Bongal Kheda

Bongal Kheda (trans. "Drive out the Bengalis !"[1][2][3]) was a xenophobic movement in Assam, India, orchestrated by native Assamese job seekers which aimed to purge out non-native job competitors — primarily, middle-class Hindu Bengalis.[4][2][5][6][7][8] Soon after the Independence of India, the Assamese Hindu middle class gained political control in Assam and tried to gain social and economic parity with their competitors, the Bengali Hindu middle class.[9] A significant period of property damage, ethnic policing and even instances of street violence occurred in the region.[10] The exact timeline is disputed, though many authors agree the 1960s saw a height of disruption. It was part of a broader discontent within Assam that would foreshadow the Assamese Language Movement and the anti-Bangladeshi Assam Movement.

  1. ^ "The word Bongal is used in a wide sense in Assam. It does not refer to Bengalis alone. It embraces all outsiders." (Chakravarti 1960:1193)
  2. ^ a b Bhaumik, Subir (1 January 2000). "Negotiating Access: Northeast India". Refugee Survey Quarterly. 19 (2): 148. doi:10.1093/rsq/19.2.142. ISSN 1020-4067.
  3. ^ Horowitz, Donald L. (30 September 2020). "6. An Economy of Antipathy: Target Selection and the Imperatives of Violence". The Deadly Ethnic Riot. University of California Press. pp. 194–223. doi:10.1525/9780520342057-008. ISBN 978-0-520-34205-7.
  4. ^ "The movement known as Bongal Kheda sponsored by Assamese job-seekers to drive out non-Assamese competitors." (Chakravarti 1960:1193)
  5. ^ Banerjee, Paula; Chaudhury, Sabyasachi Basu Ray; Das, Samir Kumar; Adhikari, Bishnu (2005). Internal Displacement in South Asia: The Relevance of the UN's Guiding Principles. SAGE. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-7619-3313-7.
  6. ^ Sufian, Abu (17 September 2020). "Geopolitics of the NRC-CAA in Assam: Impact on Bangladesh–India Relations". Asian Ethnicity. 23 (3): 556–586. doi:10.1080/14631369.2020.1820854. ISSN 1463-1369. S2CID 225010826.
  7. ^ Singh, Birinder Pal (28 June 2016). "Mazhabi Sikhs of Shillong and Guwahati (India)". Sikh Formations. 13 (3): 177. doi:10.1080/17448727.2016.1147172. ISSN 1744-8727. S2CID 148236402.
  8. ^ Nag, Sajal (1990). Roots of Ethnic Conflict: Nationality Question in North-east India. Manohar Publications. p. 140. ISBN 978-81-85054-93-3.
  9. ^ "In 1947 the Assamese, particularly the Assamese Hindu middle class, won control over the government of the newly formed state of independent India. For the first time in a hundred and fifty years the Assamese were back in power. They used that control to assert the paramountcy of Assamese cultural identity and to seek economic and social equality in relation to the Bengali Hindu middle classes-their rivals for jobs in the administrative services, in the professions, and in the private sector." (Weiner 1983:284)
  10. ^ Bijay Kumar, Dhar (31 July 2015). এনআরসি আরও একটি পৃথক রাজ্যের দাবিকে উস্কে না দেয়. Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). Kolkata: ABP Group. Retrieved 19 October 2018.