SUMMARY

Fighting between Bangladeshi Immigrants and ethnic Bodo flared up in Assam in July 2012. Though the two communities had not engaged in violence prior to 2012, tensions between the groups had been steadily rising. These tensions derived mainly from the continuous arrival of Bangladeshi immigrants into Bodo-dominated areas of Assam (especially the districts of the Bodoland Territorial Area). These immigrants, who were predominantly ethnic Bengalis and practitioners of Islam, have crossed into India (often illegally) to settle there as sedentary farmers since Britain first colonized the area. This practice has put the immigrants into competition with indigenous Bodo peoples, who are primarily Hindu and claim the contested areas as their ancestral homeland. Alternatively, some sources claim that this competition for land may have played less of a role in inciting ethnic tensions than did the targeting of Bangladeshi immigrants for extortion by illegal Bodo gangs (made up largely of former nationalistic militants). Bodos had previously engaged in armed conflict with another non-indigenous group (the Santhals) in the mid-1990s, and such ethnic conflict is not uncommon in India’s isolated north-eastern territories.

An incident of vigilantism in Kokrajhar District triggered the conflict between Bangladeshi Immigrants and the Bodo. In late July, immigrants killed four ethnic Bodos in retaliation for the beating of two immigrant students by Bodos. Members of the Bodo community responded by shooting or stoning to death several immigrants. Incidents of tit-for-tat violence quickly escalated, and the fighting spread from Kokrajhar District almost immediately to Chirang District where several shootings occurred in crowded market places. Much of the fighting occurred along the banks of the Gouranga River- which separates Kokrajhar and Chirang Districts- and also spilled over into Dhubri District. The fighting de-escalated in early August after several thousand Indian soldiers and police officers arrived to stabilize the area, but briefly flared up again in November. The conflict resulted in several dozen deaths and forced over 200.000 people to take refuge in relief camps set up by security forces.

The non-state conflict between Bangladeshi Immigrants and the Bodo is first included in UCDP data in 2012. In July of that year, fighting between the two groups had resulted in over 25 battle-related deaths.