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During the first phase of assembly elections in the [[India]]n state of [[Assam]] in February 1983, amidst the [[Assam Agitation]], [[Bengali Hindus]] in the [[Khoirabari]] area of [[Mangaldoi (Lok Sabha constituency)]] were attacked and killed.<ref name=rammohun2005>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=KclwPdsveMQC|title=Insurgent Frontiers: Essays from the Troubled Northeast|last=Rammohan|first=E. N.|date=2005|publisher=India Research Press|isbn=9788187943808|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sarma |first1=Diganta |title=১৯৮৩-ৰ অসমত নিপীড়িত বাঙালি |publisher=Ekalabya Prakashan|language=Assamese|location=Jorhat}}</ref> An estimated 100<ref name=rammohun2005 /> to 500<ref name="gupta1984">{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Shekhar |title=Assam: A Valley Divided |date=1984 |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |location=New Delhi |isbn=9780706925371 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=HZbaAAAAMAAJ |accessdate=4 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barpujari |first1=H. K. |title=North-East India: Problems, Policies, and Prospects : Since Independence |date=1998 |publisher=Spectrum Publication |isbn=9788185319810 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=6FluAAAAMAAJ |accessdate=4 November 2018}}</ref> [[Bengali Hindus]] died in the massacre. News of the massacre went unreported for two weeks.<ref name="gupta14-15">{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Shekhar |title=Assam: A Valley Divided |date=1984 |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |location=New Delhi |isbn=9780706925371 |pages=14-15 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=HZbaAAAAMAAJ |accessdate=4 November 2018}}</ref> Journalist [[Shekhar Gupta]] reported a top Assam police officer admitting that the Assam police was preoccupied with the exaggerated news of the massacre of the Assamese people in [[Gohpur]], that they failed to take proper action in Khoirabari on time.<ref name="gupta14-15" />
During the first phase of assembly elections in the [[India]]n state of [[Assam]] in February 1983, amidst the [[Assam Agitation]], [[Bengali Hindus]] in the [[Khoirabari]] area of [[Mangaldoi (Lok Sabha constituency)]] were attacked and killed.<ref name=rammohun2005>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=KclwPdsveMQC|title=Insurgent Frontiers: Essays from the Troubled Northeast|last=Rammohan|first=E. N.|date=2005|publisher=India Research Press|isbn=9788187943808|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sarma |first1=Diganta |title=১৯৮৩-ৰ অসমত নিপীড়িত বাঙালি |publisher=Ekalabya Prakashan|language=Assamese|location=Jorhat}}</ref> An estimated 100<ref name=rammohun2005 /> to 500<ref name="gupta1984">{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Shekhar |title=Assam: A Valley Divided |date=1984 |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |location=New Delhi |isbn=9780706925371 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=HZbaAAAAMAAJ |accessdate=4 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barpujari |first1=H. K. |title=North-East India: Problems, Policies, and Prospects : Since Independence |date=1998 |publisher=Spectrum Publication |isbn=9788185319810 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=6FluAAAAMAAJ |accessdate=4 November 2018}}</ref> [[Bengali Hindus]] died in the massacre. News of the massacre were not reported for two weeks.<ref name="gupta14-15">{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Shekhar |title=Assam: A Valley Divided |date=1984 |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |location=New Delhi |isbn=9780706925371 |pages=14-15 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=HZbaAAAAMAAJ |accessdate=4 November 2018}}</ref> Journalist [[Shekhar Gupta]] reported a top Assam police officer admitting that the Assam police was preoccupied with the exaggerated news of the massacre of the Assamese people in [[Gohpur]], that they failed to take proper action in Khoirabari on time.<ref name="gupta14-15" />


== Background ==
== Background ==

Revision as of 22:29, 27 December 2018

Khoirabari massacre
Khoirabari massacre is located in Assam
Khoirabari massacre
LocationKhoirabari, Darrang district, Assam, India
Date7 February 1983
At night (UTC+5:30)
TargetBengali Hindus
Attack type
Massacre
WeaponsGuns, spears, swords, scythes, bows and arrows
Deaths100 - 500
Injured100 - 200 people are injured
PerpetratorsAssamese mobs

During the first phase of assembly elections in the Indian state of Assam in February 1983, amidst the Assam Agitation, Bengali Hindus in the Khoirabari area of Mangaldoi (Lok Sabha constituency) were attacked and killed.[1][2] An estimated 100[1] to 500[3][4] Bengali Hindus died in the massacre. News of the massacre were not reported for two weeks.[5] Journalist Shekhar Gupta reported a top Assam police officer admitting that the Assam police was preoccupied with the exaggerated news of the massacre of the Assamese people in Gohpur, that they failed to take proper action in Khoirabari on time.[5]

Background

Khoirabari is a Bengali Hindu settlement in the Mangaldoi Sub-division of the Darrang district[6], It is situated about 25 kilometers north of the town Mangaldoi.[6] Prior to the Partition of India, the Khoirabari area was inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslims of eastern Bengal origin. After the Partition of India, the Bengali-speaking Muslims left for East Pakistan and the Bengali Hindu refugees from East Pakistan settled on the abandoned the lands vacated by the Muslims.[1] The Bengali Hindu refugee settlers, however, were not given the pattas (a document certifying the ownership of the land).[7] In 1983, there were a couple of hundred Bengali Hindus living in a cluster of villages in the Khoirabari area. The Bengali Hindu villages were surrounded by Assamese villages. For years the Assamese around them had been resentfully looking at them.[1]

Massacre

The first phase of polling of the assembly elections was scheduled for 7 February 1983. The activists of the Assam Agitation were opposed to the elections and viewed the non-Assamese pockets as pro-election. The communication systems to the non-Assamese pockets were cut-off. As a result, the Central Reserve Police Force and the polling agents could not be sent to Khoirabari.[7] Taking advantage of the situation, a section of the Assamese villagers around Khoirabari, attacked the isolated Bengali Hindu villages at night. According to veteran Assamese journalist Sabita Goswami, the Bengali Hindus had taken shelter at the Khoirabari School.[8] The Assamese mob attacked them in the school.[8] According to Indian Police Service officer E.M. Rammohun, more than one hundred Bengali Hindus were killed in the massacre.[1] According to journalist Shekhar Gupta, more than 500 Bengali Hindus were killed.[3] The survivors took shelter in the Khoirabari railway station.[1][7] They were sheltered in the railway station till the elections were over.[7] After the elections, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Assam Chief Minister Hiteshwar Saikia visited the Khoirabari relief camp.[9] Ramakrishna Mission did relief work among the survivors at the camp.[10]

Aftermath

After the massacre, a section of the top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leadership including K. S. Sudarshan approached journalist Shekhar Gupta to understand why so many Bengali Hindus were massacred by the Assamese Hindus.[11] The RSS leadership considered the Bengali Hindus as 'unprotected' and didn't expect the Assamese Hindus to kill their co-coreligionists. Shekhar Gupta explained the ethnic and linguistic fault lines that lay behind the massacre, because of which the perpetrators didn't distinguish between Hindus and Muslims.[11]

In February 2018, the Compensation-demand Committee of Dead People in the Assam Movement took up the cause of the Bengali Hindu victims of the massacre in Khoirabari and Goreswar in 1983. It demanded martyr status for the victims and compensation for the families.[12][13] Rangiya legislator Bhabesh Kalita acknowledged the massacre and assured that the victims' families would get compensation.[12][13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Rammohan, E. N. (2005). Insurgent Frontiers: Essays from the Troubled Northeast. India Research Press. ISBN 9788187943808.
  2. ^ Sarma, Diganta. ১৯৮৩-ৰ অসমত নিপীড়িত বাঙালি (in Assamese). Jorhat: Ekalabya Prakashan.
  3. ^ a b Gupta, Shekhar (1984). Assam: A Valley Divided. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. p. 121. ISBN 9780706925371. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  4. ^ Barpujari, H. K. (1998). North-East India: Problems, Policies, and Prospects : Since Independence. Spectrum Publication. p. 63. ISBN 9788185319810. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  5. ^ a b Gupta, Shekhar (1984). Assam: A Valley Divided. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9780706925371. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  6. ^ a b Rammohun, E. M. (29 December 2012). Countering Insurgencies in India: An Insider's View. Vij Books India. p. 36. ISBN 9789381411667. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d Rammohan, E. N. Simply Khaki. Indialog Publications. pp. 98–99. ISBN 9788187981787. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  8. ^ a b Goswami, Sabita (11 March 2014). Along the Red River: A Memoir. Zubaan. p. 154. ISBN 9789383074266. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  9. ^ Daily Report: South Asia. Vol. 84. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 1983. p. 8. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  10. ^ Awakened India. Vol. 90. Swami Smaranananda. 1985. p. 522. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  11. ^ a b Gupta, Shekhar (4 August 2018). "Amit Shah & Modi are playing with a fire that doesn't distinguish between Muslim & Hindu". ThePrint.in. ThePrint. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  12. ^ a b "'Bengalis are also a part of greater Assamese society'". The Sentinel. Omega Printers and Publishers. 19 February 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Compensation for Hindu Bengali martyrs of Assam Movement demanded". The Assam Tribune. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.

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