The Bangladeshi Problem: Historical Dynamics and Political Consequences

Migration from East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) into Assam represents one of the most profound and contested developments in modern Northeast Indian history. From its colonial beginnings in the late 19th century to the upheavals of the 20th century, this migration reshaped Assam’s agrarian economy, altered its demographic balance, and created enduring anxieties over culture, language, and identity.

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Colonial Encouragement and Early Movements (1891–1911)

The earliest large-scale movement of East Bengali peasants into Assam began in the 1890s. The British colonial administration, seeking to boost land revenue, encouraged landless cultivators—primarily Muslims from Mymensingh district—to settle on Assam’s fertile but sparsely populated floodplains.

British officers often described the Mymensingh cultivators as “hardy, industrious, and skilled in wet-rice cultivation,” qualities that contrasted with their view of Assamese peasants as “indolent.” In the words of one colonial administrator:

“Wherever there is wasteland, thither flock the Mymensinghias.”(Census of India, 1931)

This migration accelerated after the Partition of Bengal in 1905, which destabilized East Bengal and increased agrarian distress, pushing many land-hungry families across the Brahmaputra into Assam.

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The Line System (1920)

By 1920, migration had grown large enough to create friction with Assamese villagers. The British introduced the Line System to regulate settlement:

1. Villages reserved exclusively for Assamese.

2. Villages reserved for immigrants.

3. “Line villages” divided between Assamese and immigrants.

4. Mixed villages open to both groups.

Though meant to reduce conflict, it deepened communal divisions. Assamese elites complained that the system was poorly enforced, allowing immigrants to spread beyond designated areas. (Guha, 1977; Saikia, 2011)

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Mullan’s 1931 Census Report

The 1931 Census of Assam, compiled by S.C. Mullan, ICS (Census Superintendent of Assam), remains the most striking colonial document on migration. Mullan’s words reveal both the scale of the demographic transformation and the anxieties it created among officials and Assamese elites:

“Probably the most important event in the province during the last twenty-five years—an event, moreover, which seems likely to alter permanently the whole future of Assam and to destroy more surely than did the Burmese invaders of 1829 the whole structure of Assamese culture and civilization—has been the invasion of a vast horde of land-hungry Bengali immigrants, mostly Muslims, from the districts of Eastern Bengal sometime before 1911.”

Mullan described the migrants as:

“…merely the advance guard—or rather the scouts—of a huge army following closely at their heels. By 1921 the first army corps had passed into Assam and had practically conquered the district of Goalpara.”

He estimated over half a million settlers had moved into Assam between 1906 and 1931, particularly into char (riverine) areas. His most famous observation compared the migration to a natural invasion:

“The only thing I can compare it to is the mass movement of a large body of ants. Without fuss, without tumult, without undue trouble to the district revenue staff, a population… has transplanted itself from Bengal into the Assam Valley during the last twenty-five years.”

He warned:

“It is sad but by no means improbable that in another thirty years Sibsagar district will be the only part of Assam in which an Assamese will find himself at home.”

Census Figures (1911–1931)

The census report graphically showed the rising Muslim immigrant population:

These figures reflected a tenfold increase in some areas within two decades.

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Political Patronage: The Saadulla–Bhasani Era (1930s–1940s)

By the 1930s, migration had become a political issue. Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla, Premier of Assam (1937–46), encouraged settlement under his “Grow More Food” policy. Critics accused him of using immigration to strengthen the Muslim League’s support base.(Weiner, 1983).

Maulana Bhasani, a populist leader of the Muslim League in Assam, openly urged East Bengali peasants to settle in Assam, calling it “the promised land for the landless
cultivators of Bengal.” (Ahmed, 1981).

The Assam Provincial Muslim League pressed for the abolition of the Line System, arguing it discriminated against Muslim peasants. Assamese elites, however, saw this as a strategy to swamp Assam demographically and tilt it toward Pakistan.

Indeed, in 1946, Jinnah declared that Assam must be included in Pakistan “for its Muslim majority areas.”

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Partition, Refugees, and Continuing Influx (1947–1971)

Though Assam remained with India after Partition, migration did not stop. The 1951 Census recorded Assam’s Muslim population rising from 16% in 1911 to 25%.

The 1950 Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act attempted to curb post-Partition influx, but was weakly enforced. Instead, a steady trickle of economic migrants and refugees—both Hindu and Muslim—continued to cross from East Pakistan.

The most dramatic influx came during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, when Pakistan’s Operation Searchlight unleashed widespread atrocities. Nearly 10 million refugees fled into India, of whom a significant number remained permanently in Assam.

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The Assam Agitation (1979–1985)

By the late 1970s, demographic and cultural anxieties erupted into mass protest. The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) spearheaded the Assam Agitation (1979–85), demanding:

1. Detection and deportation of foreigners who entered after March 25, 1971.

2. Protection of Assamese language and culture.

The agitation saw mass demonstrations, boycotts, and violent clashes. The Nellie massacre (1983), in which over 1,800 people (mostly Bengali Muslims) were killed, remains one of the darkest chapters in the conflict.(Misra, 1983).

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The Assam Accord (1985)

The six-year agitation ended with the Assam Accord (August 15, 1985), signed between the Government of India and AASU leaders. Its main provisions were:

• Cut-off date: March 25, 1971, for detection and deportation of illegal immigrants.
• Safeguards: Constitutional, legislative, and cultural measures to protect Assamese identity.
• Foreigners Tribunals: Legal mechanisms to identify post-1971 entrants.

Yet, implementation has remained contentious, and the issue continues to shape Assam’s politics into the 21st century.

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Conclusion

Migration from East Bengal to Assam was not a single wave but a century-long process—encouraged by colonial policy, sustained by agrarian distress in Bengal, and transformed by Partition and war.

Mr. S.C. Mullan’s 1931 prophecy that Assamese might one day feel like strangers in their homeland captured the anxieties of his time and foreshadowed the politics of identity that still dominates Assam. His stark warning—comparing the migration to an unstoppable march of “ants”—has echoed through history, invoked repeatedly in debates over demography, culture, and belonging.

The story of migration in Assam is, therefore, not just about numbers. It is about the deep entanglement of land, identity, and survival—a question that continues to define the region’s present and future.