Guwahati: Assam government has decided to table the ill-famous 1983 Nellie violence report in the state assembly next month. The Himanta Biswa Sarma government has taken the decision to table the long suppressed Tiwari-Commission report in the legislative assembly after over 4 decades.
The 547 pages report was never made public by any state government until now. Announcing the decision CM Sarma said, “ Many social scientists have analysed the Nellie violence in their own perspectives and there is a concern that the truth might be far from these analyses most of the time. So it is important to make the report public”.
The Nellie violence took place on February 18, 1983 amid the historic 6 years long Assam Agitation. Over 2000 people were killed in the violence mostly Bangladeshi origin Muslims and linked to the rising anger against large-scale illegal infiltration to the state from Bangladesh and large demographic changes triggering massive resentment amongst indigenous people of the state.
After the violence the then Congress government constituted the Tiwari Commission to enquire into the matter. But the report prepared by Tiwari Commission was never tabled by any state government until now. Many organisations including All Assam Student Union (AASU) made continuous demands to table the commission report but the previous congress governments never took the decision to make the report public. Organisations blame political cover up and vote bank politics behind the decision of hiding the report.
But after 4 decades the present BJP government led by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has shown the courage to bring the bill to the floor of the assembly. CM Sarma termed it as a bold and historic decision while opposition Congress questioned the reason for tabling the report.
It should be mentioned that most of the social scientists attribute Nellie violence as a communal clash between Hindu and Muslims. But the truth behind the most deadly violence of the history of Assam was never analysed by them. The Left Eco-System always tried to make the Assamese Hindu guilty for the violence but the large-scale infiltration, demographic change and threat to the identity of indigenous people were never properly represented. Moreover assaults on Hindu women and girls by the Bangladeshi intruders were never discussed by the left social scientists. Many people believe that the Tiwari Commission 547 pages report will uncover the truth behind the Nellie violence of 1983.
