• Manish Barma

The recently concluded assembly elections in Assam have brought to the fore a phenomenon which, hitherto was absent or rather, relegated to the backbenches of popular consciousness in a state straddled by the mighty Brahmaputra. In its recent political history, the dominant tale in the state was primarily centred on a discourse driven by the twin wagons of ethnicity and language. In a country where immense diversity in terms of ethnicities, cultures and languages abound, the manifestation of such aspects into the political, electoral and typical cultural milieu of the respective states is hardly an oxymoron. But the case of Assam holds an exception which necessitates a certain level of engagement which is usually unnoticed in the effervescence of instant news headlines and supposedly epochal moments, anti-CAA protests last year, for instance. And the recently concluded state assembly elections point towards the emergence of a long-suppressed sentiment and constituency with their moorings outside the dominant and essentialist ecosystem which many scholars of repute refer to as ‘Assamese sub-nationalism. As decades of unchecked immigration coupled with the acute reversal of demography in several areas of the state, this new constituency of ‘subalterns’- if one may use the term in a referential sense- is increasingly finding resonance and alignment with the larger national prerogatives of security and welfare.

India’s Security and Act East Policy: Assam as the ‘Springboard’.

"India’s Security and Act East Policy: Assam as the ‘Springboard’.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 11, page no.a429-a433, November-2021, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2111056.pdf

"India’s Security and Act East Policy: Assam as the ‘Springboard’.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 11, page no. ppa429-a433, November-2021, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2111056.pdf