 | |
| Author | Sanjib Baruah |
|---|---|
| Subject | Northeast India |
| Genre | Political Science |
| Publisher | Stanford University Press |
Publication date | 2020 |
| Pages | 296 |
| Awards | 2021 ICAS Book Prize |
| ISBN | 9781503610705 Hardcover |
In the Name of the Nation: India and its Northeast is a non-fiction political science book about Assam. It is written by professor and commentator Sanjib Baruah and published by Stanford University Press in 2020.
Sanjib Baruah, a Professor of Political Studies at Bard College and commentator on Northeast India, examines the political and socioeconomic history of Assam. [1] [2] Parvin Sultana writes for The Wire , "The chapters deal with issues like how the region experienced partition, migration, insurgency, counter-insurgency." [3]
In a review for H-Net , Berenice Guyot-Rechard describes the chapters as "the dynamics of region-building (chapter 1), the vexed issue of citizenship and belonging (chapter 2), the politics of development (chapter 3), the Naga conflict (chapter 4), and the entrenchment of the "security state" (chapters 5 and 6)." [4] Unmilan Kalita writes in a review for the South Asia Journal that the final chapter of the book "champions a robust federal policy and asks the questions that are often left unanswered", including questions related to policy and regional control over resources. [1]
Samir Sharma writes in Studies in Indian Politics , "This book, in a way, completes Baruah's trilogy on the region, after India Against Itself (1999) and Durable Disorder (2005)." [5] Parvin Sultana writes for The Wire , "Written almost after two decades of the widely read India Against Itself (1999), this book revisits the over-arching issues that continue to dominate the political discourse of the region." [3] Rashi Bhargava writes for The Telegraph , "Baruah has engaged with themes of State, nation, nationalism, sub/ethno-nationalism, nation-building, sovereignty, democracy and citizenship in the context of Northeast India since India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality, one of his well-known works." [6]
Parvin Sultana writes in a review for The Wire , "The book deals with how politics of migration have often segregated communities" and "ends on the important note that citizenship policies should stop being exclusionary." [3] In a review for The Telegraph , Rashi Bhargava writes, "[Baruah] argues that the politics of ideas, representations and, consequently, exclusion has always been a strong point of contention in the writings on and from the Northeast. This may not seem like a new theme for someone who has been following Baruah’s intellectual and academic trajectory but the book is a reminder that some issues need constant revisiting, more so in the times we live in." [6] Mahesh Rangarajan writes in a review for The Indian Express , "This work walks the fine line between being sensitive to group identity and being deeply attentive to issues of individual choice and freedom – rare in practice, but well worth the effort." [2]
In a review for H-Net , Berenice Guyot-Rechard writes, "What gives the book its peculiar power is the presence throughout of four interlocking strands: the rejection of "insurgency" as a frame to understand Northeast Indian politics; the characterization of development as an ideology and practice rooted in unequal power relations; the entwined dynamics of incorporation and othering; and finally, the contested, protean nature of the subaltern in Northeast India." [4] Andrew J. Nathan writes in a capsule review for Foreign Affairs , "Baruah's intimate history and ethnography shows how neglect, corruption, uneven development, and repression - and recently the rise of Hindu nationalism at the federal level - have intensified the Northeast's alienation from the rest of the country." [7]
Ashutosh Varshney writes in Perspectives on Politics , "his principal argument is that, despite regular elections, the region has mostly seen a painful face of Indian democracy - primarily because Delhi has made democracy subservient to national security, generating huge deficits in the realm of civil rights and freedoms". [8] In Studies in Indian Politics , Samir Sharma writes, "An important and timely contribution of this book is the linking of (non)democratic practices in the Northeast region to that of citizenship. Given the contentions over the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens in the region, changing the frame of reference for analysing the Northeast region from ethnicity alone to include citizenship studies and borderland studies is one of the strengths of the book." [5]
However, reviewers from scholars of the northeastern region were critical of the book. Thongkholal Haokip argues that "While discussing “India’s Northeast Policy” the author seems to ignore the existing literature, despite extensive reference to published works while dealing with other topics". " [9] Roluahpuia views that "Despite the rich empirical details and theoretical sophistication of this book, it largely comes across as a restatement of Baruah’s earlier work, reiterating arguments that he has made for decades now". " [10]
Assam is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of 78,438 km2 (30,285 sq mi). The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to the east; Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh to the south; and West Bengal to the west via the Siliguri Corridor, a 22-kilometre-wide (14 mi) strip of land that connects the state to the rest of India. Assamese and Boro are the official languages of Assam, while Bengali is an additional official language in the Barak Valley.
The McMahon Line is the boundary between Tibet and British India as agreed in the maps and notes exchanged by the respective plenipotentiaries on 24–25 March 1914 at Delhi, as part of the 1914 Simla Convention. The line delimited the respective spheres of influence of the two countries in the eastern Himalayan region along northeast India and northern Burma (Myanmar), which were earlier undefined. The Republic of China was not a party to the McMahon Line agreement, but the line was part of the overall boundary of Tibet defined in the Simla Convention, initialled by all three parties and later repudiated by the government of China. The Indian part of the Line currently serves as the de facto boundary between China and India, although its legal status is disputed by the People's Republic of China. The Burmese part of the Line was renegotiated by the People's Republic of China and Myanmar.
Indian nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds Indian nationality. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the Constitution of India and the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Lachit Barphukan (1622–1672) was an Ahom Borphukan, but known primarily for commanding the Ahom forces and the victory in the Battle of Saraighat (1671) that thwarted an invasion by the vastly superior Mughal forces under the command of Ramsingh I. He died about a year later in April 1672.
The Assam Movement (1979–1985) was a popular uprising in Assam, India, that demanded the Government of India detect, disenfranchise and deport illegal aliens. Led by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) the movement defined a six-year period of sustained civil disobedience campaigns, political instability and widespread ethnic violence. The movement ended in 1985 with the Assam Accord.
The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement. It was signed in the presence of the then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi on 15 August 1985. Later, the Citizenship Act was amended for the first time the following year, in 1986. It followed a six-year agitation that started in 1979. Led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the protestors demanded the identification and deportation of all illegal foreigners – predominantly Bangladeshi immigrants. They feared that past and continuing large scale migration was overwhelming the native population, impacting their political rights, culture, language and land rights. The Assam Movement caused the estimated death of over 855 people. The movement ended with the signing of the Assam Accord.
Literature from North East India (Assamese: উত্তৰ-পূৱ ভাৰতৰ সাহিত্য is literature in the languages of North East India and the body of work by English-language writers from this region. North East India is an under-represented region in many ways. The troubled political climate, the beautiful landscape and the confluence of various ethnic groups perhaps have given rise to a body of writing that is completely different from Indian English literature. North-East India was a colonial construct and continues to be one by virtue of having a historically difficult relationship with the Indian nation state.
Bengali Hindus are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand, and Assam's Barak Valley region. In Bangladesh, they form the largest minority. They are adherents of Hinduism and are native to the Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. Comprising about one-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ethnic group among Hindus after Hindustani Hindus. Bengali Hindus speak Bengali, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and adhere to Shaktism or Vaishnavism of their native religion Hinduism with some regional deities. There are significant numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus in different Indian states. According to the census in 1881, 12.81 percent of Bengali Hindus belonged to the three upper castes while the rest belonged to the Shudra and Dalit castes.
South Tibet is a literal translation of the Chinese term '藏南', which may refer to different geographic areas:
Human rights abuses in Assam have been compared to the situation of human rights abuses in other insurgency-affected areas of northeast India.
The Bengali Hindu diaspora is the worldwide population of the Bengali Hindus of Indian and Bangladeshi origin.
Wasbir Hussain is an Indian journalist, author, and political commentator specializing in peace, security and development in Northeast India. He is the Editor-in-Chief of North East Live.
Kamal Kumar Tanti is an Assamese poet from Assam, India.
The Miya people (মিঞা/মিয়া), also known as Nao, refers to the descendants of migrant Bengali Muslims from the modern Mymensingh, Rangpur and Rajshahi Divisions, who settled in the Brahmaputra Valley during the British colonisation of Assam in the 20th-century. Their immigration was encouraged by the Colonial British Government from Bengal Province during 1757 to 1942 and the movement continued till 1947.
Phunchok Stobdan is a former Indian civil servant and served as the Indian ambassador to Kyrgyzstan. He was also a senior fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, and was the founding president of the Ladakh International Centre.
Bengali Hindus are the second largest Hindu community in Assam just after Assamese speaking Hindus. As per as estimation, around 6–7.5 million Bengali Hindus live in Assam as of 2011, majority of whom live in Barak Valley and a significant population resides in Assam's mainland Brahmaputra/Assam valley. Most Bengalis in Assamese dominated Brahmaputra valley are immigrants from neighbouring East Bengal and Tripura, while Bengalis in Barak Valley region of Assam are mostly native. Assam host the second-largest Bengali Hindu population in India after West Bengal.
Parismita Singh is an Indian author, illustrator, graphic novelist, and educator. She is a founding member of the Pao Collective, and her work includes The Hotel at the End of the World, which was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and is one of the first graphic novels published in India. She is also the author and illustrator of the short story collection Peace Has Come.
Sanjib Baruah is an Indian professor of Political Studies at Bard College in New York, and an author and commentator specializing in the politics of Northeast India. His books include India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality, Durable Disorder: Understanding the Politics of Northeast India, and In the Name of the Nation: India and its Northeast.
Rajen Sharma, commonly known as Uddipta Hazarika, was the first publicity secretary of the militant organisation United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Popular for his poem Mor Rakta Borna Protigya, Sharma was killed on 8 October 1989.
Operation Bajrang was a military operation, conducted by the Indian army, in Assam, against the militant organization, United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).