Religious composition of the population in the district (as per the 2001 census): 48% Hindus, 51% Muslims
Chief Minister of Assam: no Chief Minister between March 1982 and 27 February 1983
A massive attack against Muslims took place in Nellie (Assam) in the Nagaon district and in other parts of the state during the February 1983 assembly elections.
The remote and deprived state of Assam is highly diverse and composite, the result of a long history of migration from the neighboring region of West Bengal. During the colonial period, the British encouraged the settlement of Bengali Muslim peasants to cultivate the land. With Partition in 1947 and the creation of Bangladesh (in 1971) - a poor and heavily populated state-Muslim migration to Assam intensified. In a situation where Assamese, tribals, Bengali Hindus, and Bengali Muslims lived side by side, forming a complex mosaic, Bangladeshi Muslim migrants were rapidly designated the scapegoats of a population suffering from its remoteness, its underdevelopment, and its lack of integration into the Indian nation. Agitation against “foreigners” crystallized around the voting issue: in a democratic system, Assam’s native citizens feared that they might become a minority in their own land.
Back in 1979, the discovery of electoral rolls (for a local election) that included numerous foreign names caused a scandal. The AASU (All Assam Students Union) and the AGSP (Asom Gana Sangram had, Assam Popular Struggle Association) launched a movement to disenfranchise illegal Bangladeshi voters: the names of all post-1971 migrants were to be struck from the electoral lists. State-wide protests started. But the Congress-led state government, which had traditionally ruled with minorities’ support up until that point, proved reluctant to revise the lists.
In 1983, assembly elections were held amid a student movement and opposition parties’ call for a boycott. The central government in Delhi insisted that the elections be conducted. Large-scale violence erupted on all sides. Electoral violence combined with ethnic rivalry, communal tensions, land alienation (evictions carried out irrespective of prior property rights), and a settlement of old private scores. Five thousand persons lost their lives during these elections.
On February 18, in this context of a total breakdown of governance, a large number of Muslims were killed in Nellie and in nearby villages. The Bangladeshi Muslims had made it clear that they intended to participate in the elections. This sounded like a provocation to other villagers, who resented the Muslim presence on their lands. On February 17, the Bangladeshis were prevented from voting. On February 18, they were attacked by a mob of Lalung, Mikir, and Bodo tribals; Assamese Hindus; and Nepalis. The attack resulted in atrocious bloodshed. The death figure of this attack remains unknown. Official accounts reported 1,383 deaths. Other reports put the death toll at from 3,300 to more than 4,000. The violence in Assam, however, cannot only be chalked up to communal antagonisms: ethnic, linguistic, and migration issues also came into play
**(India Today, 15/03/1983). **(The Indian Express, 07,08,09/04/1983); ***(Graff, 1983); ***(Engineer, 1984b: 296–304); ***(Baruah, 1986); ***(Saksena, 1990: 77); **(Tehelka, 30/09/2006); ***(Racine, 2011: 311–314); ***(Engineer, 2009)