abu Sayed and Yasin Adilul, Problems of Identity, Assimilation and Nation Building : A cse study of Muslims in Assam’
• Goswami, Homeswar and Saikia, Migration to Assam, 1951-1991, Omio Kumar Das Institute
• Kimura, Makiko, Role of Media in settling the Immigration Problem ( in Demension of displaced People in North East India), Regency Publication , 2002
• Kimura, Makiko, Collective Memory of Violence : Ethnicity and Opinion in the Narratives on the Nellie formation in the Brahmaputra Valley and Barak valley, Proceeding of North East India History Association, Shilong
• Udayan Mishra, Immigration and Identity transformation in Assam, Economic and Political Weekly, 1999
• Myron Weiner , The Political Demography of Assam’s Anti-Immigrant Movement’, Population and Developmental Review 9, No 2, 1983
• Jane Wilson, Turmoil in Assam, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 1992

Internet sources

• http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/01-15Dec04-Print-Edition/01151...
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_massacre
• http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/09/nellie-revisited-23-years-on.html
• http://hubpages.com/hub/Assam-Nellie-Massacre-Eyewitness-Journalist
• http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/12/14/stories/2008121450100300.htm
• http://www.sacw.net/article423.html
• http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Nellie_massacre
• http://www.aekia.org/25_years_of_nellie_massacre.htm
• http://www.aekia.org/book_review.htm
• http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/Jharkhand/message/5357
• http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080219/jsp/guwahati/story_8920369.jsp
• http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=893dd97a-a793-4cab-b43d-075d177aead9&&Headline=Nellie+(Assam)%2C+February+18%2C+1983+-+1%2C819+dead
• http://www.indianexpress.com/oldstory.php?storyid=60188
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Assam_Students_Union
• http://www.sinlung.com/articles/blogalicious/the-tragedy-called-assam.html
• http://abid.bihu.in/entry.php?u=abid&e_id=1432
• http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2008/a_one_man_mission.html
• http://www.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=Ne070205The_simple.asp
• http://www.assamonnet.org/index.php?article=postcolonial
• http://www.indianexpress.com/oldstory.php?storyid=58700
• http://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&id=UGvgSOm8R94C&dq=makiko+kimura+N...