BODO MOVEMENT IN ASSAM A CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS D18SBRTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE PEQUtREMENTS FOR THE AWARD Of THEOEGREEOF MASTER OF LAWS BY MD. KQR5411D AbAM MAZUMDER Under the supervision of DR. S. MUSHARRAF All READER FACULTY OF LAW ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 1991 DS2281 DEDICATED T__g M Y GRAND P A R. E NT S LATE MOHAMMAD ALI MAZUMDER AND LATE MRS. N. BIBI ou r Office : 5764 Dr. S, Musharraf Ali,Reader 5519 ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSfTY DEPARTMENT OF LAW ALIGARH-202 002 5th October, 1991 To uhom it may concern Certified that Mr. nohammad Khurshid Alam Plazumder, class roll no, 89LL. 1*1, 17, enrolment No, 0-907, has worked on the topic "Bodo Movement in Assam : A Constitutional Analysis" in partial fulfilment for the auard of LL, 1*1, degree. He has conducted the study under my supervision, I wish him all success. Dr, S. Musharraf Ali Sup ervi soi ACKNOV/LEDGEMENT Having completed this dissertation it is my prime duty to thank Almighty Allah who bestowed His Mercy and all help to enable me to complete this work. Although it is customary to acknowledge and express gratefulness to all those who rendered help to me in the completion of this work, as well as in the formation of my carrier, but it is in fact the manifestation of real feelings which, ever arouse to put on record. In the first place I feel it to be my foremost duty to acknowledge my gratefulness to my reverned supervisor Dr. Syed Musharraf Ali, Reader, Dept. of Law, whose guidance and inspira­ tion always available to me in pursuing this task. My deep sense of gratitude are due to Prof. V.S. Rekhi, Dean, Faculty of Law, Prof. Ghulam Ahmad Khan, Prof. Mohammad Mustafa Ali Khan, Chairman, Dept. of Law, Mr. M. Moshir Alam, Reader, Mr. Shariful Hasan, Reader and other members of the teaching staff whose encouragement and timely help I have been getting throughout my stay in the department. It is an occassion which I feel my most pious duty to put on record my sincere thanks for my respected parents and each member of my family, who have been helpful to me in every sphere of my life. In this regard I offer my special thanks to my uncles M/s Rafiqul H. Mazumder(Advocate, Assam); Nazrul H. Muzumder, Shafiqul H. Mazumder, who have been the source of inspiration in building up my career. - 11 - I am thankful to ray brothers M/s Sahidul A. Mazumder, F. Uddin Mazumder, N. I. Chaudhary and A.M. Barbhuyia and sisters Mrs. A. Nehar, Mrs. Rabia Mazumder and Miss. G.Mazumder, whose encouragement enable me to keep up the enthusiasm to complete my education at AligaXh. My gratefulness are also to M/s Hashim Ali, S.K.Bhattacharjee (SS College, Assam), Nurul I. Chaudhary, M.A. Barbhuyia, A.M. Barbhuiya (Advocates, Assam); Mr. Ali Hasan Samsuddin, Mrs. Al- Sahiba (Cachar College, Silchar) & Mrs. C Nessa (Door Darshan Kendra, Silchar) without whose good wishes it would not have been possible for me to complete my study. I am specially grateful to Mr. M.R. r4azumder, Dy. Secretary, Judicial Dept., Govt, of Assam, Dispur, for providing material. Amongst my friends my sincere thanks go to M/s Y. Wadwan (ADA), M. Paul, Shamim Barbhuyia(JNU), Mir Farooque, Hymayun Moazzam, Nayeem, Dilwar, Saleh,Noor Ahmad, Sahidul, Ahmodul, Bahar & Nashir, for their kind help. My deep sense of thanks are due to all my room partners and hostel fellows. I am also thankful to the staff of the Law Seminar and Tribal Research Institute, Gauhati, Assam, for making the relevant literature available to me. I very earnestly express ray thanks to Mr. Ataat Husain, Faculty of Law, for typing out this work efficiently. Department of Law Md. Kurshid Alam Mazumder Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh. Dated : 21/10/1991 G 0 N T i: K T S I'^ge No. INTRODUCTION 1 - 19 i) Geographical Location and Population of Bodos ii) Who are the Bodos iii) Cultural Life iv) Source of Livelihood v) Bodos Religion CHAPTER-I SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF THE 20 - 33 BODOS (A) Position before Indpendence (B) Position after Independence CHAPTER-11 ORIGIN OP THE BODO MOVEMENT AND 34 - 65 THEIR DEMANDS i) Beginning of the Agitation ii) Negotiation with State and Centre CHAPTER-III; CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE BODO 64 - 81 MOVEMENT i) Constitutional Principles and formation of Ifew State ii) Constitutional Provisions relating to the Scheduled and tribal areas iii) Constituent Assembly and the issue of tribals iv) Assam Accord and the tribals of Assam contd . — 2/- Page No • v) Aasajn. Accord - Memorandum of Statement vi) Attitude of A.A.S.U. and Assam Accord CONCLUSION 82-89 BIBLIOGRAPHY i-iv s O Ci. f- c; D >H M C t—I S£; CO. - c ai to i«i 00 0'; §g M t-H oo oin « OhJ w £5 o O e^ g 10- tq H EH o -«; C\J >X) P-, ^ M /-~\ S; p: M 1-1 KJ W 1—1 C E-pq El fe^:? ^i^ o W t) M E-( Aj M ir: fe ^5 fr. r -, p:: O « :=) PNiJzjpqpci^c o ->; O ^-. t.:. PC 1 . I . .^—I CO 5 INTRODUCTION In the-early part of the twelfth century the fall of the Palas from power was followed by period of confusion and anarchy and it was continued all throughout of this century. In the thirteenth century A.D. there were the 'Chutiya' and the 'Kachari' and the ahom kingdoms inhabited in the eastern part of the Assam, In the west side the kingdom of 'Kamrupa' or 'Karaata' was inhabited. Both the 'Chutiyas' and 'Kacharig' belong to the Bodo group people. Generally speaking the 'Kamrupa' kingdom situated at districts Kamrup, Ifelbari, Borpeta, Kokrajar, Dhubri, Goal Para, Koch Bihar, Jalpaiguri, Rangpur and part of Myraensing (at present in Bangaladesh), wher.e the present Bodo people mainly are inhabited. The Ahoms invaded Assam in the year 1228 AD across the Patkoi ranges. The local Mongoloids of Bodo origin first encountered them. The mongoloids of Bodo origins are mainly the 'Chutiyas' and 'Kacharis' who ruled in the north eastern part of the country, but ultimately overcame thera and succeeded in establishing their dominion over a major portion of eastern Assam. Naturally, the Ahom rulers came into conflict v/ith the 1. Dutta Debabrata, "History of Assam", Sirbhumi Publication:: Co., Calcutta, 19SG, p. 43. 2 . Ibid at D. 49. 2 Karata rulers during 1332-64 and 1397-1407. At the same time by the sixteenth century A.D. the Kamta rulers divided into small partaand in its place a Mongoloid Bodo kingdom known as Koch kingdom came to power. The Koch kings prevented the Ahoras from spreading their pov/er in western Assam during the greatest part of the 16th century. The Koch kingdom fragmented in the 17th A.D. The Mughals conquered the western part while the eastern part was controlled by the Ahoms. Commentator Chatterjee explained in the 'History of Assam' that the history of Assam from 1250 to 1700 A.D. to some extent was similar to the history of a struggle between the original Indo Mongoloid inhabitants of the country (mostly Tibeto Burman Bodo) and the newly arrived (sino Siamese) Ahoms who belongs to a distant branch of the same Sino Tibetan Stock Out of this struggle between the Tibeto Burman Bodo and the Sino Siamese or Thai Ahom, the Ahoms emerged Victorians. But by the time of this final truimph the Ahom and the Bodo had both lost their nerve as independent people - they had both lost their language or were fairly advanced on the way to lose it and had emerged into a 4 single Aryan Assemese speaking people in Assam. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION AM) POPULATION OF BODOS Without dealing with the geographical location of the Bodo people, the origin of the Bodos can not be clarify easily. So, geographical location of the Bodos occupies vital importance. 3. Supra n. 1 pp. 48-49. 4. S.K. Chatterjee "Kirata Jana Kirti", Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta 1951, pp. 102-103. Assam is a land of multi-cultural people. These multi cultures have been from prehistoric period. The people of different races had entered in Assam and lived there. As a result the Assam became the meeting place of various types of people and culture. In the Brahmputra valley of -A-ssam, we find Aasemese speaking Hindus and Muslims, the various tribal groups who are known as plains tribala and who speak their own tribal languages along with -Aasemese, the Bengali speaking Hindus and Muslims and tea-garden labourers. The tea-garden labourers comprise of ^original people like Santhal, Munda Kol and some are of Dravidian stock. However, the population of Assemese speaking Hindus of -A-ssam valley do not constitute a homogenous group, because it includes the mongoloid Ahoms and Hinduised Koch - Rajbanshis. But it should be remembered that there has been a considerable intermixing between these various groups of people throughout the ages. Beside that in the Barak valley we find Hindu and Muslim who speak Bengali language, Manipuris and tribal groups are also there. Manipuris and tribal groups speak their own languages. In the two hill districts Karbi and Dimasa Kachari tribes people are living. These two districts are known as Karbianglong and Half-long Districts. Thus, the Assam is a room for multilingual and multiethnic population. POPULATION OF THE BODOS The following table shows the tribal population in the plain areas of the Assam according to 1971 census. But the 4 3odo leader have some objections on these figures arxl they made the statement that "Lakhs of tribala had been dropped out from their respective tribes with International Adminis­ trative Mamoeuverism, but included as the general Assamese Table-1 : Scheduled Tribes (Plains) Population of Assam (Census 1971) Name of the Total P.C.