The Nellie Massacre: A Dark Chapter Revisited
Four decades after one of independent India's worst episodes of mass violence, the Assam government has officially tabled and released two crucial reports concerning the Nellie Massacre of February 18, 1983. The tabling of the 'Commission of Enquiry on Assam Disturbances' report, led by IAS officer Tribhuvan Prasad Tewary, has brought the tragic events, which saw an official death toll of 1,800 in just six hours, back into public discourse.
Context: The Assam Agitation and Electoral Tensions
The horrific violence did not occur in a vacuum. It took place during the peak of the Assam Agitation (1979-1985), a massive movement demanding the identification and deportation of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The agitation's core demands included the purification of the state's electoral rolls.
The situation became critically volatile when elections to the state Legislative Assembly were announced for February 1983, despite Assam being under President's Rule. The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), leading the agitation, called for a complete election boycott, intensifying unrest across the state.
The Tewary Commission report details that the district of Nagaon, where Nellie was located (now in Morigaon district), had been a hotspot of tension for years. It recounts previous clashes in 1980 and widespread "assaults, intimidations, pelting of stones, [and] bomb explosions" throughout 1981.
Administrative Foresight and Catastrophic Failure
According to the Tewary report, district officials in Nagaon anticipated trouble but grossly underestimated its scale. Deputy Commissioner S.K. Tewari stated that it was clear the agitators would use violent methods to stop the elections and that linguistic and religious minorities participating would be targeted.
In preparation, the administration had taken several measures:
- Preventive detention of 1,046 people
- 22 detentions under the National Security Act
- Suspension of arms licenses and ammunition sales
- Daily coordination meetings between security and administrative officials
However, these preparations were severely compromised. A breakdown in communications occurred due to the burning of bridges, sabotage of telephone lines, and a strike by government employees. The first violent clash in the district was reported on February 12, 1983, in Gagalmari, sparking retaliatory violence.
The Nellie Carnage: A Preventable Tragedy?
On the morning of February 18, 1983, violence erupted across 13 villages in and around Nellie. Witnesses described thousands of attackers descending with deadly weapons, targeting the Bengali-speaking Muslim community, including women and children, and burning houses. The carnage lasted approximately seven hours, from 8-8:30 AM to 3-3:30 PM.
The Tewary Commission's investigation revealed a shocking series of administrative and police failures. While local officers claimed they received information about the violence late, the report found that specific intelligence had been available as early as February 15.
The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Nagaon police station had received credible information from locals about an imminent attack and sent a urgent message to key officers, including Commandant MNA Kabir and Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Pramod Chetia. The message explicitly stated that about a thousand armed people had assembled in Nellie and that minority communities were in a state of panic.
This critical warning was effectively ignored. The commission noted that the message was delivered to Kabir's wife, placed on the SDPO's table, and put in the OC Jagiroad's "put up basket," with none of the officers acting upon it. The commission sternly concluded that had these officers been diligent, "there would, perhaps, have been some effective preventive action at Nellie."
Furthermore, the OC of Jagiroad police station learned of the violence around 10:30 AM but did not personally proceed to Nellie with the available CRPF platoons. The commission criticized this delay and the failure to utilize forces effectively despite having a CRPF company available from the previous night.
The Nellie Massacre remains a stark reminder of the catastrophic consequences when communal tensions are compounded by administrative failure. The tabling of the Tewary Commission report opens a window into the precise mechanisms of this failure, offering a painful but necessary account for history and for the families of the thousands who lost their lives.
