Making infamous Nellie massacre report public

A new debate has emerged in Assam soon after theState government decided tomakea controversial report onan infamous massacre public.

- Nava Thakuria

The recent cabinet meeting had approved the initiative to release the Tewari commission report on the 1983 Nelliemass killing citing the reason that the findings also highlighted the demographic changes taking place in Assam after 1951. State chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while speaking to media in Guwahati, asserted that a number of disturbing incidents took place affecting the local residents and they retaliated targeting the Bangladesh-origin Muslim settlers in Nellie locality

Pronounced as Neli, the central Assam locality under Morigaon (earlier in undivided Nagaon) district witnessed the mass killing of thousands of people after several hundred indigenous people (mostly belonging to Tiwa tribe) attacked many Muslim dominated villages on 18 February, 1983. The attackers burnt a number of thatched houses and started physically assaulting the settlers and the massacre came to an end only after the arrival ofpara-military personnel. Various media reports, now available on digital space, indicated at least 2000 individuals, including children, women and elderly, lost their lives in the single day carnage.