Abstract
Colonialism has its impact on Indian politics and society even after the colonialism. Pre-colonial Assam was able to maintain its independent status till 1826. After incorporating into the company’s holdings, colonialists gradually extended their controls to the hill areas surrounding the Assam and Bengal plains. Subsequent to annexing the hills, the areas were designated as “tribal” areas and continued to be ruled as a distinct administrative regime. However, the strategy of divide and rule system had fundamentally changed the practices of both hills and the plains. For segregating the hills from the plains, a line was drawn, known as Inner line of 1873. The gradual separation and sharpening of identity had led to the formation of ‘Bordoloi Sub-committee to render autonomy to the hill people. However, the recommendation made by the ‘Bordoloi Sub-committee’ were not able to fulfil the aspirations of the hill tribes, and they started demanding for more autonomy in the form of statehood, backed by insurgent activities, which paved the way for the reorganisation of Assam. And in the present juncture, the Plain tribes of Assam have been demanding for re-reorganisation of Assam. Hence, this study specifies the colonial subjectivity and subjugation and its consequences to new equations of contemporary politics.
Highlights
India’s Northeast consists of the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, popularly known as the ‘Seven Sisters’ states and Sikkim is the last and eighth one to become a member of the Northeast after the formation of North Eastern Council
Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak argued that introduction of colonialism to India is a change from semi-feudalism to capitalist subjection for the inauguration of politicisation for the colonised
In the Northeast, the intentional constitutional consideration for integration through accommodative autonomy within the interface of geo-politics and ethno-politics led to the outgrowth of autonomous space under the Sixth Scheduled of the Constitution
Summary
India’s Northeast consists of the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, popularly known as the ‘Seven Sisters’ states and Sikkim is the last and eighth one to become a member of the Northeast after the formation of North Eastern Council. Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak argued that introduction of colonialism to India is a change from semi-feudalism to capitalist subjection for the inauguration of politicisation for the colonised Later it contributes to form ‘bourgeois nationalist’ from the parts of the indigenous elite to form Indian nationalism (Guha and Spivak, 1988). Guha writes both colonialist elitism and bourgeois-nationalist are the product of British rule in India and have been assimilated to neo-colonialist and nationalist forms of discourse (Guha and Spivak, 1988) to create hegemony of colonial subjectivity. The study discusses the dichotomous autonomy of the scheduled areas
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