Assam today resembles a divided state torn between social conflicts. It all started with the introduction of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill). While the Barak Valley, predominantly a Bengali dominated region, supports the Bill, the majority Assamese in the Brahmaputra valley are opposed to it since they think the new Bill will alter the Assam Accord signed after much half a decade’s of struggles and much bloodshed. Today there is a groundswell of opinion in Assam against the Bill. It was in this context the killings of five Bengali men in Bisonimukh-Kherbari, near Tinsukia in Upper Assam, on November 1 assume significance. The killings were a fallout of high rhetoric in social media, television, newspapers and loudmouth of certain MLAs. 

The killings both symptomise and deepen the fault lines between the Assamese and Bengali communities because of the ongoing exercise to update the National Register of Citizens as well as the Centre’s plan to secure parliamentary passage for the Citizenship  Bill. At the heart of the schism is the fate of those eventually left out by the updated NRC. 40 lakh people didn’t make it to the final draft published in July, and while the final numbers will be known only when the elaborate process of claims, objections and verification draws to a close. The ‘illegal’ Muslim immigrant unfortunately has few speaking on his behalf. But his Hindu counterpart is the battleground, with ethnic groups advocating an even-handed approach while the ruling BJP governments in Delhi and Dispur are keen to cast the protective cover of the Citizenship Bill on grounds of persecution in their country of origin. 

Groups claiming to represent Assamese and Bengali interests have observed shutdowns and counter-shutdowns. And while a party with a core ethnic background such as the Asom Gana Parishad could unequivocally oppose absorbing ‘illegal’ Bengali Hindu immigrants, those with a broader vote base have had to hedge through innovative strategies. These include speaking in different voices  or arguing that the burden of absorption is not only Assam’s to bear. The politics ensuing over this has left the State polarized which has now cost five innocent lives.