The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL seeking fresh rehabilitation measures and reassessment of compensation for survivors of the 1983 Nellie massacre in Assam, which claimed the lives of hundreds of largely Bengali-speaking Muslims, and directed the petitioners to approach the High Court instead, the Live Law reported.
The massacre, one of the deadliest episodes of communal violence in India, took place on February 18, 1983, in Morigaon district, where nearly 1,800 people, largely Bengali-speaking Muslims,were killed.
Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Warisha Farasat argued that the compensation awarded at the time was “shockingly inadequate,” pointing out that most of the survivors were small farmers who had been left to fend for themselves for decades. She further said that the prolonged delay had only compounded the injustice.
According to the plea, families of those killed were given just ₹5,000 per death, while two relatives who suffered bullet injuries received only ₹1,500 each, amounts the petition described as mere “tokens” for devastating losses of life and property.
The Nellie Massacre happened towards the end years of an ethno-nationalist movement in Assam that lasted between 1979 to 1985, first spurred on after the Election Commission found thousands of alleged “illegal immigrants” in the state’s electoral roll in 1979.
Led by two nationalist groups, The All Assam Students’ Union (ASSU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AGSP), the movement, infamously called the Assam Agitation, sought to expel “illegal immigrants” from neighbouring Bangladesh from Assam and expunge their names from the voters’ list.
Incidentally, in the same year, the two nationalist groups called for a boycott of the Assembly election.
The Indira Gandhi’s Congress government in the centre, despite resistance from the Assamese nationalist groups, went ahead with the election slated for February 14 that year.
The Bengali Muslims, pejoratively called Miyas in the state, feared that their community was “under attack, and voting was the only way” to allay their fears and “prove their Indian citizenship”.
As the election neared, some reports of clashes between the Bengali-speaking community and ethnic Assamese emerged as tension flared in the state.
In the weeks before the Nellie Massacre, a killing spree took place in the state’s Khoirabari, Nagabandha, and Chaulkhowa and other places where hundreds of people, mostly Muslims of Bengal origin, were killed by agitating Assamese mobs.
Critics say AASU was directly involved in the spate of massacres, including Nellie that took place in February 1983.
Critics also point out Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) indirect involvement in fanning the anxieties in the Assamese community emerging from a purported affront on their culture and land from the Bengali-Muslim Community.
In February 1883, days before the massacre, Vajpayee, a staunch member of the RSS, standing before the Assam assembly said, “Foreigners have come here and the government does nothing. What would have happened if he had come to Punjab instead? People would cut them into pieces and throw them away.”
Vajpayee’s rhetoric in February 1983, particularly his controversial speech in Assam before the Nellie massacre, bears striking similarities to the rhetoric of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding Bengali-speaking Muslims, often pejoratively called “Miyas.”
Sarma has consistently labeled Bengali-speaking Muslims as “Bangladeshi infiltrators” posing a “civilisational challenge”.
The term “Miya,” originally a pejorative for Bengali-origin Muslims, continues to be weaponized in contemporary Assam politics.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Assam government has been accused of perpetuating the “outsider” narrative through measures like the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and policies targeting alleged “illegal immigrants.”
Recent evictions, detentions, and inflammatory statements echo the dehumanizing rhetoric of the 1980s. These actions have been criticized for marginalizing Bengali Muslims, who face economic hardship and systemic exclusion despite being among Assam’s poorest communities.
