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Political Decentralization and Ethnic Violence in Sixth Schedule Areas of Assam

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Political Decentralization and Ethnic Violence in Sixth Schedule Areas of Assam Political Decentralization and Ethnic Violence in Sixth Schedule Areas of Assam A thesis submitted to Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Aniruddha Kumar Baro Registration No: 11614116 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Guwahati, India 2018 Dedicated to My Parents Sarat Chandra Baro and Salita Baro i TH-2075_11614116 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Guwahati-781039, Assam, India Declaration This thesis entitled “Political Decentralization and Ethnic Violence in Sixth Schedule Areas of Assam” submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has not been previously submitted for any other degree of this or any other university and is my original work. In keeping with the general practice of reporting scientific observations, due acknowledgement has been made wherever the work described is based on the findings of other investigations. IIT Guwahati (ANIRUDDHA KUMAR BARO) April, 2018 Research Scholar Department of Humanities and Social Sciences ii TH-2075_11614116 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Guwahati-781039, Assam, India Certificate This is to certify that Mr. Aniruddha Kumar Baro has prepared the thesis entitled “Political Decentralization and Ethnic Violence in Sixth Schedule Areas of Assam” for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. The work was carried out under my supervision and in strict conformity with the rules laid down for the purpose. The thesis is the result of his investigations and has not been submitted either in whole or in part to any other university/ institution for a research degree. IIT Guwahati (Dr. Pahi Saikia) April, 2018 Supervisor iii TH-2075_11614116 Acknowledgements I would like to extend my thanks to many teachers, friends and members of my family who provided me with support and advice while I was working on this thesis. At the outset, I would like to express gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Pahi Saikia, for her very sincere guidance from the beginning till the end of my work. I am immensely grateful to her for her generous and constant effort in providing me with positive feedback on all my writings. I do express my deep sense of gratitude to the members of my doctoral committee. I sincerely thank Prof. Liza Das, Dr. V. Prabhu and Dr. Sawmya Ray for their insightful comments and encouragement. Their suggestions and comments have enriched my research from various perspectives. I am grateful to the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) for providing me the opportunity to carry out my research. I am grateful to the office staff of Department of HSS, Bandana Khataniar, Parag Kalita and Durga Sarma for their kindness and ready administrative help. I would also like to thank the University Grants Commission (UGC) for providing me with fellowship assistance for my research under UGC-JRF. The IIT Guwahati Central Library (Lakshminath Bezbaroa Central Library) has been an asset with ample resources for the thesis. I also owe my thanks to the different libraries like Krishna Kanta Handique Library, Gauhati University, Assam State Archive, North Eastern Social Science Research Centre, Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Library, Jawaharlal Nehru University Library, Manipur State Archive, Department of History and Antiquarian Studies Guwahati, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, British Council Kolkata, Asiatic Society Library among others. I am extremely indebted to numerous people for their kind support during my fieldwork and would like to acknowledge all my interviewees in Darjeeling, BTAD, Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Manipur, Tripura, Rabha Hasong and Mising Autonomous Council. I owe special thanks to Bongmiji Phangcho who arranged everything during my fieldwork in iv TH-2075_11614116 Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao and to Amalesh Gope for his generous help during the visit to Tripura. My family who has been a constant source of inspiration deserves more than words. I am extremely grateful to my parents and younger brothers Keshab and Tapash; younger sister Aijoni for their love and encouragement to work hard and stay focused. Among my friends, special thanks goes to Partha, Mahananda, Bikram, Jimlee, Anuj, Rup, Pramit for constantly encouraging in all moves of my life. I must extend my special thanks to Bharat Konwar, Bhasker Pegu, Pankaj Kalita, Pankaj Singh, Pankaj Bora, Bhupen Mili, Mizingsa Daimary, Rakesh Soud, Suju Baglari, Hemanta Barman, Luke Horo, Baban Bayan, Halim Hussain, Jimmy Sebastian Daimary, Sariful Rahman, Mahsina Rahman, Rajashree Bargohain, Munmi Saikia, Nirmala Devi, Chandita Baruah and many others who were extremely cooperative throughout the study and provided me with moral support during the entire period. Finally, I express my deepest acknowledgement to Pranti for offering me her wonderful companionship, time and support to keep up my morale and complete my work. I truly believe that without her constant care and understanding it would have been difficult for me to remain persistent and complete this thesis. (Aniruddha Kumar Baro) April, 2018 v TH-2075_11614116 Contents Page No. Dedication i Declaration ii Certificate iii Acknowledgement iv List of Tables ix List of Figures ix Abbreviations x Abstract xiii Chapter One: Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Understanding concepts: ethnicity, ethnic identity, ethnonationalism 4 Conceptualizing ethnic demands 9 Conceptualizing ethnic violence 11 Existing tradition of understanding ethnic violence 14 Research design and methodology 23 Process of case selection 28 A brief research note: Lessons learned in the field 34 Organization of the thesis 36 Summary 39 Chapter Two: Literature Review 41 Introduction 41 Existing approaches on conflict prevention 41 Approaches on political decentralization as a conflict prevention mechanism 46 Approaches on political decentralization fostering ethnic violence 54 Institutional analysis 54 vi TH-2075_11614116 Group level analysis 61 Research questions 67 Objectives 68 Explaining the variable 68 Summary 71 Chapter Three: Governance structure, political mobilization and process of 73 decentralization in Assam: A historical analysis Introduction 73 Advent of British and their administration in undivided Assam (1826-1935) 78 Administrative policies of British (1935-1947) 86 Bordoloi Committee’s recommendation for Sixth Schedule 90 Creation of autonomous council and implementation of Sixth Schedule 93 Post-independence political history of Assam 97 State formation in Northeast India 101 Sixth Schedule in Northeast India: Amendments and implementation 103 Political decentralization and implementation of Sixth Schedule in plains 108 tribes Areas of Assam Summary 110 Chapter Four: Nature of ethno-political demands, political decentralization 113 and violence in Bodoland Introduction 113 Ethnopolitical mobilization of Bodos and demands for political 115 decentralization Ethnopolitical mobilization and identity politics of Bodos (1920s-1940s) 118 Ethnonationalism and identity politics of Bodos: (1947-1993) 121 Bodo accord and beyond (1993-2003) 129 BTC accord and aftermath (2003-2016) 132 Political decentralization and violence in Bodoland (2003-2017) 137 Challenges to political decentralization 141 vii TH-2075_11614116 Electoral competition and ethnic violence in Bodoland 146 Competition for resources and ethnic violence 159 Summary 162 Chapter Five: Political decentralization and ethnic violence: A comparative 165 analysis of BTAD, Karbi And Dima Hasao of Assam Introduction 165 Understanding the relations between political decentralization and ethnic 167 violence Bodoland Territorial Area Districts 170 Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council 170 History of implementation of Sixth Schedule 170 Understanding the relationship between political decentralization and ethnic 174 violence in Karbi Anglong Electoral competition and ethnic violence 175 Resources and ethnic violence 184 The Dima Hasao District Autonomous Council 187 Electoral competition and ethnic violence 189 Competition for resources and ethnic violence 193 Summary and comparing cases: Political decentralization and ethnic violence 195 in Assam Chapter Six: Summary and Conclusion 197 Introduction 197 Limitation of the study 203 Future scope of research 204 Bibliography 207 APPENDIX A 217 viii TH-2075_11614116 List of Tables Page No. Table 4.1: Election result of BTC election 2005 148 Table 4.2: Election result of BTC election 2010 150 Table 4.3: Election result of BTC election 2015 152 Table 4.4: Election results of Assam Legislative Assembly election 2006, 153 2010 and 2016 Table 5.1: Different autonomous councils of Northeast India 166 Table 5.2: DHADC election 1996 192 Table 5.3: DHADC election 2001 192 Table 5.4: DHADC election 2007 192 Table 5.5: DHADC election 2013 192 List of Figures/Diagrams Page No. Diagram 2.1: Determining factors: Independent and Dependent variables 70 Figure 4.1: Ethnic violence in Baksa district 142 Figure 4.2: Ethnic violence in Chirang district of 2012 and 2014 142 Figure 4.3: Ethnic violence in Kokrajhar district of 2012 and 2014 143 Figure 4.4: Ethnic violence in Udalguri of 2008, 2012 and 2014 144 ix TH-2075_11614116 Abbreviations Explanations AAPTL All Assam Plain Tribal League AASU All Assam Students’ Union AATL All Assam Tribal League ABEF All Bodo Employees’ Federation ABMSU All Bodoland Muslim
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