The All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students Association (ACKHSA, which successfully spearheaded the movement for a separate central university in the Bengali-dominated Barak region in the 1980s, is leading the movement for a separate state.
Rallies in support of the demand have been organised this week in Silchar and Karimganj, the two large towns in Barak Valley.
"The movement for a separate state in our valley is older than the other statehood movements in Assam. We are now reviving it because the Assamese ruling elite continue to exploit us and neglect our development," said ACKHSA advisor Anup Chaudhuri.
He referred to the powerful movement for recognition of Bangla as mother language and the language of instruction in the Barak Valley in the 1960s, during which many died.
On May 19, 1960, 11 Bengali youths, including a schoolgirl, Kamala Bhattacharjee, were killed in Assam police firing near the Silchar railway station while demonstrating for language rights of the Bengali-speaking people of Barak Valley.
“Unishe for us is like Ekushe for Bangladesh. Our boys and girls also died for the dignity of Bangla language with as much commitment as our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh," says historian Subir Kar, saying the seeds of a separate state in Barak Valley was sown during that movement.
Assam accepted the language rights of the Bengalis in Barak Valley to control the movement but the area remains badly neglected in development of economy and infrastructure, unlike neighbouring Bengali-dominated Tripura which has been identified as the best governed state in India's northeast.
"It is now or never for us. We can’t stay in Assam anymore. The Assam government appoints deed writers and sends to our valley when they can’t read or write Bangla, so they are at a loss how to prepare the deeds in our language.” said ACKHSA's founder Pradip Datta Ray.
“All contractors, all projects, all appointments are controlled from Guwahati and this is no longer acceptable."
Datta Ray, now General Secretary of Assam Pradesh Congress, successfully led the movement for a separate central university for Barak Valley in the 1980s after Bengali students from the area were beaten up in colleges and universities of the Brahmaputra valley during the six-year long Assam agitation against foreigners (Bengali-speaking migrants).
Bengali migrants, both Hindus and Muslims, were killed in large numbers during the riots.
Datta Ray said that preparations were afoot to create a larger platform to lead the movement that may be called Barak Ganasangram Parishad.
A meeting of all groups in Barak Valley has been organised this weekend for create the larger platform for coordinating the movement for a separate state.
"We will coordinate with the Bodo, Karbi and Dimasa tribespeople who are fighting for separate states because they want to break away from Assam. We also support the movement for a separate Garoland that the Garos want in Meghalaya," Datta Ray told bdnews24.com.
He said the All Bodo Students Union is already in touch with them to coordinate the movements.
